FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

________________________________________________________________________
HMEF5103
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
MAY SEMESTER 2016
ASSIGNMENT 1
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INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS
1. Your assignment should be typed using 12 point Times New Roman font
and 1.5 line spacing.
2. You are to submit assignment only in MS-WORD format unless specified
otherwise. Please refrain from converting text/phrases into picture
format such as .gif / .jpeg / print screen / etc.
3. Submission Method:
a. Face-to-face student:
You MUST submit a softcopy of your assignment online through
myINSPIRE and a hardcopy to your facilitator.
b. Online student:
You MUST submit a softcopy of your assignment via myINSPIRE
and another softcopy to the e-facilitator via e-mail.
You can submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file in
myINSPIRE. You are advised to keep a copy of your submitted
assignment and the RECEIPT as evidence of online submission.
4. Your assignment must be submitted on 17th 19th June 2016 (3rd
Seminar).
5. Your assignment should be prepared individually. You should not copy
another persons assignment. You should also not plagiarise another
persons work as your own.

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

EVALUATION
This assignment accounts for

50%

of the total marks for the course.

PLAGIARISM: MARKS DEDUCTION

Warning: The submitted assignment will automatically undergo a
similarity check. If plagiarism is detected, marks would be deducted as
follows:
N
o.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Similarity Percentage
0 30
30.01 50
50.01 70
70.01 - 100

Marks Deduction
(%)
0
5
10
100

If you are not sure what is meant by plagiarism, refer to the various
websites which discuss this matter, e.g. owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts.

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this assignment is to enable you to apply your skills for data collection using
several qualitative research techniques.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You are required to complete all TWO parts of the assignment.
QUESTIONS:
There has been a growing interest in describing the qualities of a good teacher (Azer, 2005;
Murphy, Delli & Edwards, 2004). This is important because teachers instructional decisions
which influence students learning experience are influenced by their beliefs in what makes a
good teacher (Woolfolk Hoy, Hoy & Davis, 2009). Hence, research on the essence of a good
teacher has important implications for teacher education.
You are required to conduct research on the topic Teacher beliefs in the qualities of a good
teacher.

PART 1: Data Collection

In this part of the assignment, you will collect qualitative data by conducting interviews and
collecting documents related to the topic Teacher beliefs in the qualities of a good teacher.

1A: Conduct Interviews

Identify and interview three (3) respondents using the topic above as a guide. Each
interview should last an hour.

Audio and/or video record all interviews.

Transcribe all interviews in verbatim, paying heed to pauses, interjections and turntaking.

1B: Collect Related Documents/Audio Visual Materials

Read and collect three (3) documents/ audio visual materials that may provide
confirmatory evidence of the information obtained from the interviews, as well as

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

those that will give you in-depth understanding of teacher beliefs in the qualities of a
good teacher.
PART 2: Generating Thematic Framework and Coding
In this part of the assignment, you will analyse the qualitative data that you collected in
Part 1. Use a two-step procedure to analyse your data.
Step 1: Familiarising yourself with data collected (interview transcripts and audio
and/or video recording of the interview, and documents)

You can do so by reading the interview transcripts, listening to the audio and/or
watching the video recording of the interviews and going through the collected
documents. This process will enable you to be aware of key issues, ideas and
recurrent themes associated with the topic Teachers beliefs in the qualities of a good
teacher.

Step 2: Coding and Generating thematic framework

After the familiarisation stage, assign codes or labels to segments of the data which
are relevant to the research objective.

Key issues, ideas or concepts, and themes which emerge after coding are referred to
as emergent themes. Make a list of the recurrent themes and the subthemes, and
how they may be substantiated by the data collected.
Note: This process is similar to a filing system. At this point in time you may wish to
read or collect new documents to support your interview data.

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

Assignment Description
Write a paper discussing issues related to your data collection, data coding and identifying
emergent themes. You may include the following outline for your paper:

Purpose of your study

Data collection:
describe how interviewees were selected and why they were chosen
describe interview procedures
describe the choice and the rationale for the selection of the documents

Coding and Generating Emergent Themes

describe how data was coded
describe how themes were derived
list themes derived
[50 marks]

References:
Ritchie, J., Spencer, L. & OConnor, W. (2003). Carrying out qualitative analysis. In J. Ritchie
& J. Lewis (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students
and Researchers. London: Sage
http://196.29.172.66:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1231/1/122.pdf
Srivastava, A. & Thomson, S. B. (2009). Framework Analysis: A Qualitative Methodology for
Applied Policy Research. JOAAG, Vol. 4. No. 2.
http://joaag.com/uploads/06_Research_Note_Srivastava_and_Thomson_4_2_.pdf

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

HMEF5103 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

MARKING SCHEME FOR ASSIGNMENT 1 (50%)
MAY 2016
DIMENSI
ON

UNSATISFACTORY
1

POOR EFFORT
2

SATISFACTORY
3

GOOD
4

EXCELLENT
5

Intervie
wing
and
transcrib
ing skills

- Weak or no
description of
interview procedures
- Transcripts do not
demonstrate
appropriate
interviewing or
transcribing skills.
- The transcripts are
not submitted.

- Weak description of
interview procedures
- Interview is not
always related to the
research objective.
- Poor ability to use
appropriate openended questions or
probing questions.
- Transcripts do not
always show
interjections, pauses
and turn-taking.
- It is unclear if only
one interviewer/ee is
present in an
interview.

- Basic description of
interview procedures
- Interview is related
to the research
objective.
- Basic ability to use
appropriate openended questions, but
could have probed
more to glean
pertinent
information.
- Transcripts
generally show
interjections, pauses
and turn-taking.
- Only one
interviewer/ee is
present in an
interview.

- Good description of
interview procedures
- Interview is
generally focused,
with discussion
related to the
research objective.
- Interviewer uses
appropriate openended questions,
probing where
necessary.
- Transcripts indicate
interjections, pauses
and turn-taking.
- Only one
interviewer/ee is
present in an
interview.

- Documents/ audio
visual materials are
presented but not
used to draw
connections between
themes/ categories/
data and ideas found
in documents.

Documents/ audio
visual materials
presented:
- show a basic
connection to teacher
beliefs in the
qualities of a good
teacher.

Documents/ audio
visual materials
presented:
- show a basic
connection to teacher
beliefs in the
qualities of a good
teacher.

Documents/ audio
visual materials
presented:
- are somewhat
related to teacher
beliefs in the
qualities of a good
teacher.

- Excellent
description of
interview procedures
- Interview is clearly
focused, with
discussion directly
related to the
research objective.
- Excellent interview
with appropriate
open-ended and
probing questions.
- Interviews are well
transcribed with
interjections, pauses
and turn-taking
clearly indicated.
- Only one
interviewer/ee is
present in an
interview.
Documents/ audio
visual materials
presented:
- are related to
teacher beliefs in the
qualities of a good
teacher.
- are related to main

Ability to
source
and
utilise
relevant
documen
ts/ audio
visual

WEIG
HT &

MAR
KS

3
(15%
)

3
(15%
)

HMEF5103/ASSIGNMENT1/MAY2016/LA

material
s

- Documents/ audio
visual materials are
not related to teacher
beliefs in the
qualities of a good
teacher.
- Documents/ audio
visual materials are
not presented.

- are not always

related to main
themes in data
- do not always
support outcomes of
the interviews
- are not effectively
used to draw
connections between
themes/ categories/
data and ideas found
in documents.

Ability to
identify
emergin
g
themes
and code
data

Inability to code data

and poor or no
identification of
themes.

Coding of data and

identification of
themes are weak.
Able to search
through the data for
minimal regularities
and patterns. Words
and phrases used for
coding do not
represent the
patterns established.

- are broadly related

to main themes in
data
- somewhat support
outcomes of the
interviews
- are used to draw
connections between
themes/ categories/
data and ideas found
in documents, though
not always
effectively.
Coding of data and
identification of
themes are basic.
Able to search
through the data for
a limited number of
regularities and
patterns. Words and
phrases used for
coding do not
accurately represent
the patterns
established.

- are generally
related to main
themes in data
- somewhat support
outcomes of the
interviews
- are used to draw
connections between
themes/ categories/
data and ideas found
in documents/ audio
visual materials.

themes in data
- support outcomes
of the interviews
- are used effectively
to draw connections
between themes/
categories/ data and
ideas found in
documents/ audio
visual materials.

Coding of data and

identification of
themes are good.
Able to search
through the data for
quite a number of
regularities and
patterns. Words and
phrases used for
coding quite
accurately represent
the patterns
established.

Coding of data and

identification of
themes are excellent.
Able to search
through the data for
all or most of the
regularities and
patterns. Words and
phrases used for
coding very
accurately represent
the patterns
established.

4
(20%
)

Note: Plagiarised or copied assignment papers are to be given a zero (0) mark.