Data collection

In applied linguistics research, there are three main types of primary data: quantitative data, qualitative data and language data, which are often subsumed under qualitative research (Dӧrnyei, 2007:19). Quantitative data often presents numbers from, for example, questionnaires. Qualitative data usually includes recorded interviews, transcriptions of interviews, field notes and other relevant documents. Finally, language data often includes samples of spoken or written language elicited from a sample for the purpose of language analysis (Dӧrnyei, 2007:19).

4.1.1 Qualitative research

The present research study is qualitative. As formerly established, a qualitative research study usually consists of interviews and observations, which further on in the research process may become several pages of transcripts and field notes, as well as other documents relevant for the study. Qualitative research is thus mostly structured around people, samples, interview

34 subjects, those being observed and the researcher him/herself. According to Lichtman

(2012:17):

In general, the main purpose of qualitative research is to provide an in-depth description and understanding of the human experience. It is about humans. The purpose of qualitative research is to describe, understand and interpret human phenomena, human interaction, or human discourse.

A qualitative research approach was considered the appropriate method for the current study. As the main aim of the study is to record changes and developments made in the Norwegian history of oral English teaching, relevant documents, such as the curricula of 1974, 1987, 1997 and 2006, in addition to examples of the textbooks and workbooks

belonging to the four different curricula and time periods, also need to be explored. Another aim of the present study is to describe and explain how teachers have taught oral English and how pupils have experienced its teaching. In order to answer these questions, including the main research question, one needs to understand the human experiences of the teachers and the pupils, and through these direct sources, gather in-depth information about the

development of oral English teaching in Norway. An open, or semi-structured interview with appropriate interview subjects, is crucial in order to acquire answers that are detailed and that will be beneficial to the study.

4.2 The subjects

The only criterion for the teacher and pupil sampling was that the interview subject needed to have taught or been a pupil of English in the lower secondary school during one of the four curriculum periods, including and following the M74 curriculum. Gender, age, place of work/studying and years of experience were not taken into consideration when sampling any of the interviewees.

There are several ways of sampling interview subjects for a qualitative study.

However, as Dӧrnyei (2007:126) explains, ‘The main goal of sampling is to find individuals who can provide rich and varied insights into the phenomenon under investigation so as to maximize what we can learn.’ For the current study, the method of convenience sampling has been employed. To use a convenience sample means to use those individuals who are

35 available for the study. Although this sampling strategy is the least desirable, it is the most common one, at least at the postgraduate research level, as postgraduate research often happens in less-than-ideal circumstances, and during a short period of time and economic restrictions (Dӧrnyei, 2007:129). However, as Dӧrnyei (2007:129) points out, ‘One redeeming feature of this sampling strategy is that it usually results in willing participants, which is a prerequisite to having a rich dataset’.

4.3 Credibility, validity and research ethics

When addressing methods of sampling, the question of validity is one that also needs to be addressed. This is because, although the method of sampling by convenience will save time and money, it may be at the expense of credibility. For this research, in order to answer all of the research questions, a semi-structured interview and in-depth answers from reliable sources were crucial. One really cannot ensure that a convenience sample is reliable. However, all of the subjects in this research fit the description of having taught or being a former pupil of oral English in lower secondary school at the prescribed time. No other criteria were set for the subjects and they may therefore be considered just as reliable as any other sample would be.

What helps make the sample more reliable is that both the teacher interview and the pupil interview were piloted with appropriate test interview subjects. In addition, the interview was written and planned in cooperation with someone in the English department at the University of Stavanger. Furthermore, Norwegian was spoken with all the former pupils in order to make the interview situation more natural and for the interviewees to feel more comfortable. Two of the teachers also preferred speaking Norwegian in order to explain themselves clearly and to avoid any misunderstandings.

When it comes to the question of validity it is clear that this study is limited by the fact that the sample is small and therefore one cannot generalise or come to any definite

conclusions. However, this study on changes and developments in oral EFL teaching in Norway since 1974 is based on four sound perspectives: Teachers, pupils, textbook materials, and the curricula from 1974. Although the sample is small, the validity of the study is

strengthened since all these four perspectives on the matter are taken into consideration.

Moreover, because qualitative research often revolves around individual people’s personal views and intimate matters, research ethics should not be underestimated. For this research, the main issues of confidentiality between the samples and the researcher were that

36 the interview subjects remained anonymous and how the researcher should handle the

recorded findings. All of the subjects in this research were ensured anonymity and pseudonyms will be used in the upcoming sections which present the data. The interview subjects were also informed that the interviews would be recorded and, during the interviews, no names were mentioned. They were also informed that all the data would be deleted when the research was finalised.