Nature and Source of Data

D. Data Gathering Techniques

In the process of gathering data, the researcher followed Holliday‟s strategies. Holliday 2002: 7 claims that strategies for collecting data have to develop in dialogue with the unfolding nature of social settings and with opportunity and developing relations between the researcher and the participants in the research process. In the first day in the field, the researcher established rapport, trust, and relation with the individuals and groups to be observed McMillan et al., 2001: 322. To develop a good relationship with the participants, firstly the researcher met them to ask their willingness to be the participants in this study. Secondly, the research made arrangements to have time availability for interviews. In the first interview, the research explained the interview procedures so that they would feel comfortable during the interview. The transcript of in-depth interviews was the primary data of this qualitative research. In-depth interviews are open-response questions to obtain data of participant meanings Patton, 2002; McMillan et al., 2001; Holliday, 2002; Milles and Huberman, 1994. The researcher came to the participants to hold semi structured interviews. Several questions were prepared as the guideline in order to make the flow of the interview smooth. The obtained data tell how an individual visualizes their world and how they explain or make sense of the important events in their life. The interviews were audio-taped. The researcher also took notes during the interviews in the event that recording equipment failed Cresswell, 2003. By using the interview, the researcher could find how the participants assign meaning toward the phenomenon they had already experienced. Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2003: 267 claim that interview enables both of the interviewer and the interviewee discuss their interpretations of the world in which they live, and to express how they view situation from their own point of view. In this sense, the interview is aimed at entering into other person‟s perspective. During the interviews the researcher took notes. Patton 2002: 383 states that notes are a back up in the case that the recording goes wrong. Besides, notes help the researcher formulate new questions while the interview goes along and also facilitate the researcher with later analysis. In the process of data collecting, the researcher asked about the teachers‟ experience, values, feelings, and backgrounds. The researcher asked the participants‟ experience to elicit what they do or have done with the textbooks selection. Opinions or values were asked to draw what they thought about their experience which could reveal their intentions, goals, and values. Yet, before going further, the researcher asked a question which was related to the participant‟s backgrounds to depict their own descriptions. The second source of data was artifacts collection. The researcher collected teachers‟ selected textbooks, lesson plans, and syllabus that described the teachers‟ actions, experiences, and beliefs as well as curriculum to reveal the reasons and the ways they conducted textbooks selection. Observation was also conducted to obtain comprehensive descriptions of the research setting. The researcher wrote notes on what she saw around the participants and the setting. After conducting the interview, artifacts collection, and observation, the researcher carried out the re-interviews. The re-interviews were used to complete necessary data which had not been covered in the in-depth interviews done previously. The data obtained was used to conduct triangulation in order to improve the validation of this study.

E. Data Processing

After conducting the in-depth interviews and transcribed the data, the researcher then conducted artifacts collection and observation. After obtaining the Figure 3.1. Data Gathering Techniques Transcript of interview Transcribing the recorded data Data Gathering Techniques of Teachers’ Lived Experience in Selecting Textbooks STEPS Conducting in-depth interview RESULT Conducting artifacts collection Transcribing the interview result Constructing questions as in- depth interview guideline Conducting observation Conducting re-interview List of questions Audio-recorded data, field notes Transcript of the in-depth interview Field notes Field notes Audio- recorded data, field notes