CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter includes some subchapters which describes how the study was conducted. It will explain about several aspects such as Research Design, Object of
the Research, Population and Sample, Technique of Data Collection, Data Analysis and Procedure of Analysis.
A. Research Design
The researcher designed this study as case study since it focused on the students
’ in specific area of research as the object of the research. The method of the research is quantitative and qualitative. This study used a descriptive qualitative
method since there were analyses of some errors done by the students in their writing. The researcher identified and described the cohesive errors
in students’ argumentative texts.
It also uses quantitative method as the researcher analyzed the quantity of the errors statistically. The statistical analysis functions as parameter to know the
percentage of students’ errors in using cohesive devices in their writing.
Halliday and Hasan’s model 1976 was selected as the most comprehensive framework for the analysis of the cohesive fe
atures in participants’ writing. The coding system was used to account for and quantify the ties and the tie distance.
Furthermore, Corder’s steps in conducting Error Analysis were implemented in identifying and describing the error of cohesive devices used by the students in their
argumentative writing.
B. Research Focus
This study mainly concerned with analyzing the students’ errors in using
cohesive devices in their argumentative writing. By analyzing the error, it is known what kind of errors of cohesive devices which dominate
the errors in the students’ text. Moreover, the source of errors are analyzed also, whether it comes from inter-
lingual or intra-lingual sources of errors.
C. The Object of the Research
The study was devoted to analyze the errors in using cohesive devices. In this study, s
tudents’ argumentative writings are the object of the research. They are in the form of composition as the final project at the end of semester. The students here
refer to the second year students of English Department of IKIP PGRI Semarang who took Writing 3 subject in 20112012 academic year as the subject of the research.
This level selection was done with the assumption that they have been giving writing
skill. This selection was also based on the assumption that at this level they had, been exposed to a variety of genres of texts, and other theories in writing skill such as how
to organize paragraph and how to compose an argumentative writing. The researcher chose 30 essays from four classes as the subject of the
research. They are given some topics they have to compose, such as Public Transportation, Abortion, Smoking, and Entrepreneurship.
D. Population and Sample
