3.1. Research Concerns 59
3.3.2. Transcribing 87
envelopes and folders. Chundra (1997:75) perfectly describes this clutter as a "messy business". I felt as if! was up to my "eyeballs in data" (Feldman, 1995: 1).
My supervisor wisely advised me to obtain a diary for my thesis - a not uncommon object when undertaking research (Powney& Watts, 1987; Flick, 1998). I sorely regret that I did not take this advice sooner, as I discovered the usefulness of having all one's ideas in one place invaluable.
Another recommendation made to researchers is that they get right to the task of including inscriptions into research data and not procrastinate. Powney & Watts (1987:185) state that
"novice writers are big procrastinators". I procrastinated hence the paper work mounted.
find commonalties, differences, patterns, and structures". See sample of an interview which has undergone the process of coding in Appendix 3. I also drew themes onto large charts
(Appendix 7), in which similar themes were colour-coded (Chundra, 1997).
Flick (1998: 180 -186) mentions that there are various types of coding. First I began with
"open coding" where concepts were taken out of each line that was analysed. Text was coded line by line then broadened to paragraph and then to bigger chunks of text. Contrasting the categories, noting surprising patterns and developing subcategories, was the next step (Sapsford& Jupp, 1996: 292). The entire process began to get quite intricate (with scraps of paper, use of different colours, paper cuttings, and notes). The information as Chundra (1995:75) would phrase it looked "used".
The next form of coding, which I did employ, was axial coding. Axial coding is when the researcher moves between the developed categories in the text (inductive thinking) to
deductive thinking (when one compares, categories against the text, especially cases that differ from the developed categories, as the next level of coding is to take the coding to a higher level of abstraction (Miles& Huberman, 1994). One difficulty I had with coding was the notion of when to stop. Flick (1998) says that there exists only fuzzy criteria as indicators of when to stop coding. I began to consider computer programmes to assist me with this endeavour. The process though seemed almost as lengthy as compiling the data manually, so this option was not explored further.
I counted themes (Sapsford & Jupp, 1996, Miles & Huberman, 1994) to find their significance - which is where quantitative data is included. I had even considered including graphical presentation, though settled for the tables and figures evident in this study, as I did not want to make a half-hearted attempt at partial quantitative analysis.
.Sapsford & Jupp, (1996:291) add that it is good practice to examine the terminology used distinctively by your informants. This is named "semiotics" according to Feldman (1995:39).
She advises that one looks at the underlying meaning of words compared to their surface manifestation. I found that my initial analysis was quite descriptive, as I merely labelled phenomena (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). I needed to look beyond the obvious for instance, examine dichotomies between 'us' and 'them'; 'men' vs. 'women', 'teacher'vs. 'learner', 'teacher' versus department'.
To verify the interpretations using the above methods, I have included many quotes from the respondents, which creates a "textured portrait" (Fuller & Heynennan 1990:18 in Chundra, 1995: 77). This was the only way I could ensure that some of the true essence of what the interviewees shared could be transferred to paper. What I realised though, was that talk is dynamic and loses something when written. This is evident in Millet's research on prostitutes in Reissman, (1993:12):
What I have tried to capture here is the character of the English spoken by four women and then recorded on tape, I was struck by the eloquence of what they said, and yet when I transcribed the words onto paper, the result was at first disappointing. Some of the wit of M's Black and southern delivery had disappeared, gone with the twang of her voice.
One difficulty I experienced was in the successful use of'decontextualisation' (Coffey &
Atkinson, 1996:30), which refers to the act of separating data extracts from their original context while retaining meaning. The danger of this was that the local colour (Hammersley&
Atkinson, in Sapsford & Jupp, 1996) could be lost with the compression. Summarisation of data was extremely difficult for me, as the dialogue once analysed appeared to be very disorganised. Talk was discontinuous, occurred in rapid bursts, distinguishing some words was made difficult by intrusive background noises, speakers sometimes did not express their ideas succinctly, instead using gestures, pauses, voice quality, and facial expressions to express meaning. All of this gives an additional layer of meaning to words, which I sometimes found difficult to transcribe and place on paper and worried whether or not my interpretations would be an accurate picture of the teachers' revelations. (Powney& Watts, 1987).
Another of my concerns were whether or not descriptions were vague enough to ensure anonymity, yet accurate enough not to cause affront. Powney& Watts, (1987) call the role that I played a 'schizophrenic task'.
A further concern was deciding what to include and what to exclude (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998:69). The omission of data is called "frictional loss", and in qualitative research is justifiable and acceptable. Data was selected to remain depending on the level of agreement amongst respondents and intensity of feelings (LeCompte and Preissle 1993, Miles &
Hubennan, 1984, Flick 1998). Selection depends on of the subjects, the completeness of facts, as well as biases and manipulative maneuvers. The type of analysis I used is what Flick (1998:196) tenns "global analysis". In this fonn of analysis, themes from the transcribed lines are noted, which are then summarised and then the decision is made as to whether or not to include it in the interpretation.
Another concern was the fact that I was the only one interpreting the data and so whether conscious or otherwise, all of my own values, cultural background, etc. has coloured the words of the teachers. This is epitomised in the words of LeCompte and Preissle (1993:86):
Those who study humans are themselves human and bring to their investigation all the complexity of meaning and symbolism that complicates too precise an application of natural science procedures to examining human life. This difficulty has been recognised for millennia...
This is especially so, as I did not return to respondents to verify their meanings (Reissman, 1993:56). The fact that only my "filter" (Powney &Watts, 1987:11) was used to construct the story of what happened has been an issue that has long been debated in qualitative research. In fact the process whereby only the interviewer's interpretations of what occurred are recorded for posterity has been termed the Black market (ibid: 152) as no members of the public e.g. the respondents are there to verify the actual events or my selection of the data. The relation of text and reality is termed the "crisis of representation" by Flick, 1998:31).
Ethnographers and other qualitative researchers are, first of all, individuals with human personalities and preference, family histories, varying states of physical and mental health and a myriad of personal experiences, talents and skills and Strength and weaknesses. These individual characteristics affect research activities in ways immediately recognisable, ways that become apparent over time and ways that may never be known. (LeCompte & Preissle,
1993:90)
3.3.3. Data Presentation
The most frequent form of display for qualitative data in the past has been narrative text. As we shall note later, text is terribly cumbersome. It is dispersed, sequential rather than simultaneous, poorly structured and extremely bulky. Under these circumstances, it is easy for a qualitative researcher to jump to hasty, partial unfounded conclusions. Humans are not very powerful as processors of large amounts of information; the cognitive tendency is to reduce complex information into selective and simplified Gestalts or easily understood configurations. (Miles &
Huberman, 1984:21)
Data is presented in the form of narrative text, i.e. quotes, as well as in the form of tables.
Miles& Huberman, (ibid.) argue that data display is a key element of the analytical process so that the reader can 'see what is happening'. Miles& Huberman, (1994) say that humans are not good processes of large amounts of information, hence data display otherwise with dispersed data the result can be poorly ordered and bulky, when not reduced.
I wondered about the form the information would take. I took this advice, hence the tables and figures evident in the course of this study.