QUALITATIVE STUDY

QUALITATIVE STUDY DESIGN ACTIVITIES

Technology Use with ELLs and Math Score Results
Lacey Gooch
EDRS8000: Applied Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Beryl A. Otumfuor, Ph.D., Instructor
Kennesaw State University

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With the ever increasing use of technology in education, one might wonder just how it
influences the education of todays youth. Not only is technology on the rise, but our diversity as
a nation continues to climb as well. According to the National Education Association (NEA,
2008), who referenced the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA),
Over the past 15 years, the number of ELL students has nearly doubledto about 5 million. By
2015, ELL enrollment in U.S. schools will reach 10 million and, by 2025, nearly one out of
every four public school students will be an English Language Learner, (p.1). I would like to
research how technology might specifically assist this subgroup of students in the subject area of
math. Multiple groups would be involved in this research a group of non-ELLs who use and
whose teacher uses no technology, a group of non-ELLs who do use and whose teacher uses
technology, a group of ELLs who use and whose teacher uses no technology, and a group of
ELLs who do use and whose teacher uses technology. The goal of investigating technology use
is to gain an understanding of the probable benefits these tools would provide to ELLs in the
math classroom.
Worldview
My research most likely yields to the post-positivism worldview. According to Creswell
(2012), postpositivist researchers use a vast amount of data, but also incorporate observation in
their research. There will be a substantial amount of data, observations, and interviews involved
in my research. Moreover, Ryan (2005) reveals, The post-positivist stance asserts the value of
values, passion and politics in research. Research in this mode requires an ability to see the
whole picture, to take a distanced view or an overview, (p. 18). I have always had a passion for
ELL students and strive daily to provide them with the best education as possible, which is why I

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chose to do further research about this topic, in hopes of discovering new techniques that will
help make them more successful learners.
Goals
The primary goal of this study is to determine if the use of technology increases math
scores of ELLs. As an educator of several ELL students, year after year, this population of
students has the lowest performance in almost all subject areas. I consistently use and try new
strategies to help these students, yet their performance remains about the same, revealing very
little achievement. Within a research analysis carried out by Liu, Navarrete, and Wivagg (2014),
the researchers discovered that the use of iPod touches with ELLs had an overall positive impact
on their education. This provoked my curiosity about how any type of technology could
specifically influence the math performance of ELLs.
Conceptual Framework
At the beginning of every school year, teachers at my school are asked to analyze test
scores of the students we will be teaching. Every year, our special education students and our
English language learners subgroups prove to be the students on which we need to focus.
Nothing ever seems to change. Could this be because the teaching and learning environments
never change? In order to see a change in the performance of these students, it is important that
teachers understand ELLs above all else. Miller and Endo (2004) provide a list of struggles
these students face, as well as ways for teachers to help them through those struggles. Some of
the struggles consist of the unfamiliar language and the difficult pedagogy and curriculum. The
authors also provide strategies such as evaluating teaching methods, being respectful of the
various cultures represented in class, allowing the native language to be used at times, and
collaborating with parents (p. 787 790). Perhaps using technology with ELLs will also prove

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to be effective. In addition to the understanding of these students, the previously mentioned iPod
touch research, which provides a plethora of other similar research studies, would also assist in
my study.
Research Questions
The research questions of this study include: 1) How does the use of technology
influence the math performance of ELL students? 2) What ways of using technology
(collaboration, differentiation, translating, etc.) were most beneficial for ELL math performance?
3) How does the use of technology influence math performance of ELLs and non-ELLs
differently?
Research Design
This study will encompass qualitative research. According to Stake (2010),
Observation, interviewing, and examination of artifacts are the most common methods of
qualitative research, (p. 20). Through the use of these same methodologies within my study, a
better understanding of the impact technology use has on ELL math scores should be revealed.
Additionally, qualitative research includes five different approaches: narrative, phenomenology,
grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. The research design that would be best for my
proposed research topic will be a case study.
Because a case study design will be used, I will need to have groups of students to follow
and whose scores I will need to analyze. I will have four groups of students, two of which will
not be exposed to any kind of technology use, and two that will both use technology themselves,
as well as have teachers who use it consistently in the classroom: 1) non-ELLs who use and
whose teacher uses no technology, 2) non-ELLs who do use and whose teacher uses technology,
3) ELLs who use and whose teacher uses no technology, and 4) ELLs who do use and whose

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teacher uses technology. Creswell (2012) describes a case study design as an in-depth
exploration of a bounded system based on extensive data collection, (p. 465). Much data will
be collected with these groups of students and will be compared to see if the results yielded more
in favor of ELLs or non-ELLs.
Nonetheless, these groups will need to be limited in size. Creswell (2012) states,
Providing this in-depth understanding requires that only a few cases be studied, because for each
case examined, the researcher has less time to devote to exploring depths of any one case, (p.
465). Ideally, about 5 students per group would be a solid number to study in order to obtain a
more extensive understanding of the results. It is small enough to not be overwhelming, yet
large enough to provide enough data to analyze and compare to come to conclusions about the
effects of technology use in math performances.
Data Collection
Just as there are five approaches to qualitative research, there are also five types of data
collection methods: 1) Observations, 2) Interviews, 3) Questionnaires, 4) Documents, and 5)
Audiovisual Materials. Creswell (2012) describes: 1) observations as notes and drawings
gathered while observing as a participant or a nonparticipant (p. 213-214), 2) interviews
consisting of open-ended questions discussed one-on-one, in a group, over the phone, or via
email (p. 218), 3) questionnaires including closed and open-ended questions (p. 220), 4)
documents as public and private records that support a central phenomenon (p. 223), and 5)
audiovisual materials being made up of images or sounds (p. 224)
For this specific research study, observations, interviews, and focus groups will be used
for data collection. The 20 students (five in each of the previously mentioned four groups) will
be closely observed in each of their math classes. Furthermore, these students, along with their

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teachers will be interviewed. The interview questions will be performed within each focus group
and will consist of questions regarding how the students learn best, if they prefer technology, and
if so, how they best like to use technology to help them learn, etc.
Data Analysis
According to Creswell (2012), there are six steps in the process of analyzing qualitative
data: 1) Prepare and Organize Data, 2) Explore and Code Data, 3) Build Descriptions and
Themes, 4) Represent and Report Findings, 5) Interpret the Findings, and 6) Validate the
Accuracy of Findings (p. 261 & 262). Following these six steps will ensure that my data is
analyzed thoroughly and accurately.
Specifically, the second step, which entails coding data, is an important step of the data
analysis process. The Center for Evaluation and Research (2007) describes coding as a system
to organize your data. In essence, it is a personal filing system, (p. 3). This research center also
recommends using words or phrases, as opposed to numbers symbols which could cause
confusion. Therefore, when analyzing my interviews and observations, I will use key words or
phrases to organize my findings. Words such as prefers technology, does not prefer
technology, differentiation, collaboration, iPads, and smart phones, are a few that
might be seen within my conclusions. When analyzing test results of the 20 students within my
focus groups, I will assign each student a letter to keep their names confidential. Furthermore, I
will assign each group a color to describe non-ELL and no technology, non-ELL with
technology, ELL and no technology, and ELL with technology. Lastly, for analyzing their test
results, I will use 1s to represent correct answers and 0s to represent incorrect responses to the
test questions, which could easily be done using Microsoft Excel.

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Trustworthiness

There are many aspects that can make a research study trustworthy. Guba (1981)
discusses four paradigms that may contribute to a researchers trustworthiness. Among these are
credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Guba defines credibility as how
valid a study is internally, ensuring that it measured what it intended. Transferability is defined
as the external validity of study, which questions if the studys findings can be applied to others.
Furthermore, he describes dependability as how reliable a study is; meaning that if it were
carried out again, it would yield the same results. Lastly, he compares confirmability to
objectivity, which ensures that the studys results were not based on preferences of the researcher
but rather on the experiences of the participants. These four criteria are what make up the
trustworthiness of a research. Without these key aspects, it is unlikely for one to be able to trust
the results of a research study.
In order to ensure that my study is trustworthy, I will address these four paradigms to the
best of my ability. To make my study credible, I will have a team of other teachers/researchers
working with me, with whom I can collaborate and have debriefing sessions. Additionally, I will
examine and incorporate other similar research to help support my study. Most likely, the
audience of my proposed research topic would be teachers. As a result, they would be able to
easily relate to the issues of effectively teaching ELLs, making my study more transferable. I
would be sure to include information that would lead to naturalistic generalization, termed by
Robert Stake (2005). This term refers to the ability for a reader to relate to the information and
situations being discussed. Furthermore, to ensure my study will be dependable, I will be sure to
be very thorough and describe step-by-step how my research study was performed. This way, I,
along with interested readers, could perform the study again, hopefully receiving similar results.

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Lastly, to assure confirmability, I will be sure to omit any of my personal beliefs and opinions.
Moreover, I will address any defects within my study, so that my readers will not think I am
being misleading if I choose to ignore them. Hopefully, by focusing on these four criteria, my
research study will be trustworthy.
Ethics
One must be careful when performing a qualitative research study, as there are many
ethical issues that could arise. Creswell (2012) states, These ethical issues involve such topics
as gaining access to the field, staying in the field, gathering data in the field, and the interactions
of being in the field of research, (p. 481). Researchers must have permission to perform their
study on their participants and adhere to the agreement and confidentiality between them and the
informants.
I will first find 20 students whose parents agreed to allow them to be part of this research
study. The same goes for finding teachers to participate. I will be sure to code their groups,
names, and test results. Furthermore, I will be working with a small team of other teachers and
researchers, who will be there to solidify research outcomes and the process that was carried out
to retrieve those results. Objectivism is vital when interpreting results, so I, along with my time,
will be sure to keep our personal preferences out of the findings. Ultimately, these steps should
ensure that the research study is carried out ethically.

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References
Creswell, J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative
and qualitative research. (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education
Creswell, J. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five
approaches. (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
English Language Learners face unique challenges. (2008). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from
https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/ELL_Policy_Brief_Fall_08_(2).pdf
Guba, E. (1981). Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. ECTJ
Annual Review Paper, 29(2), 75-91.
Miller, P. & Endo, H. (2004). Understanding and meeting the needs of ESL students.
Phi Delta Kappan. 786 791. Retrieved April 22, 2015, from
http://faculty.weber.edu/mtungmala/Hybrid4270/Articles/MeetNeeds.pdf
Ryan, A.B. (2005). Post-Positivist approaches to research. Retrieved April 21, 2015, from
http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/874/1/post-positivist_approaches_to_research.pdf
Stake, R. E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Stake, R.E. (2010). Qualitative research: Studying how things work. New York: The Guilford
Press.
Tips & Tools #18: Coding Qualitative Data. (2007). Retrieved April 25, 2015, from
http://tobaccoeval.ucdavis.edu/analysis-reporting/documents/CodingQualitativeData.pdf