Summer, three years in to this messy thing. All my data, bar three classroom observations, is in (or should that be 'are in' if data is a plural noun? Sounds wrong!) and transcribed. So now I approach...data analysis.
I have researched web-based qualitative data analysis software and 'Dedoose' seems to be the most similar to NVivo, so I am planning to trial it for the next few weeks. Assuming that the software is successful, my next 'jobs' are:
1. Sign up and get to know the Dedoose application
2. Upload all data collected and transcribed so far.
3. Conduct the final three observations in September and add those.
4. Complete the first level of analysis
5. Begin condensing and reducing each code ready for writing up.
I have recently returned from a rare supervision with my second, much more brutal(!) supervisor.
"So, what have you found out so far?" was the opening gambit to our meeting. Gulp.
It's a good question. Not much, it seems.
- the transformative significance of the action seems to be related to the longitudinal nature of the research; participating teachers have been involved over two years
- teachers report increased confidence in pedagogy surrounding reading teaching
- teachers explicitly foreground the collaborative nature of the reading process in the classroom
- teachers function as advocates for the primacy of narrative
- teachers seem to have found more creative ways of conducting reading and inviting volunteers from the class to contribute to the reading process
- teachers spend more time in lessons on reading - reported and triangulated through observation
- teachers themselves are reading aloud more
- teachers are finding creative ways to represent the learning/reading
- teachers put engagement first and seem very articulate about how and why
- teachers are consciously creating a 'safe space' for reading to happen
Straightforward, and not setting the world alight. In addition there were some unexpected and less encouraging 'hunches':
- teachers are occasionally misinterpreting theoretical and pedagogical perspectives (but still applying these 'confidently' in the classroom)
- teachers don't seem to be doing what they 'say' they are doing
There's one blindingly obvious problem with these crude and unsubstantiated observations though: they all relate to the teachers. I seem to be preoccupied with the nexus between teachers' reading, knowledge and understanding, and the actual 'doing' in the classroom; and also the 'snowball' design of the research: how it seems to be folding-in at each stage; e.g. as teachers use the transcripts of the student interviews to further inform their thinking and practice. Where are the students in all this? They formed approximately a third of the original research design, but I'm not in a position to say anything very much about them at all.
I need to have a much closer think about the students...
What else would I do differently, having come this far? My experience of the observation process has certainly shifted; I might conduct the student interviews differently for richer discussion; my interview technique, particularly in relation to the student focus groups and the observation through transcription that I might inadvertently be shutting down potentially fruitful avenues of dialogue, so I'd watch out for that more than I have been.
Meanwhile, you will find me buried somewhere in a software tutorial.
