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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter will include a discussion of the method that is used in the study, the research setting, the research participantssubjects, the research
instruments and data gathering techniques employed, the data analysis technique and research procedures.
A. Research Method
This study has three research aims. First, it seeks to basic noun phrase errors made by the students in the SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Second, it
attempts to discover the possible causes of the students’ errors and third, it suggests strategies for improving students’ understanding of basic noun phrases.
To respond to these research problems, the researcher used a qualitative approach since the study dealt with data primarily collected from documents and interviews.
This study was a document analysis. Ary, Jacobs Sorensen 2010 state a document analysis aims to identify specified characteristics of written or visual
materials p. 457. This method was chosen because the researcher analyzed the written data in the form of students’ descriptive writing. Ary et al. 2010 argue
that the qualitative researcher collects some numeric data as attempts to arrive at rich description of people, object, events, places conversation and so on p. 425.
Similarly, this study also includes numbers which are generated to enable the researcher to summarize the types of errors in students’ writing.
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B. Research Setting
The study was conducted at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. This study of students’ descriptive writing ability was undertaken in the second semester of
the school year because one of the curriculum outcomes in the second semester was to achieve a standard of competence in descriptive writing. The data was
collected from English teachers at the school between April 30 and May 16, 2012. An interview was also conducted at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta on
September 3, 2012, from 11.30 to 14.00 AM.
C. Research ParticipantsSubjects
The sample of this study was obtained using purposive sampling. According to Ary et al. 2010 in purposive sampling, sample elements judged to
be typical or representative are chosen from the population. The population in this study is made up of two hundred and thirty seventh graders at SMP Pangudi
Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in six classes which are divided into two RSBI Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf International classes or International Designated Rating
Schools and four regular classes. However, the researcher only gathered data from one of the RSBI classes since it was not possible to involve all students in each
class as participants. Thirty eight VIIF graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta in
20112012 academic year participated in this study. In addition, interview data was obtained from three VIIF graders and three English teachers at SMP Pangudi
Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. The number of the participants in this study was limited
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depth on the research problems. Consequently, as stated by Ary et al. 2010 the result of the study using purposive sampling may be misleading. This is because
limited and typical participants will not be typical over a period of time p. 156. Therefore, this study does not intend to generalize to a larger population.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
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