TEXTS TEXT GATHERING INSTRUMENT

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B. TEXTS

The nature of data, the lifeworld - the world of lived experience is both the source and the object of phenomenological research Manen, 1990. To make the study of the lived experience of learning English, I needed to orient to the question of the meaning of learning English. The pieces of anecdotes were gathered and captured from both the in-depth interview involving unstructured and generally open-ended questions and re-interview. Moreover, the source of data was two international class students as participants of the research, recorded or audio-taped in-depth interviews and re-interviews, and document checks. Those interviews, re-interviews and document checks play a central role and enable the researcher to triangulate the valid data. In relation to the nature of data, Miles 1994, p.9 explicates that such data are not usually immediate accessible for analysis, but require some “processing”. Raw field notes need to be corrected edited, typed up and tape recordings need to be transcribed and corrected. According to Manen 1990, qualitative data – with their emphasis on people’s ‘lived experience,” are fundamentally well suited for locating the meanings people place on the events, processes, and structures of their lives; their ‘perceptions, assumptions, prejudgments, presuppositions” and for connecting these meanings to the social world around them. Therefore, this data – particularly the texts show ordinary events that naturally occur in a participant’s daily life or are being experienced – has lived life deeply Manen, 1990. 36

C. PARTICIPANTS

1. The Setting and Participant

The setting for this study consisted of locations that were quite, calm, relaxed and offered privacy, in campus, café, boarding house and were selected by participants as convenient for them. The participant in this qualitative research was generally smaller than in quantitative research. In this study the sample size was two. The convenience sampling involved the selection of the most accessible subjects. It was the least costly me, in terms of time, effort and money, since the participants were the students in my class. The purpose of convenience sampling was to seek as much detail and variation within the unique context or the “essence” of the lived experience of participants about that phenomenon Creswell, 2007. The study was conducted at UMY in which the two students were taking English subject. As one of supporting units at UMY, PPB provided foreign languages, including English, courses for students coming from all faculties. The international class had intensive one to improve the students’ competency in mastering English language. The aspects of accessibility that I worked for PPB UMY and the willingness of the participants illuminating their experiences were the central considerations of choosing them as the participants and place for this study. The two students were from the same Governmental Studies class but different senior high school; one graduated from senior high school and the other one graduated from vocational school. It meant they had different educational background and had all experienced the phenomenon being explored. In order that 37 the different setting and participants were arranged in such a way, I was able to obtain complete and various text and had an easy way to collect the text. The two participants were students in my class. In order to trace the participants I told the students that I was conducting a research and asked for their participation voluntarily. There were ten of them available at the beginning, but by the course of the interview I got problem with matching their time to meet for interview. Lastly, only two of them were willing to be involved in the study. With the purpose of going deeper in meaning or lived experience in learning English, I limited the number of participants and setting of the data. Table 3.1 shows the participants and setting chosen in the research. Table 3.1 Research Participants and Setting Participant Department Status Age Batch Mascu IGOV student 22 2011 Vitho IGOV student 22 2011

D. TEXT GATHERING INSTRUMENT

As the interview served not only as a means of exploring and gathering experiential narrative material that may serve as a resource for developing a richer and deeper understanding of a human phenomenon but also as a vehicle to develop a conversational relation with a interviewee about the meaning of an experience Manen, 1990, the unstructured interview was the main data resources of this study. The instrument was in the form of inventory questions. The 38 construction of the in-depth interview was based on each story and the inventory question was used as the general guidance for conducting the interview. Table 3.2 is a sample of the questions of how I constructed the questions. The blueprint was used to formulate the inventory questions and the inventory questions help me to develop the questions proposed based on the responses of the participants – until the topic was exhausted. Table 3.2 Sample of Questions Anecdote Sample of questions 1 Can you describe your experiences learning English? What happened on that day? What did the teacher do? What did you do? What did your friends do?

E. TEXT GATHERING AND TEXT PROCESSING