This chapter provides background and justification for the methodological approach employed for this study. It contains a detailed description of the sampling process, the research site where the research was conducted, the data collection instruments in detail, and the data analysis process. Included is a discussion of the ethical considerations that guide and frame the actions and expectations required from the researcher.
3.2 Research Design
The qualitative research study is characterized by exploring an issue, where a few individuals are typically involved in developing a detailed comprehension of a central idea (Creswell, 2014). Considering the chosen topic for the research study, several
methodological frameworks could be employed, such as case study, grounded theory, ethnography, action research, narrative inquiry, mixed methods, and phenomenology. The choice of a solid framework depends on the paradigm of the research study. The key philosophical paradigms in research methods are ontological and epistemological
assumptions, defining the flow of the research study. According to Ormston et al. (2014), constructionism is an ontological view that defines the comprehension of the world as rooted in our "understanding," which develops from reflecting on events rather than solely from our direct lived experiences. Following this, the epistemological lens is thus interpretivism as knowledge is understood to be produced by exploring and understanding the social world of the people being studied (Ormston et al., 2014).
Phenomenological design requires understanding the essence of human experience and how people experience the world rather than simply what the world is objectively like. In this instance, phenomenology was deemed the most suitable as the research questions are
concerned primarily with the experiences of those in middle management positions (van Manen, 2014).
A phenomenological research design is best suited to study human experience that is effective, emotional, and even intense (Finlay, 2011). It focuses on participants' experiences and the process of transformation from experiencing something into consciousness (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2015). The present study will focus on middle managers' experiences
implementing inclusive education policies and how they understand the concept and the process. As a phenomenological study concentrates on the significance of an experience, it is vital to demonstrate the process of building complex meanings out of simple units of
participants' direct experience (Merriam, 2002). The participants' personal opinions and experiences will help construct the phenomenon of inclusive education among middle managers. This will occur in the data collection process as the participants and researcher come to a mutual understanding of the meaning and significance of the participants' experiences (Creswell, 2012).
3.3 Research Site
As the participants are drawn from one NIS school (in which the researcher currently works) and two mainstream schools, interviews with all middle manager teachers/leaders from NIS and mainstream schools were conducted in the private office of the researcher.
Staff from the mainstream schools were already familiar with the research site and were comfortable participating in the private office of the researcher.
3.4 Sampling
Since this research is focused on a specific group of people who represent the school management system, purposeful sampling was chosen as the most suitable sampling method.
It allows for gathering information logically and in-depth, and also it allows for learning the
issue by following the purpose of the research study (Patton, 2014). This study selected participants according to their work experience and position in the given schools. This approach provided information about their perception, and the researcher could examine the dimensions of their experience to know their viewpoint and assumptions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). According to Patton (2015), purposeful sampling allows the researcher to select what is typical, average, or expected. Patton (2015) suggests specifying a minimum sample size
"based on expected reasonable coverage of the phenomenon given the purpose of the study"
(p. 314). The research methods literature suggests that 6-20 is a fair number of participants for a phenomenological study (Ellis, 2016). Therefore, the present study aimed to recruit at least six participants to meet a basic level of data saturation.
Teachers from NIS school were chosen for several reasons. The school's structure of managing the school is strictly divided and well-arranged. The managing structure of the NIS system has provided a chance for middle management leaders to shape their understanding of the concept of inclusive education. Although this research was not intended to be
comparative, the choice of participants from mainstream schools would indicate if there could be differences or similarities in the understanding of middle management leaders from different sites of a similar field toward the concept of leadership and inclusive education. The mainstream schools have other conditions in providing educational processes and may need a solid understanding of inclusive education. The choice of these sites depended on their accessibility for the researcher in terms of geographical location.
To recruit participants, the researcher appointed meetings with school principals of each school to explain the purpose of the research study and provide all necessary
information about the data collection procedure. Emails were sent to middle manager
teachers/leaders in the schools that provided consent. The emails were in three languages and explained the aim and purpose of the study and the participatory details as per institutional research ethics approval (see Appendix A). After approval was given, the researcher could proceed with recruiting participants (see Appendix B). Interested participants could contact the research and meet to discuss any questions about the study or participation.
3.5 Instruments
As the research study is qualitative and the research design is phenomenological, one of the most common methods for data collection is interviews (Creswell, 2002). Several
variations of interviews can be used while conducting the qualitative research study. They differ from each other in their structure and format. One-on-one interviewing is a standard method for collecting data in qualitative research studies. According to Creswell and
Creswell (2017), one-on-one interviews are "ideal for in-depth exploration of a phenomenon and allow the researcher to understand the participants' perspectives" (p. 183). One-on-one interviews are also more convenient in that they can be scheduled at a convenient time and place for both the researcher and the participant, and they allow the researcher to focus on the individual experiences and perspectives of each participant (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).
They are highly structured/standardized, semi-structured, and unstructured/informal
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). In this instance, semi-structured interviews were selected as the primary tool of the study (Creswell, 2012). This type of interview allows the researcher to be more flexible with questions and respond to the situation.
The interview questions were drawn from the conceptual framework and the findings of previous research studies (see Appendix B). For example, "What is your understanding of inclusive settings created for students at school?" and "Does the school encourage students'
work collaboration as well as their contribution?" are drawn from the Index for Inclusion and relate to the domain of Creating Inclusive Culture (Booth & Ainscow, 2002, p. 47). Other questions, such as "Do teachers have equal opportunities to participate in the school management process?" and "Are you encouraged to take responsibility for implementing innovative methods in teaching practice and lead your colleagues?" come from the findings of the research of Leadership for Learning. Fitzgerald and Gunter (2006) argue that
"leadership for learning needs to have a strong focus on teaching and learning, with a clear vision of what good teaching and learning looks like and an emphasis on extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may influence students and teachers" (p. 192).
The instrument was produced in Russian, Kazakh, and English. There were ten questions in total on the interview protocol (see Appendix B). The protocol was designed to take at most 45-60 minutes for each interview.
3.6 Data Collection
The researcher began data collection after ethical approval from NU GSE Research Committee was provided. After receiving the approval from the school principals (see Appendix B), a time and place were determined and agreed upon with participants who had approached the research and were interested in participation. The place for interviewing the participants was chosen beforehand and located in the researcher's workplace. For those who worked in the same organization as the researcher, it was convenient and easy to approach, as they had a considerable workload. For those who worked in a mainstream school, another location was suggested as they had difficulties reaching the place chosen. Both places were chosen to provide a private and confidential atmosphere for participants and a researcher. The place where the researcher started the interview with participants one-on-one had several chairs and a table. When the participant came to the interview, the researcher offered the
participant a comfortable seat in the office and some water or tea. The researcher gave complete information about the purpose of the study, the opportunity to contribute by participating in the interview, and the confidentiality process. Confidentiality was observed by assigning numbers instead of names of participants to each data file. At the beginning of the interview, the researcher read through the information and consent form concerning participation in the research and asked the participant if they had any questions before beginning. The researcher asked permission from the participant to record the interview and ensured that the recording would be coded and kept in a convenient place to provide safety.
During the interviews, the researcher recorded the interviews on a smartphone. After each interview, the recordings were uploaded to the researcher's laptop and kept in a password- coded folder.
The researcher started the interview by asking some general questions about work experience and so on. Further, I asked the open-ended questions one by one, and according to the interview protocol, the sequence of questions remained the same. The researcher had an opportunity to take summary notes for further analysis of the answers. During the interview, the researcher monitored the non-verbal behavior of the participant and asked additional questions for clarification. As soon as the participant answered all questions, the researcher expressed gratitude for the participant's contribution to the research study.
To ensure the safety of research data, the researcher kept copies of interview recordings in an external hard drive coded by a password. All data would be kept for three years after the completion of the research.
3.7 Data Analysis
Creswell (2012) explains that for qualitative analysis, inductive approaches are suitable to go from detailed data to broader themes. The process of data analysis is divided into several steps. First, the researcher transcribed the recordings using different tools or
completed it manually (see Appendix C). All names in the interview had already been replaced by numbers. As an example, the participants were numbered as Participant 1, 2 and so on. It was recommended to avoid interjections and pauses while transcribing the audio from interviews as only words should serve as the medium of meaning (Miles et al., 2014).
Second, the transcribed interviews were divided into several categories according to the key words or ideas they represented. During the process of transcribing the interviews the researcher highlighted the words or sentences that brought definite meaning to the study with colored pens. Saldana et al. (2013) suggested implementing the coding for deeper reflection and for structuring the parts of transcribed audios. The coding process helped the researcher to categorize similar parts of the interview. Finally, the transcribed interviews were translated back to English to analyze and describe the findings. As soon as the researcher finished the process of transcribing, the audio recording of the interview was deleted. The summary notes that were taken by the researcher during the interview were used as part of this analysis to contribute to a larger picture.
3.8 Ethical Consideration
The researcher completed CITI training and followed the principles of conducting ethical research with human subjects. As this research involved persons over the age of 18 years and concerned with details about their experiences and activity in working with other stakeholders in inclusive education, participation in the study was considered to be no more than minimal risk. The researcher took all possible steps to ensure that the guidelines for the ethical conduct of research with human subjects were adhered to. That included providing informed consent and data collection in a language understandable to each participant and ensuring that participants were aware of the risks and benefits of participating in the research.
It was important that participants were aware of their rights, including voluntary
participation, and that they could withdraw from the research at any time. That included
during the interview or even withdrawing their data from the research at any time. The researcher did all possible to maintain confidentiality through the assignment of numbers at the beginning of each interview, ensure the secure storage of electronic and hard copy data, and destroy any electronic record of the interviews after transcription and translation had taken place, as detailed in the data collection process (see section 3.6).
3.9 Summary
Thus, data collection methods were carefully planned and selected to avoid any possible limitations of the research methodology as bias and subjectivity of the researcher.
The results of the investigation are described in the following chapter. The information is organized by the chronological order of the instruments of data collection used, besides the moments when the findings contradict or disprove each other. The following chapter will present the findings from the analysis of data.
4. Chapter Four. Findings