Table of Contents
This post explores the data analysis methods used in my PhD study on social presence in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and online learning communities. It explains grounded theory, including open, axial, and selective coding, constant comparative analysis, and memoing. The post also examines the researcher’s role as a participant-observer, data triangulation through observations, interviews, and open-ended questionnaires, and the strategies employed to establish credibility, transferability, and dependability in qualitative research.
Data Analysis
As mentioned earlier in the instrumentation part, the researcher carried out this study qualitatively and on the foundation of grounded theory because according to Creswell (2007), the investigation moved beyond pure description (the case of phenomenological research) and attempted to systematically generate or ground a theory from the participants who experienced a phenomenon (online social presence). In so doing, the researcher endeavored to collect and analyze data through conducting interviews, making close observations and distributing an open-ended questionnaire among the participants to glean the data and compare it to emerging categories (unites of information), which is technically referred to as constant comparative method of data analysis (Creswell, 2007).
In this research based on grounded theory, “methods are a set of flexible analytic guidelines that enable researchers to focus their data collection and to build inductive middle-range theories through successive levels of data analysis and conceptual development” (Charmaz, 2005, p. 507). According to Strauss and Corbin (2008), the best-known aspect of grounded theory is the distinction between different phases of coding the data, which is a multi-level procedure.
The researcher began the investigation with open coding, that is, coding the data from its major categories of information (i.e., social presence and establishing an online learning community). Then he focused on axial coding, which refers to the categories that emerge from the core phenomenon (online social presence). Furthermore, the researcher focused on casual conditions (factors caused by the core phenomenon), strategies (actions taken in response to the core phenomenon) and consequences (outcomes from using the strategies) (Creswell, 2007).
The final step in data collection and data analysis was selective coding in which the researcher developed propositions and hypotheses (i.e., ground theories) that interrelated the categories through the process of memoing in which the researcher wrote down ideas about the evolving theories throughout the process of open, axial and selective coding (Creswell, 2007).
As mentioned earlier, in this study, the researcher performed the role of a participant as observer, through which his activities, which were known to the group, were subordinate to the researcher’s role as a participant (Allwright & Hanks, 2009; Baker, 2010; Jasso-Aguilar, 2005; Merriam, 1998) because according to Baker (2010), the learners should perceive the teacher’s presence as virtual visibility. As Allwright and Hanks (2009) have proposed, language learning and teaching and research into the field of language are social processes and require both learners and teachers as key practitioners without excluding teachers.
In this collaborative type of research, the participants were encouraged to develop active roles in a fairly democratic ambience. According to Adler and Adler (1994, as cited in Merriam, 1998), in qualitative research, the investigator develops an active membership role in which they are involved in the setting’s central activities, assuming responsibilities that advance the group, but without fully committing themselves to members’ values and goals.
The descriptive nature of the study was first adopted when the researcher studied an article written by Chapelle (1997) in which she asserts that researchers’ description of the language in L2 learning activities should be centralized around the three aspects of (1) the input provided to the learner, (2) the learner’s output, and (3) the interaction that is constructed through the turns consisting of input and output. In support of conducting a qualitative research based on triangulation (i.e., observation, interviews, and open-ended questions) to come up with bona fide results in the realm of using technology for the sake of education – to be more specific, social presence in CALL programs – Richardson and Swan (2003) argue:
Perhaps if we can determine through observations, interviews, and analyses of online course documents what constitutes positive social presence behaviors, then more institutions and instructors can incorporate these behaviors into their courses. This, in turn, leads to the training of course instructors in methods that allow them to project positive social presence//immediacy behaviors as well as to incorporate or “culture” social presence among the participants/students in their courses (p. 81).
Moreover, Richardson and Swan (2003) maintain that the confluence of data obtained and analyzed cyclically through close observations, interview conduction, and open-ended questionnaires (i.e., triangulation of data in a qualitative research design) could provide researchers in the field of online education with sound and reliable data vis-à-vis creating a highly effective online learning community.
For a qualitative study to be successful and effective, it should achieve the following three elements: (1) internal validity or credibility, (2) external validity or transferability, and (3) dependability (McKay, 2006). The researcher endeavored to realize credibility by carefully recording and analyzing all of the data and presenting it in a fair and unbiased manner. To account for the internal validity or credibility of the study, the researcher used the following tips proposed by Lincoln and Guba (1985):
- The researcher was one of the active members of the course in a lengthy period of time over one year.
- The researcher made critical observations and enriched his field notes and journals.
- The researcher utilized triangulation to achieve saturation in data collection and data analysis.
- The researcher discussed the research and its design, rationale and assumptions with the participants before conducting the study to call their attention to the educational credibility of the investigation and the novelty of the research area (i.e., social presence in conjunction with CALL) so that the participants would take the course and their participation more seriously.
Transferability or external validity has something to do with the degree to which the findings of a qualitative study can be applied to other contexts. In so doing, the researcher did his best to provide a comprehensive description of the participants and context of the research so that the readers could determine to what degree the findings might be applicable to other contexts.
Finally, to account for the reliability of this qualitative research or dependability, which is the degree to which the results reported in the study could be trusted or reliable, the researcher provided complete details about his procedures and catalogued his data in such a way that others could retrieve and review the evidence they provide in their research reports (McKay, 2006). In other words, the researcher tried his best to provide a rich description of the students involved in the study, the context for the study and most importantly, all of the steps the researcher was taking to carry out the study because according to Felix (2005, as cited in Hubbard, 2005), one of the common problems of research on CALL effectively is poor description of research design.
References
- Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The developing language learner: An introduction to exploratory practice. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Baker, C. (2010). The impact of instructor immediacy and presence for online student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. The Journal of Educators Online, 7(1), 1-30. 209 INTERACTIVITY AND SOCIAL PRESENCE IN CALL
- Charmaz, K. (2005). Grounded theory in the 21st century: Application for advancing social justice studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 507-535). California, CA: Sage.
- Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Jasso-Aguilar, R. (2005). Sources, methods and triangulation in needs analysis: A critical perspective in a case study of Waikiki hotel maids. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second language needs analysis (pp. 127-158). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511667299.005
- Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc. 222 INTERACTIVITY AND SOCIAL PRESENCE IN CALL
- Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
