CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 INTRODUCTION

Research methodology is very important because it tells us how the researcher plans to tackle the

research problem. It also provides the researcher’s work plan and describes the activities

necessary for the completion of his/her project. This chapter dealt with the research methodology

which according to Tuckman (1994) deals with several aspects that would enable the realization

of the purpose of the study. The chapter seeks to explain the research design that will be used.

The chapter discusses the sample, the data collection strategies, data collection procedures and

data analysis procedures.

3.1 THE RESEARCH DESIGN

Wallen (1990) says that research design shows the way all aspects are inter-related throughout

the research. The researcher used a qualitative research design to investigate how caregivers and

the directors of the Private Early Childhood Development (PECD) centres implement inclusive

education in their centers. Qualitative design gives the researcher the opportunity to enter into

the person’s experience and by so doing one gets different responses regarding particular aspects

of concern in a study. This enables researchers to view their respondents as human beings with

feelings, ideas and motives than as mere sources of information. A qualitative approach is

relevant to an investigation into inclusive education. The aim of the researcher is to investigate

into early childhood development caregiver’s perceptions on the implementation of inclusive

education in ECD centres. The caregivers and the directors were interviewed to find out their

views about inclusive education and the researcher used observations, interviews and document

analysis methods for data collection.

of the researcher and most of these centres are located in Gweru urban. These centres cater for

children from zero to six years. The research is to examine how caregivers and directors’ view

and implement inclusive education at their centres. The researcher has chosen private ECD

centres to observe if the centres enroll children with disabilities and how they implement the

policy of inclusive education and to hear their perceptions about inclusive education.

3.2 SAMPLING

The researcher has chosen to sample purposefully, the reason being to maximize the depth of the

data. Sample refers to a portion of a population that is going to be used in the study (Wallen:

1996). Tuckman (1994) defines a sample as a group in a research study from which information

is obtained. Therefore a sample is a small proportion of a given population selected for

observation and assessment. A sample is a subset of a given population which must exhibit all

the characteristics of the population. Twenty centres were selected as the sample for this study

out of which were the directors and caregivers that were observed and interviewed. It was

necessary to select a sample of directors and caregivers because they were experiencing this

phenomenon. Makhado (2002) says the fact that it is important to select information rich cases to

the directors of the centres, as this will help the researcher to address the purpose of the research.

Cohen, Marion and Morrison (2011) say that sampling is obtained in such a way that every

member of a population has an equal chance to be select. Sampling is an exercise where the

researcher r picks some elements from a population. Therefore sampling is a process of selecting

a number of individuals for a study in such a way that the individuals represent a larger group

from which they are selected.

Data collection strategies in this investigation included observation, document analysis and

interviews. The main strategies were observations and interviews aimed at obtaining information

on implementation of inclusive education in private ECD centres. This research sought to find

out if these centers were enrolling children with disabilities and the caregivers’ views on

inclusion. According to Engelbrecht (2003) observation is a major means of collecting data in

qualitative research. This offers first-hand information of the situation under investigation. The

main objective of this investigation is to examine whether caregivers and directors of private

early childhood development centres in Gweru urban are enrolling children with educational

special needs. It was relevant to use the observation method in this study for the achievement of

valid and reliable answers. Observation expects the researcher to be part of the caregivers at the

research place, observing the environment.

3.4 OBSERVATION

Observation is a data gathering technique which relies on the researcher seeing and hearing

things and at the same time recording. According to Wood (2011) observation has been raised by

qualitative and social researchers whereby participants will be observed in their natural setting.

The researcher used observation because it is a method that enabled her to see participants’

gestures, cue and facial expressions that would also help in data authentication. The researcher

actually moved into private ECD centres to see the state of inclusivity. Through observation, the

researcher sought to find out the challenges in an inclusive classroom. This also helped to find

out if children with special needs are enrolled in private ECD centres. Observation also gave the

researcher a chance to observe how lessons are delivered, observing the teaching strategies and
seeing how children with special needs were accommodated in the teaching and learning process.

Through observation the researcher got first-hand information on the inclusivity in private ECD

centres in Gweru urban. Wood (2011) believes that observation is a major means of collecting

qualitative research data. The main objective of this study is to see how directors and caregivers

implement inclusive education at their private centres. The researcher used an observation guide

checklist to guide her observations.

3.5 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

Documents are records which are used at a school that are printed or hand written. These include

checklists, Individual Education Plan (IEP), Anecdotal notes, health cards, inventory records,

register enrollment records (McMillan and Schumacher, 2001). The researcher uses documents

as an umbrella term to refer to a wide range of written, visual ad physical material relevant to the

research study. The researcher wanted to know whether the directors and caregivers of Gweru

private ECD centres enroll children with special needs and practice inclusive education. The

researcher used a document analysis guide as an instrument for this method of data gathering.

In this research the researcher focused on three major documents which were the IEP, the

register and the inventory records. The IEP is a document that shows how a child began to be

sick, when the child started being sick and other relevant details like age, gender and a brief

history of a child. This gives the researcher an understanding of the children that is necessary

when conducting observations.

The register shows when a child started to attend lessons at a center and how often they come to

the centre. This allows the researcher to appreciate the frequency in attendance matching it with

the lessons and activities that the caregivers give and how they treat the children because the
more time the caregivers are exposed to a child the better they understand them and take better

care of them. The last major document was the inventory record. This shows the type of

resources that the centre has and if it is well equipped to handle the children at the centre with

special needs. There were other documents that were analyzed by the researcher but these were

major ones that allowed the researcher to look into the implementation of inclusive education at

private ECD centres in Gweru urban.

3.6 INTERVIEWS

According to Gary Dessler an interview is a procedure designed to obtain information from a

person’s oral response to oral inquiries. Interviews can be structured or unstructured. In a

structured interview the respondent is asked to respond to a set of questions that would be

predetermined and follow an order previously set by the interviewer. An unstructured interview

requires the respondent to respond to impromptu questions asked by the researcher.

The researcher used structured interviews in this study in order to get comparable data. The

respondents got to respond to the same questions as the researcher was guided by an interview

guide that had all the questions that the directors and caregivers were supposed to respond to.

This gave the researcher excellent qualitative information as interviews allow the researcher to

get responses that are not only limited to the oral responses of the participants but allowed for

body language to also be taken into account as it shows how the interviewees truly feel about

inclusive education. Interviews have a weakness that interviewees might give false information

to protect their own self-serving interests and so they must be considered with more scrutiny than

any other method. The information provided by the interviews was instrumental in gathering data

as it allowed for instant feedback and follow up questions.

After getting a letter of introduction from the Reformed Church University, the researcher went

to the District Education Officer to seek permission to carry out the study. The researcher made

appointments for interviews during preliminary visits to select private ECD centres. In this study,

directors and caregivers of private centers were interviewed and the centres were observed whilst

in session. All the children and caregivers were observed during collection of data. Interactions

of pupil to pupil and teacher to pupil were observed as well as the infrastructure and equipment

that the centers had in order to analyze inclusion at the centres.

3.8 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

Latif and Maunganidze (2003) say that data analysis involves sorting out, balancing and cross

checking data from different strata. The researcher expanded the notes that she gathered during

observations, interviews and document analysis in order to analyze and present them. The data

from the interviews helped to support the ideas that emerged from observations and document

analysis.

3.9 SUMMARY

In chapter three the researcher explained the use of interviews, observations and document

analysis as methods used to gather data for this study. Instruments which accompanied these

methods were highlighted. The next chapter will present the data which was gathered for this

study.