CHAPTER FOUR: MAPPING THE METHODOLOGICAL ROUTE- PROCESS, PARADIGM AND PROCEDURE
4.7 Research Instruments
In this section I present a detailed overview of the interview schedules and the interview process that served as the primary data production method. Although the life history interview process invites participants to tell their stories,it is not without direction, given that the project addresses specific critical questions. Interview schedules were constructed with the aim of structuring the process and keeping the life history as a deliberate orientation.
~ Temporal emphasis: the schedules were structured to trace changing life experiences from childhood to adulthood.
~ Social emphasis:it had to assist with accessing experiences within a social frame, as the influence of society,family,school and life circumstances were important.
~ Personal frame: participants' personal sense making of their experiences and issues of importance to them was critical.
4.7.1 Interview Schedules
The interview schedules were revised after the pilot process in which minor adjustments had to be made to one question to sharpen its focus.I prepared two related schedules each with a specific purpose (Appendix B). The interview schedule followed a semi-structured format using more open-ended questions in order to probe more deeply and thus obtain more complete data about the teachers' biographical, programmatic and institutional experiences. Borg (1989) believes that the semi-structured interview has the advantage of being reasonably objective while still permitting a more thorough understanding of the respondent'sopinions and the reasons behind them than would be possible using a mailed questionnaire. He further explains that the semi-structured interview is generally most appropriate for interview studies in education. He concludes that it provides a desirable combination of objectivity and depth and often permits gathering valuable data that could be successfully obtained by any other approach. Through the use of interviews, teachers provide qualitative information about the critical questions underpinning the research study. The response received, enabled me to understand how these teachers were experiencing the changing history school curriculum in the way that they did.
The purpose of the interview schedule I (Appendix B) was to trace the career life history of teachers of history. The interview schedule attempted to elicit information on the subject life history, focusing particularly on the influences that shaped their image as a teacher of history. The interview schedule had a chronological set of questions,focusing primarily on:
• Initial, secondary and tertiary educational experiences to illuminate their formative years as teachers.
• Their life both inside and outside the institutions they served as well as their family and community influences.
• Their life cycles as a teacher in relationto their professional development during the different stages of their career.
• Their educational ideas/philosophies they subscribed to and how these impacted on their relationship with educational authorities.
• Other significant or critical events in their life related to the career history.
The interview schedule 2 (Appendix B) attempts to gain insight into how the changing history curriculum policy influenced history teachers' understanding of their pedagogical roles. The interview schedule focused on the following critical issues:
• Teachers' understanding of the goals and approaches of the history curriculum in respect of the (1) old curriculum (2) curriculum 2005 (3) revised national curriculum statement.
• Teachers' understanding of the changes In pedagogical practices with the introduction of Curriculum 2005.
• Teachers' understanding of the obstacles and challenges in the teaching of history in the context of a changing curriculum approach.
4.7.2 Interview Process
The interview as the primary method of data production was scheduled over a three- month period from May 2002 to July 2002. A minimum of three interviews was scheduled with each participant. Each interview ranged between two hours to three hours.
The days, times and venues for the interviews were negotiated and varied for participants (Appendix C). The interviews were held over weekends at the participant's home. The reasons for this decision were: (1) participants had more spare time available over the weekend for these lengthy interviews; (2) during the weekdays the participants were too
busy with school-related work and family chores e.g., picking their children from school and tuition, shopping and attending to prayer services; (3) schools were not a quiet location for the interviews and participants preferred the emotional and physical comfort of their homes; (4) in some cases the school management refused participants to be interviewed at school during their free periods.
The interviews did not overlap between participants because I needed to afford optimal time with each participant to engage intimately with each story and gain clarity of emerging issues across participants. All the interviews were audio-taped with the permission of the participants. Initially, the participants were distracted and uncomfortable by the use of the cassette recorder, but settled in after the first five minutes. The recorder was placed between us to make the participants feel comfortable.
The participants were reassured that I would not disclose any information from the tape- recordings to anyone. They were informed that a tape-recording of the whole interview provided an invaluable backup for any system of note-taking. During the interview process I used the strategy of memorandum writing to track issues that receive emphasis and those issues requiring further exploration. After each interview I noted points where the interview proceeded well and where it did not and why this was so. This strategy assisted in enhancing my interviewing skills and documenting the emerging themes.