Qualitative Research and Analysis

Research Methodology and Design

This study uses a flexible research design with a questionnaire/interview methodology for collecting data, which is appropriate as this descriptive qualitative case study aims to identify key social issues perceived to cause issues of emotional interference among students in a public high school. With the purpose being to look more closely at the nature of the problematic relationship between social issues, emotional interference and student academic performance in the high school, the descriptive case study approach appears as most appropriate since it provides a suitable means of collecting data to analyze and identify themes and issues that can help to describe the nature of these relationships (Houghton, Murphy, Shaw & Casey, 2015). The research questions are all exploratory in nature, which means that a flexible, exploratory approach like the descriptive case study research design will help to see them answered. The research questions that this case study aims to answer are:

· Q1. What emotional difficulties, if any, do students experience in transitioning to high school that hinders their ability and their academic success? 

· Q2.What emotional influences, if any, do high school administrators identify among high school students that contribute to students’ poor academic performance.

· Q3. What factors do high school educators perceive, if any, to limit their ability to assist students with poor academic performance as the result of emotional issues?

Each question is based on identifying variables, rather than testing pre-defined variables—which is why an experimental design is inappropriate for this study and why the descriptive design is best suited to the study’s purposes. The descriptive case study approach supports fact-finding research and exploratory pursuits (Tetnowski, 2015). As De Massis and Kotler (2014) state, “a descriptive case study should be adopted when the aim of the research is to convince someone” of a phenomenon’s basic characteristics (p. 16). Moreover, interviews serve as appropriate data collection tools in such an approach as they allow the researcher to delve into the environment of the phenomenon and obtain information directly from sources immersed in that environment (Yazan, 2015). Their experiences help to inform the researcher’s audience about how a phenomenon is perceived and what possible themes that emerge in participants’ responses should be identified for further study and scrutiny.

 Alternative approaches include correlational design, experimental design, review design, and meta-analytic design—but none of these design approaches work for the proposed study as each is oriented towards achieving a different type of aim. The correlational design is situated din more of an observational approach, which could be useful in a study like this but it would require a different methodology altogether—i.e., the researcher would have to embed himself within the public high school environment for a sufficient amount of time to observe first-hand how the phenomenon is displayed among students at the school. Because of time constraints, this approach is unsatisfactory. The experimental approach is likewise unsuited to this study’s aims, as there is no hypothesis that is being tested: the aim of this study is to explore and identify the issues associated with the research questions—not to test a pre-conceived theorem or variable in a controlled environment. The review approach is also not what is desired, as its aim is mainly to examine existing literature on the subject and summarize the views contained therein; this study aims to add new knowledge to the body of literature relevant to the issues and fill a specific gap. For the same reason, meta-analysis is not the right approach, as there is currently insufficient data available on this subject, which is why the descriptive design is most needed now.

The sample size for this study was guided by the concept of “information power,” which teaches that “the more information the sample holds, relevant for the actual study, the lower amount of participants is needed” (Malterud, Siersma & Guassora, 2016, p. 1753). Instead of seeking a sample that can supply a saturation effect, the sample obtained here is oriented towards producing information power: every participant is to be chosen because of his or her closeness to the issues associated with this study’s research questions.

The sample will consist of ten high school students, ten high school teachers, and five high school administrators, all of whom are expected to provide insight through the questionnaire/interview process. Patton (2014) indicates that small sample sizes can be helpful for studies wherein researchers seek to obtain a detailed and in-depth perception of critical phenomena. In the case of this study, that is exactly what is sought with regard to the key emotional concerns associated with the research questions.

The sample of students, teachers and administrators will come from one suburban high school located in southern California. Data collection will include semi-structured interviews with current teachers and administrators and an anonymous questionnaire completed by students. The questionnaire and interview questions will be open-ended queries phrased in a manner that will provide the researcher an opportunity to probe for details and description related to the research questions. Arora (2017) notes that questionnaire method is one of the most common means of obtaining data from a sample of participants in a relatively easy manner: because of time and resource constraints, that reason provides justification for its usage in this study. Questionnaires will be given in students’ classroom, either during the first or the last five minutes of the students’ class, as is directed by their teacher.

Interviews will be conducted in the natural environment of the teachers and administrators—i.e., either in the classroom or in the office of the teacher or administrator’s choice. Conducting semi-structured interviews in a setting that is natural for the participants can allow them to feel more relaxed, open and naturalistic with their responses, which can promote a better flow of information to the researcher (Hämäläinen & Rautio, 2015). Likewise, open-ending questioning within the semi-structured interview process is an effective way to facilitate the retrieval of organic responses from participants: focusing on the person and his or her emotions is about making the interviewee comfortable and getting that person to talk more freely so that themes and concepts can organically and naturally emerge without fear of the interviewer unwittingly planting them there. The point of this approach is for the ideas and expressions and communications of the participant to be allowed to emanate organically from the interviewee and not from the interviewer in so far as is possible (Kallio, Pietilä, Johnson & Kangasniemi, 2016). This helps to ensure that minimal bias or steering is interjected by the interviewer into the process. In a study where the aim is to explore and describe the phenomena under scrutiny, minimal interference from the researcher is most favorable.

Data analysis will be conducted using qualitative data analysis software NVivo, which allows a researcher to use the algorithms programmed into the software for identifying common themes in conducting content analysis (Woods, Paulus, Atkins & Macklin, 2016). Using software like NVivo is helpful in reducing the risk of human error in evaluating qualitative data obtained through the interview and questionnaire processes. Data analysis software is especially helpful in studies that are limited in terms of time and resources.

An alternate method of data analysis that can be used includes conducting open coding and eidetic reduction, which are performed by evaluating the transcribed copies of these responses, line by line, paragraph by paragraph and then as a whole. This process allows the main themes to emerge organically from the text, first on a line by line basis, then on a larger scale. The researcher essentially takes a microscopic look at the data and then pulls back, examining it from the macro-perspective so that what initially begins as having many themes ends with a single theme that stands out most prominently. Essentially, open coding allows for categories and themes to emerge while eidetic reduction allows the “noise” of surface-level misinformation to be filtered out and the essential meaning of the text to be distilled and identified (Lin, 2013, p. 471). The segmentation of data into units of information which can be labeled thematically and categorically allows for the processing of the data to be more easily achieved and more efficiently distilled into an appropriate concept with clear and precise meaning. The process is aided by the careful application of introspection on the part of the researcher, as the text is read and re-read and the terms and ideas used by the respondent sifted like sand through a gold sieve.

Imaginative variation is a process that accompanies eidetic reduction in this analysis procedure, as it helps to uncover and unlock meaning that may required more expressive terms, which are supplied by the researcher. Lin (2013) describes imaginative variation as “a procedure used to reveal possible meanings through utilizing imagination, varying the frames of reference, employing polarities and reversals, and approaching the phenomenon from divergent perspectives, different positions, roles, or functions” (p. 472). The analysis of the participants in this study, and the comparison of their responses with one another, will allow “polarities” to be identified and it will also allow for various perspectives to emerge and provide depth and complexity to the overall picture of how counselors treat sexual addicts and how comfortable they feel with regards to their preparedness in doing so.

By focusing on the participant and using the unstructured interview approach to encourage the interviewee to elaborate on responses, the researcher can ensure that the most useful data will be obtained throughout the combined survey/interview processes. Bracketing out bias beforehand is the preferred method of removing researcher bias from the process. Bracketing is performed when the researcher states up front and honestly the expected outcomes or findings of the data analysis (Johnston, Wallis, Oprescu & Gray, 2017). With these expectations explicitly described and established, the researcher can focus with more energy on the participants themselves as they engage with the researcher. The semi-structured interviews will be allowed to unfold organically as the researchers discuss the participants’ experiences and allow them to divulge information without any formulaic prompting. When researchers address their own bias by identifying it (i.e., their expectations) and then by empowering their participants in the study to communicate as fully as they can so that the participants’ perceptions and perspectives—rather than the researchers’—can emerge and be analyzed, a better data sample is obtained.