challenges. Therefore, language competence is the first pre-figured theme in this study. In addition, language competence refers to knowledge of and ability to use
language resources to form well-structured messages Bagaric Djigunovic, 2007. Another aspect to support language competence is critical thinking.
Having experiences in writing academic papers, graduate students are expected to write a good quality of academic papers. They have to raise their
critical thinking and apply it into their paper. Critical thinking means skills such as: selection, evaluation, analysis, reflection, questioning, inference and judgment.
It is one of the constructs which has been proven to be a good predictor of academic performance Giancarlo Facione, 2001. Therefore, it plays an
important role in the acquisition of language skills particularly in writing Elder Paul, 2006. Based on this issue, critical thinking is the second pre-figured theme
in this study. In relation with the previous explanation, students face challenges in
developing functional language skills. Thus, it leads into another challenge in writing academic papers: to integrate critical thinking into their writings. It
requires several stages before the students could integrate their critical thinking and language competence appropriately. Integrating critical thinking within
academic papers is time consuming. It involves students to be creative: making things up in the academic papers: factual and objective, communicating ideas and
arguments clearly, and attempting to enhance the audiences’ knowledge. It is expected that by writing academic papers graduate students could have
opportunities in practicing how to compose, develope, and analyze ideas. In other words, it enhances the graduate students in improving their academic writing
skills, language competence and critical thinking. Therefore, writing expectation is the last pre-figured themes in this study.
Thus, in order to describe the “things” and set the assumptions, these themes are bracketed. In other words, bracketing is used in order to reveal the
essential meaning of the experience. This results leads to help students in improving and guiding them through learner autonomy.
36
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, to ensure the treats and trustworthy to describe of interpretation the lived experience of the research project I attempt to give a
further explanation on how to conduct the study. There are seven points to be discussed. The first, research method, it discusses the method used in this study.
The second is research design which includes the explanation of the research design in this study. The third, instrument, it explains the data gathering
instrument for this research. The fourth is text gathering which includes the discussion of how to gather the data. The fifth, text processing, it explains how to
describe and interpret the data used in this study. The last is trustworthiness which discusses the trustworthiness of the instruments and findings.
A. Research Goal and Method
The goal of this study was to find the essential meaning of writing academic papers to graduate students. This study applied the phenomenology methodology
for this study which focuses on describing meanings of individuals’ lived experience of phenomenon. According to Mannen 1990, phenomenology aims
to transform lived experience into textual expression. Furthermore, Moustakas in Cresswell 2007 adds that the description consists of what and how the
participants experienced it. Lincoln and Guba 1985 argue that the interactions among participants and research are the core in this approach. In order to gather
the data, Patton 2002 suggests that in-depth interview should be conducted in the study with the participants who experienced the phenomenon.
Phenomenology has two different approaches. First, transcendental phenomenology focuses more on effectiveness and efficiency. As stated by
Moustakas 1994 it pays more attention on the description of the participants’ experiences. Second, hermeneutic phenomenology which interprets the text of life
will results more on self-actualization and better understanding of a phenomenon Mannen, 1990. Meanwhile transcendental phenomenology is focused on the
description, hermeneutic focused more on the interpretation. In addition, the data are collected from a person who have experienced the phenomenon and later
transformed into a description which covers the individual’s experience. The description consists of what they experienced and how they experienced it.
Hermeneutic phenomenology was the focused in this study. It seeks to go beyond description in order to discover meanings that are not immediately
apparent Merleau-Ponty, 1996. Thus, it helps the researcher to figure out the participants’ lived-experience in writing academic paper which can lead to self-
actualization, autonomy, and better understanding in English Language Studies ELS, was the focused in this study. In line with Mannen 1990, hermeneutics
describes the phenomenon from lived experience and interprets as text of life. Thus, this research was focused on the lived experience of graduate students
who wrote academic papers. The purpose of this research was to transform the participants’ lived experience into textual expressions and assign meaning from
the experience, as in the essence of hermeneutic phenomenology study Manen, 1990: 25.
B. Research Design
I planned to design this study as a way to tell and revealing problem of human life. There were four aspects covered in this research design; specified goal,
context, process, and components as shown in figure 3.1 below.
Figure 3.1 Research Design 1. Specified Goal
The focus of this research was to explore the meaning of graduate students’ lived-experience in writing academic papers. In other words, this research focused
on the graduate students’ skills and knowledge in writing academic papers. Moreover it was intended to understand the stories from the participants’
Research Identity
Title: Graduate students’ lived experience in writing academic papers
Specified goal
To describe and interpret the
English graduate
students lived experience in
writing academic
papers
Context
1. Setting: The Graduate Program of English Language Studies ELS, Sanata Dharma
University, Yogyakarta 2. Time: Desember 2015-March 2016
Procedures
1. Determine the source of text
2. Collect significant information from the
initial interview 3. Arrange some pointers for
interview 4. Conduct the interviews
5. Describe the text 6. Interpret the text
Source Nature of texts
1. The source of the texts: three
illuminating graduate
students
2. The nature of the texts: a
narrative PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
perspectives about their experience in writing academic papers and assign meaning from it.
Furthermore, this research described and interpreted the participants understanding, beliefs, feelings, action and intention towards writing academic
papers in order to get the essential meaning of the phenomenon.
2. Context
This research was conducted in The Graduate Program in English Language Studies ELS, Sanata Dharma University. There were three participants in this
study. They were ELS students of 2014 academic year. They had passed three semesters in the English Language Studies Graduate Program of Sanata Dharma
University and experienced writing a number of academic papers throughout the semesters. In addition, I had a good relationship among those three participants
since they were my classmates in ELS. This research was conducted in December 2015 until the end of March
2016. In mean time, I conducted initial interview and in-depth interviews to gather the data for this research.
3. Procedures
There were several steps in conducting this research: determining source of the text, arranging pointers for the interviews, conducting initial interview and in-
depth interviews. Describing and interpreting the text were the following steps. Again, this research attempted to explore the meaning of graduate students’ lived-
experience in writing academic papers. The steps in conducting this research are PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
determining the source of the texts, conducting an initial interview, arranging some pointers for the interviews, conducting in-depth interviews, and describing
and interpreting the texts, as illustrated in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2. Research Procedure
Goal: Describing and interpreting graduate students’ lived experience in
writing academic papers PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
