RESEARCH PARADIGM, APPROACH, DESIGN, AND METHODOLOGY
3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH .1 Qualitative research approach
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and the researcher’s interpretation of these experiences is the social constructivist viewpoint in this study.
The researcher is convinced that insight into ECCD directors’ management experiences and perceptions could be gained through analysing ECCD centres’ contextual documents and interpreting views and experiences expressed through interviews with ECCD directors and board members, as these participants perform management roles and responsibilities in early childhood education settings. Based on the above notions, this study is therefore grounded on the social constructivist-interpretivist philosophy in data gathering, processing, analysis, and interpretation of findings (Lincoln & Guba, 2013).
3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH
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understanding of the phenomenon being explored (Creswell & Poth, 2018; Marshall & Rossman, 2016). As this study aims to explore the management practices of directors at ECCD centres in Ghana, the following questions are considered:
i. How do ECCD centre directors apply the basic management principles in their management practices in Ghana?
ii. How do the directors plan management activities at ECCD centres?
iii. How do the directors organise ECCD centre activities?
iv. How do the directors coordinate management activities with the centre’s internal and external stakeholders?
v. How do the directors maintain control in the ECCD centre?
Thirdly, the researcher in this study aimed to discover ECCD directors’ feelings, lived experiences and thought processes regarding the application of basic management principles at ECCD centres, which is impossible by using a conventional quantitative research approach (Creswell & Poth, 2018). Adopting a qualitative approach would enable the researcher to explore ECCD centre directors’ management experiences in their natural settings and to interpret the meanings they ascribe to their experiences. Thus, the qualitative approach could allow the researcher to gain insights into participants’ multiple experiences and make sense of directors’
management experiences and the researcher’s interpretation of these.
Finally, because the qualitative research approach mainly aims at an in-depth understanding of the participants' lived experiences and the researcher’s interpretation of meanings participants ascribe to their experiences, the researcher usually plays an active role in data collection and interpretation of findings. This implies that the qualitative research approach produces findings linked to the researcher’s sifting and interpretation of participants’ viewpoints (Hoy & Adams, 2015; Merriam & Tisdell, 2015).
In this study, the choice of the qualitative research approach was guided by the social constructivist-interpretivist philosophical foundations of the study (Glesne, 2015). Rich and detailed descriptions also provided complete and thorough interpretations of the participants’
experiences. Hence, using a qualitative research approach was deemed most suitable for a better
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understanding of lived experiences of ECCD directors’ management practices at their centres in Ghana.
3.3.1.1 Advantages of a qualitative research approach
The justification for utilising a qualitative research approach for this study is consistent with Creswell and Creswell (2018), who identified the following advantages:
i. Using a qualitative research approach allows the researcher to discover an accurate and detailed account of phenomena, practices, situations, environments, procedures, and techniques, of a group or an individual.
ii. Using a qualitative research approach allows the researcher to obtain new and detailed understandings about a particular event, fact, occurrence and the issues surrounding the phenomenon being explored.
iii. Using a qualitative research approach allows the researcher to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of practices, policies, and systems of procedures of the phenomenon being studied.
iv. A qualitative research approach utilises data-gathering methods suitable for studying the multifaceted nature of novel experiences.
v. A qualitative research approach permits the enquirer to investigate the research participants’ experiences in-depth.
vi. A qualitative research approach permits the researcher to observe the case study interviewees as key data sources faithfully.
vii. Adopting a qualitative research approach permits the enquirer to collect information within the physical location of the research participants, with minimal interruption of the physical environment (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
3.3.1.2 Disadvantages of a qualitative research approach
Using a qualitative research approach also presents some disadvantages, which researchers should be aware of. Denzin and Lincoln (2018) identify the following disadvantages of using a qualitative research approach:
i. A qualitative research approach process is a time-consuming process.
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ii. The researcher’s personal experience and knowledge could limit interpretations which might influence observations and conclusions because the process explores individual social interactions for data collection. Consequently, interviews frequently tend to deviate from the main issue of the study.
iii. A qualitative research approach cannot be used to study causality because the process needs considerable planning to ensure accurate findings.
iv. The nature of qualitative data does not provide the opportunity to carry out statistical analysis. Accordingly, its findings are based on participants' and researcher’s opinions and judgements.
v. In addition, since all qualitative research is distinct, there are difficulties associated with the transferability of its findings because findings are perspective-based,
sometimes leaving out context sensitivities and concentrating more on meanings and experiences.
vi. With regard to the research method, qualitative research uses a purposively selected smaller sample size, making it difficult to generalise the findings to the general population.
vii. The researcher’s prior experience can potentially influence the data collection, analysis, and interpretation if not checked well and can pose credibility and trustworthiness issues to the outcome of the study.
viii. Some participants may have been influenced previously, which can affect the research outcome.
ix. Some contextual evidence may be omitted.
x. The research participants may not be representative of the larger population.
xi. The researcher can be biased in the analysis of observations.
xii. The researcher's presence can change participants' feelings and moods to some degree, and any data collected may be skewed.
In qualitative research, diverse qualitative research designs exist, namely, case study phenomenology, ethnography, and grounded theory. The above research designs vary in terms of research purpose, focus, data collection methods, and data analysis (Creswell & Creswell,
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2018). This study uses a case study to understand the phenomenon being studied. A discussion of a case study as a research design is presented in the next section to underscore its suitability.