3.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the approaches and methods that I will use to conduct the study. It outlines the study area, study population, the sampling strategy and sample size, data collection instruments, data analysis and presentation, reliability and validity of data collection instruments and ethical consideration in the study.

3.2 Research design

I will employ the descriptive research design. This design will give way to incorporating all the descriptions of the epistemological beliefs and teachers’ perceptions of the cost of integrating technology in the classroom. Kothari defines descriptive research design as a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering a questionnaire to a sample of individuals. Descriptive survey can be used to collect information about people’s attitude, opinions, habits or social issues. This study will focus on the pro-technology integration teachers’ attitudes, opinions, and habits at Pearland High School. It will capture the experiences, opinions, and attitudes of respondents in the study area. This design is the planned scheme for the correct measurement and analysis of the data, at the end of its collection.

3.3. Study Area

The research will be conducted in Pearland High School in Pearland, Texas. It is south of Houston, and one of three schools in the Pearland Independent School District, serving the city of Brookside Village and most parts of Pearland in Brazoria County. Pearland High School has a population of 2,969 students in grades 9-12, with a students’ teachers’ ratio of 16:1. It has 185 fulltime teachers, numerous clubs and above engaging lesions according to parents.

Figure 3.1: Map of Pearland Independent School District

3.4. Study Population

The school has 185 full-time teachers and a varying but low number of part-time teachers. The study population will comprise teachers in favor of technology classroom integration in school and the school administrators.

3.5. Sampling Strategy and Sample size Selection

In this study, Pearland High School was purposively selected because, as a technology professional developer, I work at this school and I have come to see a deterioration in technology integration in the classroom despite my increasing effort at providing hardware and software as well as developmental training for the teachers. Based on 50% sampling units as supported by Mugenda and Mugenda an equal number of teachers will be selected from every grade from grade 9 through to 12, from the teachers in support of technology integration. Therefore, I will first identify all the pro-technology integration teachers, then select equal numbers from each grade and evenly distributed among all subjects.

The proportion of pro-technology teachers will be computed from the four grades based on 30% sampling units as supported by Mugenda and Mugenda as shown in Table 3.1

Table 3.1: Proportion of Pro-technology Teachers Sampled

  S/N

 Grades

 Total number of Pro-Technology Teachers

 30% Sample of Pro-technology Teachers

  1

Grade 9

  2

Grade 10

  3

Grade 11

  4

Grade 12

    Total

Snowballing and purposive sampling will be used to select the respondents from the total pro-technology teachers. For each grade names of all pro-technology teachers will be written in pieces of paper and then folded and put in a basket. The researcher then will randomly pick pieces of paper representative of 30% of the total number of papers in the basket as required in table 3.1. After randomly picking the names of pro-technology teachers from the grades, the researcher will come up with sample pro-technology teachers as will be shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Pro-technology Teachers Sampled

  S/N

 Grades

 Pro-technology Teachers

  1

Grade 9

  2

Grade 10

  3

Grade 11

  4

Grade 12

 Based on the 30% sampling the total number of the sample will be 55 or 56 teachers. Stratified proportionate sampling will be used to determine the distribution of the 55(6) respondents from four grades; purposive sampling will be used to select pro-technology teachers specifically. The administrators who will be interviewed will be selected through random sampling in the study.

Four Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) will be conducted in the four grades. The FGDs will be homogeneous in terms of gender, and ethnicity.

3.6. Data Collection Instruments

The study will use both primary and secondary data. For Primary data Interviews, observation, Focus Group Discussions, and Questionnaires will be used as follows:

3.6.1. Questionnaires

Pre-tested questionnaires will be administered to get information from the respondents. The questionnaire questions will be open-ended to ensure the researcher gets details response from the respondents and not yes or no answers. The questionnaires will be administered directly to the respondents through face to face interactions or through emails by the researcher to avoid misinterpretation of the questions. Therefore, the target population will be exposed to the questions in the questionnaire forms without alteration of any kind and this will avoid biasness even if given to different groups of respondents.

3.6.2. Interview schedules

The researcher prefers this method as it simply involves preparing questions that the interviewee will be subjected to answer during the interview. It is advantageous because it allows for direct contact between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interview schedules will cover all the objectives of the study and are to the expectation of the interviewer that all questions will be answered precisely by the key informants.

3.6.3. Focus Group Discussion Guides

In this study, Focus Group Discussions will be used to collect data where groups formed will homogenous based on gender, and ethnicity. To meet the intended objectives, the researcher will come up with questions that will be discussed by the respondents. The discussions will be audio recorded with the permission of the participants and later transcribed by the researcher.

3.6.4 Observation Checklists

I will use observation as a tool for collecting data to observe the reality of classroom integration practices of the teachers involved in the study. This instrument will help the researcher to obtain the data on the ideal behavior that takes place in the pro-technology teachers’ classroom practices. The researcher will use observation to identify teachers’ technology-related cost perceptions and actual class technology practices.

3.6.5. Secondary Data

I will read and review the documents by other scholars on this area of study, including journal articles, books, previous masteroral theses, doctoral theses and data from district offices with a view of obtaining related literature on the subject under study. They will provide essential information that guided the study and helped in discussing the research and interpreting the variables appropriately.

3.7. Validity and Reliability Data Collection Instruments

The validity and reliability of data collection instruments will be determined before the study through a pilot survey conducted in the Pearland Independent School District, and it will be done for all the three instruments of data collection.

3.7.1. Validity of the Instruments

The validity of research entails factual and accuracy of the information presented by a study. Further, the validity of research is about the truthfulness of the research results and whether the research measures what it was intended to measure in the first place. The validity of research instrument can be determined through expert examination. To ensure the validity of the data collection instruments, all the three instruments that will be used during the study will be pre-tested through a pilot study conducted in the District. The pilot group will consist of the first snowballing sample of 18 participants who will be around 10% of the study population and will be made up of a population with similar characteristics to those of the actual study population. The respondents of the pilot study will not part of the target study population to avoid biases and contamination of the actual study.

The results of the pilot study will be used to obtain face validity of the data collection instruments. Face validity refers to the face value accuracy and suitability of the research instruments relative to the objectives of the study. It will also, be used to obtain content validity of the instruments. Content validity refers to the extent to which the content of the study corresponds with the content of the data it is meant to collect.

In determining statistical proof, the Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated for all the three instruments. The CVI is commonly used because it is easy to compute, understand and focuses on the agreement of relevance rather than just agreement. CVI also focuses on consensus rather than consistency and provides both item and Scale information. The following recommended CVI formula will be used to calculate contents validity for questionnaires, interview guides, observations, and FGD guides.

The formula was applied will be applied for each of the research instruments under the various sections for each item as indicated. According to Weiner, data collection instruments are deemed to be valid if the CVI is above 0.70.

3.8.2 Reliability of Data Collection Instruments

Reliability refers to the precision of a measuring instrument. To ensure the reliability of the data collection instruments, the researcher will conduct a pilot study in the district before conducting the actual research. The researcher will use the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient (CAC) analysis of the Statistical Package for Social Scientists Version 17.0 to establish the reliability of the instruments through the computable responses from the data collection instruments. According to Weiner, a research instrument is reliable if it is within the recommended range of 0.7-1.0.

3.9. Data Analysis and Presentation

The field data will be analyzed using Carspecken qualitative and quantitative statistical techniques. Quantitative data will be coded and keyed into the Statistical Package for Social Scientists Version 17.0 program. The data will then be analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts, percentages, and cross tabulation. The data will then be presented in the form of charts, graphs, and tables.

The qualitative data from interviews and FGDs will be processed and analyzed following four stages of Carspecken’s five stages. In the first stage, the research will approach the data as an outsider. The second stage will involve preliminary reconstructive analysis by teasing out themes that need further exploration. The third step will involve dialogical data generation, and collaborative where the researcher will gain an insider’s perspective. Lastly, the researcher will link findings to existing macro-level theories through the secondary data collected on the topic.

3.10. Ethical considerations

To ensure the study conformed to ethical requirements, the researcher will acquire permission to conduct research from the University and the school. None of the respondents will be compelled to provide information they are not willing to give. Respondents will be encouraged to provide information freely and in good faith to the researcher on the basis that the confidentiality of their views will guaranteed. The respondents will be informed that the information is meant purely for academic purposes. All scholarship that will be used in this research will be acknowledged to avoid  google docs plagiarism checker.