38
CHAPTER III METHODS OF INVESTIGATION
This chapter discusses the methods of investigation which consists of subject of the study, roles of the researcher, research design, research procedure, research
variables, types of data, instruments for obtaining data, procedures of obtaining data, and procedures of analyzing data.
2.3 Subject of the Study
The subject providing the data of this study was the eleventh graders of PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga. This school is located at Jl. Nakula Sadewa I,
Kembang Arum, RT 02, RW 03, Kel. Mangunsari, Kec. Sidomukti, Salatiga. The researcher used class XI D-AP which consisted of 34 students as the sample who
still possessed low mastery of grammar based on the data obtained in preliminary observations during the teaching practicum PPL. Moreover, eleventh graders
were chosen because the simple past tense was taught at this education level.
2.4 Roles of the Researcher
The researcher played important roles in this research as a teacher who patiently taught the materials to the students and checked their mastery of the simple past
tense through tests; a data collector who collected the data obtained from observation, tests, and questionnaire; and a data analyzer who then analyzed the
collected data in order to be able to draw any conclusions based on the end results.
2.5 Research Design
Research design refers to the plan that will be used to conduct the study. According to Pollard and Triggs 1997:65
“action research involves researchers, with teachers or other practitioners, in a cyclical process of planning, action,
observation, and reflection before beginning the whole process all over again ”.
These processes or phases could be elaborated as follows: 1
Planning At this phase, the researcher planned a detailed set of decisions about how to take
the action in the future and how to improve an action. What is the actual problem arises in the class? Who will do the action? When will it happen? What are the
proposed changes to the learning process? How do I intend to apply my revised teaching methods? This is because it is so much important to find out if the plans
are able to be done and to consider how students‟ reactions to the implementation are.
2 Acting
At this phase, the researcher implemented the arranged plan in the class. After answering questions at planning phase, I tried to give the treatments to the
students in the hope of improving their learning achievements. The researcher also had to make sure that any deviations from the plans had been recorded since
reality sometimes could be unpredictable. 3
Observing Observing phase ran along with acting phase. There was a detailed observation,
monitoring, and recording during the treatments were given in the classroom. This
was used by the researcher to assess how much the improvement of the action was.
4 Reflecting
At this phase, the researcher reflected the overall learning process considering the results of the observations. By reflecting, I could make a strong decision whether
a replan was truly needed or not.
2.6 Research Procedure