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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology of the research and the analysis. There are six points in this chapter namely research method, research setting,
research objects, research instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
A. Research Method
This research constituted qualitative research. It was because the researcher used her own experiences as the basic background of this research.
Merriam 2009, p.5 shares that qualitative research focuses on how the researchers interpret their experiences, how they construct their knowledge and
how they attribute meaning to their experiences. Since there were several methods in the qualitative research, this research used a content analysis method. There
were two reasons why this research employed the content analysis method. First, this research analyzed the test items which were the result of human
communication. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 483 states a content analysis was a method to investigate human behavior indirectly through an analysis of their
communication. The human communication does not mean as it is, but it relates to many things which are produced by human beings Fraenkel Wallen, 2006, p.
483.
25 Second, this research had two objectives which were to describe the high-
stakes test in Indonesia and to obtain the levels of thinking skills employed in that kind of test. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, 485 notes the content analysis was to
obtain descriptive information about the topic and information useful to education world. Thus, this research would investigate problems which related to education.
B. Research Setting
This research was conducted in ongoing process. The researcher started collecting the data from November 2014. The researcher, then, analyzed the data
in January to May 2015. The researcher took times in conducting this research because there were several obstacles she faced. These obstacles actually help the
researcher to learn deeply about the topic she investigated. Moreover, there were no particular places such as schools or classes for researcher to conduct this
research. It was because this research did not use observation or interviews.
C. Research Objects
As stated before, the content analysis used human communication as the data. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 483 state the human communication which is
investigated in the content analysis was many things produced by human beings. Therefore, the objects of this research were the test items of Junior High School
English UN as designed by a team of test designers. Furthermore, this research investigated Junior High School English UN administered in 2012, 2013 and
26 2014. The test items of the three consecutive years of Junior High School English
UN constituted the population of this research. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 92 argue that population is the larger group to which the researcher hopes to apply
the results. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 92 also argue that the smaller number of groups taken from the population was called as a sample. Hence, the sample of
this research was 10 greeting cards, 19 letters, 32 filling-gap texts along with 183 following questions. Briefly, the researcher used a purposive sampling method in
the instrumentation. A purposive sampling was a method which was used by researchers to
select a sample by using their personal judgment on the population Fraenkel Wallen, 2006, p. 100. In conducting this research, the researcher had several
reasons for defining 10 greeting cards, 19 letters, 31 filling-gap texts and 183 following questions as the sample. First, the sample revealed two different reading
types which were tested in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN. Second, the sample gave information about the materials which were
tested in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN. Third, the sample covered the levels of thinking skills which were employed in the three
consecutive years of Junior High School English UN. Thus, the researcher used a purposive sampling to judge the sample of this research whether it would
represent the topic investigated or not.
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D. Instruments and Data Gathering Techniques
An instrument was a device which the researchers used to gather data, and it involved processes called instrumentation Fraenkel Wallen, 2006, pp. 112-
113. The instrument of this research was personal construct which used the researcher herself as the major instrument of the research. It was supported by
Cohen, Manion and Marrison 2011, p. 498 that the personal construct is a research instrument which uses
the researchers’ constructs to interpret what they perceived in terms of their existing mind and the way they behave towards it.
Merriam 2009, p. 150 convinces ,” Since investigator is the primary instrument
for gathering data, he or she relies on skills and intuition to find and interpret data from documents
”. Thus, the researcher used her knowledge about Brown’s testing theories and Bloom’s taxonomy to collect and interpret the data which she found
from the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN documents. The researcher used coding categories as the technique to gather the data
since formulating coding categories was the technique applied in the content analysis Fraenkel Wallen, 2006, p. 487. Moreover, the researcher determined
the categories before the analysis began. Fraenkel and Wallen 2006, p. 485 argue that the researcher can determine the categories before any analysis began.
The researcher used Brown’s testing reading theories and Bloom’s
taxonomy theory to formulate the coding categories. Brown 2004 states that there are four types of reading, both of them are selective and interactive reading.
It helped the researcher to answer the first research question about the description of the three consecutive years of Junior High School. Moreover, the researcher
28 used Bloom’s taxonomy to answer the second research question about the levels
of thinking skills which were employed in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN. Anderson and Krathwohl 2001 states there are six
levels of thinking skills which were discovered by Bloom 1987 namely remembering, understanding, applying, evaluating and creating.
Accordingly, the six levels of thinking skills employed certain behaviors which have been the characteristics of each level. For example, remembering
employed recognizing and recalling behaviors. Understanding employed interpreting and summarizing behaviors. Next, applying employed executing
behavior. Analyzing employed differentiating, organizing and attributing behaviors. Evaluating employed checking and critiquing. Last, creating employed
generating, planning, producing, inventing, designing and making behaviors
Anderson Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 66-88; Churches, 2008.
E. Data Analysis Techniques
Counting is a characteristic of some content analysis methods Fraenkel Wallen, 2006, p. 490. The researcher, hence, used counting as the technique to
analyze the data which had been categorized. The researcher counted the frequency of several aspects which would be the research results. Fraenkel and
Wallen 2006, p. 490 state the content analysis obviously is dealing with counting frequencies to gather the data.
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