4.1 Introduction
The purpose of this study was to explore how students perceive learning as captured through the lens of a camera. The collection of data and the meaning behind it commenced from the moment the first participant chose a particular scene to photograph, was enriched through the responses of participants during interviews and ended only when this final report was written. Though the photographs were the starting point, they acted as the catalyst for the interviews from which meaning began to emerge. My analysis and interpretation of the different threads woven through the data offers a substantive theory which describes and explains pupil perceptions of learning at this school and for this group of students.
This chapter will outline the stages of the data gathering and analysis processes, the categories which emerged and their fit together through a core category.
Data gathering began during October 2010 with the issuing of cameras to the participants, as outlined in Section 3.3.2. Fig 6 shows the timeline of how the process than continued:
Figure 7 – Data gathering and analysis timeline
Providing the full catalogues of images which were captured and formed the foundations on which the analysis and interpretation could be built might prove illuminating, even if only within the appendices. However many have students as their subject, so for the reasons outlined in Section 3.4, it would be inappropriate to show them in their entirety. However here is a summary of that catalogue:
172 images were captured in total, of which a number were either of similar scenes or of poor quality (out of focus/camera shake)
123 usable images formed the basis for interpretation.
97 images were taken in school, 24 on a single school visit to Bletchley Park and 2 in someone's study at home
All photos (except two at Bletchley Park) in which there were people, showed student members of school and in 3 cases, teachers too.
62 were taken in classrooms (71 if we count the gym)
21 were of inanimate objects and had no people in them
19 showed subjects with pens/pencils in hand
11 showed people reading or had books as the central theme
8 showed people working at computers
No photos were taken which depicted non-school activity/situations.
Shortly after returning the camera each participant was interviewed about their images, as outlined in Section 3.3.4. These were recorded, but were not transcribed verbatim for two reasons:
- practicality - there were often long pauses during manipulation of the images or whilst the participant reflected. Comments were often inextricably linked with a specific image or group of images and taken in isolation became less meaningful.
- coding - this was not going to be a 'line-by-line' coding process, so having a transcript in the conventional sense would serve no useful purpose
Using the Compendium application (see Appendix G for a more detailed description and evaluation), meaningful phrases extracted from the audio record were mapped out. Codes were added (both in vivo codes and those which I constructed) and links created where appropriate.
Figure 8 - Compendium
This shows the data from a single interview.
One method used by grounded theory researchers to analyse relationships between codes when moving from initial through to theoretical coding is using a card or sticky note system. I elected to do the same, though used a digital version which allowed me to switch easily between Compendium with the raw data, initial codes and memos to the emerging concepts and theoretical codes.
Figure 9 - Linoit
The next phase of the study involved the respondents as described in Section 3.3.5, but followed the same format of recorded interview, creation of a graphical version in Compendium, coding and constant comparison with previous data and emerging concepts.