As the research background together with research questions were discussed in chapter one, and Literature has been reviewed in chapter two, this chapter will address other research issues starting with the research approach, research framework, research procedure, population and sample, data collection and analysis and last though not the least, the validity and the reliability of the study.
Research Approach
In this research, a qualitative approach, which is a flexible and iterative approach, an approach that consciousness and the objects of direct experience is its theoretical perspective Biklen (2004) has been chosen; because this will avail researcher the opportunity to have more thorough analysis of problem in policy and practice, and focus more on the description of the world as experienced by individuals in the analysis of issues in special education like TVET (Mertens, 2009; Rockhill et al., 2003; Smith, 2000).
To ensure accuracy of the data and evidence gathered, the researcher used triangulation.
For example, different methods such as interview and document review were used to collect the data. Furthermore, interviewees were drawn from cross section of all the participating institutions such as top level managers, middle level managers, principals and teachers). With the culmination of above reasons, qualitative research is preferred in this study. Therefore, the study utilized two main qualitative data gathering methods namely: individual interviews (face-to-face) and documents review.
Research Framework
As stated earlier on, many scholars have agreed that so many factors influence effective integration of ICT into education (Saud et al., 2011). Among those factors as suggested by Kotsik et al. (2009) this researcher considered four of them in order to study the prospects and the challenges of effectively integrating ICT into TVET system: Organizational Readiness, Pedagogical Readiness, Strategic Readiness, and Technical Readiness.
Below research framework is designed based on four aspects of ICT integration into education system all of which were drawn from literature review most notably the work of Saud et al. (2011).
24
As shown below, this research studied the prospects and challenges of ICT integration into the Gambia’s TVET system. Precisely, it looked into the influence of the four aspects (Organizational Readiness, Pedagogical Readiness, Strategic Readiness, and Technical Readiness) on effective integration of ICT into the TVET system. These four aspects are broken down into various interview questions some of which (the interview questions) were based on Chinien, and Kotsik’s ICT integration model adopted by this study; but the interview questions in general and the framework were carefully drawn in consideration of the research questions.
Figure 3.1. Theoretical framework.
Strategic Readiness Pedagogical
Readiness
Technical Readiness
Organizational Readiness ICT Integration
25
Research Procedure
In this section, the different steps and stages of this research have been discussed. The first stage was the identification of the research topic which was done in collaboration with the thesis advisor. This was followed by review of previous academic works otherwise referred to as literature review on the integration of the ICT into Technical and Vocational Education and Training system (TVET). Based on this and the guidance of the thesis advisor, the frame work for this research and a very suitable research method that have led to the achievement of the research purpose were developed and identified respectively.
However, after a thorough literature review, precisely on Saud et al.’s four aspects of ICT integration and Chinien, and Kotsik’s ICT integration model, the interview questions for this study have been designed in consideration of the research phenomenon. In the interest of validity and reliability, the questions went through an extensive peer and experts’ review as well as pilot testing.
In order to diversify or strengthen the accuracy of the data, the researcher has reviewed the official documents of National Training Authority. However, the main method of collecting data was interview. After successful collection of data, the gathered data was synthesized, analyzed and interpreted. This has led the researcher to the results, findings, conclusions, and implications.
26 Figure 3.2. Research procedure.
Research Topic
Research Framework
Literature Review
Methodology
Interview Questions
Pretest Interview Questions
Adjust Interview Questions
Conduct Interviews
Data Analysis
Research Findings
Conclusion
27
Sampling Process
According to NTA Act (2012), most of the Gambia’s TVET institutions are located within Greater Banjul Area (the capital and its surrounding) where this study is limited to. In order to get an accurate data regarding the research phenomenon, purposeful sampling technique was implored to identify participating TVET institutions. All types of sampling in qualitative may be classified under broad term of purposeful sampling (Patton, 1990). Patton further argues that qualitative inquiry typically focuses in depth on relatively small samples, even single cases, selected purposefully. Therefore, the following criteria were used to purposefully select 25 TVET institutions out of the targeted population:
Length of services 5 – 10 years
Number of TVET programs in the institution
Number of technology related programs
The above three criteria were used further as determinant for the final 5 participating TVET institutions as subjects for this study; for example, institutions with or that have been operational for about 5 – 10 years were given preference to those that have fallen below the criterion. However, where there was tight up; those that have highest number of years of experience were prioritized.
The same procedures were applied to the remaining criteria.
All the above criteria were found in National Training Authority’s (NTA) records which the researcher used to carry out purposeful sampling.
However, Purposeful Sampling has been used again to identify interviewees within the final 5 individual TVET institutions. This sampling technique helped the researcher to decide what needed to be known and find people who can and were willing to provide the information based on knowledge or experience (Lewis & Sheppard, 2006). The participants from TVET institutions were finally selected by virtue of position and experience. For example, principals, alternatively vice principals or senior teachers as well as administrative staff were targeted.
Intensity sampling technique being a process of selecting or searching for rich or excellent samples for the phenomenon of interest was also used to select the three interviewees (officials) of NTA, three interviewees from MoHERST, and two from Taiwan ICDF. ICDF is captured in this study because Taiwan through ICDF has been an active donor agent for the Gambia’s TVET programs. As a result, it will be prudent to catch or include the version of their
28
technical director in this project and his assistant. In plain English, the subjects in those institutions were selected based on their knowledge and understanding of the research phenomenon. Although Patton (2002) states that intensity sampling may need prior information and exploratory work to be able to identify intense samples, this researcher has used interviewees’ experiences and the relationship between their work and the research problem as yardstick for selection. For example, in each of the institutions, there is a unit responsible for TVET issues, the researcher therefore targeted those who work directly under units responsible for TVET and ICT related issues. The final Criteria for subject selection were based on positions and experiences.
Participants
The sample population for this study was the tertiary institutions within the Greater Banjul Area, the Gambia National Training Authority, The Gambia Ministry of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, and Taiwan ICDF. Basically, five out of 25 identified major TVET institutions within greater Banjul Area were covered. The identification of these 25 TVET institutions was based on Purposeful Sampling which was later condensed into five through same sampling technique.
However, three interviewees were drawn from NTA, three from MoHERST, and two from Taiwan ICDF. Once again, Purposeful Sampling was administered since the case is information rich which helped the researcher to study the research phenomenon in in-depth level (Meriam, 2002).
Table 3.1.
Profile of the Participants
Name Current Position Institution Qualification Duration Stay in Position
A’idah Dep. Director General A MSC 1 year
Aaban Senior Instructor A BSC Honors 12 years
Habibou Admin. Assistant B Microsoft Cer. System Adm. 5yeras
Baahir Director Admin B BSC 5 years
Burang Director C MSC 1 year
Cala DPS (Third to Minister) C MA 3 years
Faakhir Director C MA 3years
(continued)
29 Table 3.1. (continued)
Name Current Position Institution Qualification Duration Stay in Position
Fadeelah Agt. Director D BA 1yr almost
Baba Agt. R & A Spe. D National Higher Diploma N/A
Aba Research Officer D BA 7years
Badala Director E ACCA Part B 8years
Totaala Senior Instructor E BSC/MCSA/MCSEIT 4years
Boding Senior Instru. /Admin Head F MSC 1year
Kunjang Director F MSC N/A
Faye-nyama Engineer G Certificate CCNA 3years
Sawdang Director G MSC 4years
Faheem Consultant H PHD 2years
Yaqoob Admin Assistant A Diploma Management 4years
Faizal Senior Teacher B BSC 6 years
Data Collection
One of the most important considerations of using qualitative approach is that, it can be used to better understand any phenomenon about which little is yet to be known, or to gain more in-depth information that may be difficult to convey quantitatively (Strauss & Corbin, 1990); "If you want people to understand better than they otherwise might, provide them information in the form in which they usually experience it" (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 120). Furthermore,
“Qualitative research reports, typically rich with detail and insights into participants' experiences of the world, may be epistemologically in harmony with the reader's experience” (Stake, 1978, p.
5) thus making it more meaningful.
Document Review
Wide range of documented materials may be used as a valuable source of data; the term documents may include but, not limited to institutional documents such as clinical, programmatic, or organizational records (Curry, Nembhard, & Bradley, 2009). As Curry et al., point, documents may be categorized into personal and public: personal documents may include diaries, letters,
30
artistic expressions, while public historical documents may include legislative testimony, legal documents.
One method to conduct systematic document review is analysis of the content, a strategy that draws conclusion through objective and systematic identification of core elements of written communication (Curry et al., 2009). This research therefore conducted content analysis of the Public Historic Documents of National Training Authority as the second method of collecting data in order to generate secondary data. This has helped the researcher to compare and contrast previous and the current situation of TVET in the Gambia, and finally generates inferences and recommendations about the research problem.
In-Depth Interviews
The term interview itself in accordance with the philosophy of Kahn and Cannell (1957) may be described as a conversation that has a specific purpose. According to Merriam (2001) in most cases, interviews are more open-ended and less structured; whiles Patton (2002) divides it into three general categories: the informal conversational interview, the general interview guide approach; and the standardized open-ended interview. However, studies have revealed that the most common form of interview is person-to-person format; this may range from open-ended to the highly structured style and then to semi-structured one in which questions are written before the interview. For the purpose of this research, the researcher administered semi- structured interview which has actually helped to best answer the research questions by getting insightful stories from the interviewees about integrating ICT into the TVET system of the Gambia.
With the permission of the interviewees, the interview process of this research was recorded. Furthermore, verbatim transcriptions of the recorded responses were made to avoid missing out any relevant part. The Gambia being an English speaking country, the interview has been conducted in English Language so as to give the interviewees the opportunity to freely express their opinions regarding the research phenomenon.
From the literature review, it is found that most qualitative researchers use different data collection methods, sometimes combination of two or more. In a n exploratory study of this nature, in-depth- interviews can be very instrumental in finding out what is going on in order to seek new insights' (Robson, 2002). It will further allow the researcher to prepare ahead of time which in no doubt will help to cover all the important aspects of the research phenomenon before conducting the interview. Furthermore, in depth interview will allow the researcher to provide a
31
list of themes and questions to be covered, although these may not be fixed since there can be variations from interview to interview. In other words, it gives the researcher the opportunity to omit some questions in particular interviews considering the specific organizational context which is encountered in relation to the research phenomenon. The order, in which questions are set, may also equally be altered depending on the flow of the discussion. Contrastingly, the need for more may be required to explore research questions and objectives given the nature of events within particular organizations. The nature of the questions and the ensuing discussion mean that data will be recorded by note taking, or perhaps by tape recording the conversation which will be transcribed during analysis.
The interview questions were designed based on the research questions which were reviewed by experts for suggestions. Later on, a pretest interview was conducted and modifications or adjustments were incorporated where necessary in preparation for the implementation. This study therefore used document review and in-depth interview to obtain the data.
Following the guidelines of “Straussian School of thought of Grounded Theory” (Strauss, 1987), which assumes that the researcher has a general idea of where to start his or her research.
In the light of the above, the researcher will structure the design of the interview on six main points.
With combination of the above theory and Saud et al.’s four aspects of ICT integration and Chinien, and Kotsik’s ICT integration model, the researcher developed 17 semi-structured interview questions which had gone through both experts and peer reviews and were equally pilot tested. The access to experts was not much difficult since the staff from the technical department of the host institute-NTA served as experts and a principal from one TVET institution.
These reviewers (experts) were drawn from different backgrounds; for instance, NTA senior management directly in charge of TVET issues was represented. A principal of one of the biggest TVET institutions represented the TVET institutions. It is however important to note that, the above identified experts were not included among final interviewees. However, as shown in the interview questions, the experts have suggested that the study should include the current existing structures of the institutions being studied, and also suggested that some aspects under strategic readiness for example, finance be transferred to organizational readiness. Based on the feedback of the experts review, GAMTEL became part of the study.
However, before expert review, the interview questions went through peer review all of whom (peers) were classmates/graduate students of International Human Resource Development
32
(IHRD) program, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). As stated by Dick (1996), the interview questions hence forth moved to the early development stage of one-to-one evaluation.
The recommendations made for adjustments have been immediately incorporated in order to enrich or standardize the content for the final phase of the interview.
Background of the Researcher
Since the data of this research does not only consist of data collected through the methods identified earlier on (documents review and in depth interview), but also the opinion of the researcher, which may lead to subjective and biased interpretation of the data thus, making it necessary to discuss briefly the researcher’s back ground. As rightly stated by Mertens (2005) that in qualitative study, researcher is a data collection tool because it is to the researcher’s discretion to decide which question to ask, and in what order, and what to write down. The researcher for this study was brought up in a typical traditional African set up with a multicultural background, which prompted the researcher’s interest to study this topic hence, most of the community dwellers where the researcher emanated from live on NGOs provided TVET Skills for their survival. The researcher was one time a part time lecturer in one of the TVET institutions in the Gambia while serving as Senior School full time teacher and a head of department of humanities.
Academically, the researcher also had a Management and Development Studies background which skills provision (TVET) is all about. The researcher has taken part in so many researches in the Gambia which included: the Gambia Civil Service Reform funded by UNDP in collaboration with PMO; and impact assessment of selected NGOs on the rural communities of The Gambia, funded by Sussex University in UK. Furthermore, the researcher has completed two different qualitative research papers one of which is already published. These together with the combination of the previous research experiences, the researcher had produced reliable and valid results without prejudice.
33
Data Analysis
As Robson (2002) rightly mentioned, qualitative data analysis is a rigorous process, a complex and a complicated process which requires skill fullness. The type of thinking and skills needed for this data analysis are different from those needed for quantitative data analysis;
creativity, divergent thinking, keen perception of patterns among ambiguity, and strong writing skills are helpful for qualitative data analysis.
Interview
Document Review
Record
Notes Taking
Data in Verbatim And Key Notes
Open Code Categories
Axial Code Themes Dimensions
Research Questions
Figure 3.3. Analytical process.
34
Thus after conducting interview, the researcher had reviewed all the transcriptions and the jotting downs in order to have better understanding of the responses or data. Thereafter, the data was segmented based on the responsiveness to the research questions.
The analysis phase was divided into three stages: Data Reduction, Data Display, and Data Verification. Firstly, the collected data has been organized and meaningfully reduced or reconfigured, which is described as “data reduction” by Miles and Huberman (1994) in first of their three elements of qualitative analysis. Precisely in this stage, the observed official documents of NTA which served as secondary data, interview transcriptions and other relevant jotting downs were coded.
While the coding process continues, the researcher prepared a code list which was revised several times so as to identify synonymous conceptual units. In a much simpler term, the data has been segmented based on relationship which were transformed into concepts (phrases). This led the analysis into its second level ‘display” where the data went a step beyond data reduction but, further to provide "an organized, compressed assembly of information that permitted conclusion drawing” (Miles & Huberman, 1994, pp. 10-12). Therefore based on similarities, these phrases or concepts were compressed or grouped together into categories which were revised thoroughly for better categorization. For example, codes for ‘Document Review’ were associated to particular section of the research based on relationship and were labelled together with interview codes of that particular section as “S1’ where “S” represents “section” and the number one refers to the section number. Each code was further explained with the combination of letters and numbers. For example, Q1-R4C1 was attached to each code. “Q1” stands for question 1, while “R” represents respondent when it is used for the interviewees and responses when used for document review,
“C1” is used to represent code number. “G” and “I” in the code list represent GAMTEL and ICDF respectively. These codes were later merged and categorized based on similarity. In order to show the process, Appendix A, B, and C indicated the interview questions, the interview transcript, and the list for codes.
Finally, the interpreted data was revised and compared to the raw data for the purpose of verification, since the meaning of any data has to be tested for its apparent validity and robustness
Finally, the interpreted data was revised and compared to the raw data for the purpose of verification, since the meaning of any data has to be tested for its apparent validity and robustness