CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.4 B ROAD O RIENTATION OF THE S TUDY
4.4.2 The research as a case study
Epistemology is perhaps more central to reading research than to other areas of education research precisely because reading is a way of knowing (J. W. Cunningham & Fitzgerald, 1996). As was argued in Chapter 2, what is sometimes construed as debate over methods of reading instruction is often at base an issue of different epistemological stances.
Epistemological issues impact on what people see as the most important thing to teach about reading, how reading should be taught and how reading comprehension should be tested.
Such issues are, for example:
Can we have knowledge of a single reality that is independent of the knower?
Is there such a thing as truth?
What primary test must proposed knowledge pass in order to be true (correspondence, coherence or pragmatism)?
Is knowledge primarily universal or particular?
Where is knowledge located relative to the knower – outside, between or inside or a dualist or pluralist combination of these?
What are the relative contributions of sense data and mental activity to knowing?
To what degree is knowledge discovered or created?
My own stance is that meaning evolves through a reciprocal relationship between the mind of the reader/author and the text, that the signs on the page transact (Rosenblatt, 1994), that there is no definite meaning external to the transaction, that knowledge is created and recreated, that the reading process is universal, but every reading is unique and that the test of truth of knowledge is pragmatism, rather than coherence or accurate correspondence.
case studies as products are easier for varied audiences to understand and may therefore have greater impact with a broad range of stakeholders than some other types of research (Bassey, 1999).
Case studies are not uniformly understood (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Indeed when researchers talk about case studies they may mean the process of studying the case, the unit of study, or the product of this investigation (Merriam, 1998). Rule and John (forthcoming) suggest that case studies can also be understood as a particular genre of writing. This is a case study in all these senses of the term. Bassey (1999) provides a comprehensive review of the way authors have defined case studies, but it is Bassey‘s own formulation of what an educational case study is that has influenced my thinking in this research:
An educational case study is an empirical enquiry which is: conducted within a localised boundary of space and time (i.e. a singularity); into interesting aspects of an educational activity, or programme, or institution, or system; mainly in its natural context and within an ethic of respect for persons; in order to inform the judgements and decisions of practitioners or policy makers; or of theoreticians who are working to these ends; in such a way that sufficient data are collected.(Bassey, 1999, p. 58)
As specified in this definition, the present case study is a study of singularity, namely the teaching of reading in a particular set of classrooms in a particular school at a particular time.
It is bounded by category (the pedagogy of teaching reading), space (Grade 1 classrooms in one particular mainstream school in KwaZulu-Natal), time (2006) and theme (Teaching reading for meaning?). In other words, my interest is in how meaning is positioned in the pedagogy studied). The case (or the unit of analysis) is the teaching of reading in Grade 1 at one particular school. There were three Grade 1 teachers in this school, but I conceptualised them as part of the same case, as opposed to each being a different case. This illustrates another feature of case studies, namely that the researcher is active in ―imagining‖ the case (Bassey, 1999), selecting the focus of the study and thus ―constructing‖ the case. The focus within the study was the knowledge, beliefs and practices of the Grade 1 teachers in relation to the teaching of reading. Embedded units of analysis (John & Rule, in press) are the teachers‘ knowledge about teaching reading, the teachers‘ beliefs about teaching reading and the teachers‘ practices when teaching reading. This particular instance is a case of the teaching of reading in South African schools, and contributes to a deeper understanding of the wider phenomenon of teaching reading in South Africa.
Other features of Bassey‘s definition of a case study are also present in my study. It is indeed an empirical study, based on data collection. The teaching of reading was studied in its natural context, and with respect for the people involved (see Section 4.3.7 below). It is hoped that the findings will be of interest and relevance to policy makers, practitioners and academics. Stake (2005) argues that case studies should develop rich contextual data regarding the economic, political, legal, and other contexts. Chapter 3 of this dissertation contextualises the teaching of reading in South Africa in this way, and in Chapter 5 the context of the school and the particular teachers in the study is described.
In this study a large amount of data was generated, which enabled in-depth, intensive inquiry which reflects the rich reality of the case. The research focused on teachers – what they did, what they believed and how they explained their actions. While some information was gathered from stakeholders such as the school principal and learners, the study did not aim to explore the perspectives of a variety of stakeholders.
Different authors have delineated different types of case study. While different terminology is used, the key issue is whether the researcher is primarily interested in the case itself, or in illuminating the issue it exemplifies.
This study can be categorised as a theory-seeking case study (Bassey, 1999, pp. 62-63), which is similar to what Stake (1995) calls an instrumental case study or what Yin (1994) refers to as an exploratory case study. As opposed to intrinsic studies (Stake, 1995), such studies attempt to throw light on an issue which is more general than the case itself. They are instruments for the understanding of a wider issue. The issue is identified first, and then cases which exemplify this issue are identified and explored. My interest in this case is largely instrumental. While I am interested in how teachers teach reading in this school in and of itself, because I have been associated with the school and the teachers for a substantial length of time, my research was driven by a desire to use this case to contribute to an understanding of how reading is taught in South Africa in general.
The present study could also be described as a picture-drawing study because it uses descriptive rather than narrative techniques (Bassey, 1999, pp. 62-63).