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Validity, trustworthiness and limitations of the study
This study is a case study of non-implementation challenges of a reform policy within a single secondary school. Because it is a social research, both quantitative and qualitative, focuses on social action and its patterns, this study includes subjective experiences and conditions influencing action and experience (Carspecken, 1996).
However, the “thick description” (Geertz, 1973) resulting from this study is appropriate given the interest of participants to reveal the subtleties of nonimplementation at school level.
From a validity point of view, this study was therefore concerned about three “communicative validity claims” (Carspecken, 1996), associated with three ontological categories, namely (1) objective claims; (2) subjective claims; and (3) evaluative claims. First, objective validity claims are the descriptive statements and not inferences that may be judged as true or false by others. Second, subjective validity claims focus on individual emotions, desire, and intent. Third, evaluative
validity claims are about what is proper, appropriate and conventional based on the conformity to conventions. To help minimises these validity challenges of personal perceptions and analytical bias by myself, I employed Denzin and Lincoln’s (1994) ‘member checking’ to increase the trustworthiness of this study. The fully transcribed interview data was scrutinized and authenticated by the interviewees.
To help alleviate a major limitation of data being interpreted by myself alone, data analyses were discussed with other policy makers to see if their experiences resonate with my interpretations and findings. The recommendations and conclusions were also examined by the ‘strategic liaison team’ of the school to provide a further filter for my interpretation. All these mechanisms of scrutiny were not employed to get agreement among the interview participants, strategic liaison team or policy makers, but rather to reveal that such claims exist and should be understood, at least implicitly by those interested by this study.
This study used interviews and questionnaires as data collection instruments from the teachers of a secondary school in Cape Town. As a result, it has all the inherent limitations of interviews and questionnaires. These include the limited nature of information which can be gathered by a closed form questionnaire, possible selfreporting distortions, rate of return concerns, and the possible non-random nature of non-respondents.
Furthermore, the study was designed and executed within a single case study school, which has a limited target population of teachers, which may not represent all schools in the education metropole development centre (EMDC), the province or the country. The teacher population is also not representative of all teachers in the country. Their educational experiences, class status, level of qualifications and attitude towards the profession might differ totally from other schools.
Finally, the school was located in a disadvantaged working class community, thus putting a limit on the participation and financial contribution that could be expected from parents and the community. The social challenges of the community frequently found their way into the school, thus limiting the opportunity for focussing on policy implementation with all the support for external forces. Therefore, a school with a different social context and economic set-up might experience totally difference challenges.
A summary of the chapter
In this chapter I present an insider account of the policy deliberation process in order to illuminate the rich and complex antecedents of DAS, and which in part will explain the subsequent trajectory of policy implementation. In presenting this account, the data I draw on are policy documents and manuals, the workshop sessions, and the interviews and questionnaires.
I clarify two distinct paradigms that shaped different stages of this work. It explains the importance of context and how it often shapes the thinking, methods, meaning of concepts, and the approach and processes of research. Furthermore, I explain the different methodologies for investing the three policy-process stages within the DAS policy in order to respond to the policy gap debate. Finally, I explain how the different data sources will be used, in conjunction with the ‘policy-practice gap’ literature. Chapter 5, 6 and 7 are indicated as the main data analysis chapters of this study.
The next chapter discusses the Policy Formulation stage of the research by using policy documents and manuals relevant to the DAS policy.
1. An introduction to the study
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 THE FOCUS ON THE STUDY
1.3 THE RATIONALE AND POLICY CONTENT OF THE STUDY
1.4 MY ROLE WITHIN THE POLICY FORMULATION STAGE
1.5 THE DESIGN FEATURES OF THE DAS POLICY
1.6 THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.7 THE LITERATURE ON POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND THE RELATED RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.8 THE METHODOLOGY OF THIS STUDY
1.9 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.10 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
2. The literature review
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 INVESTIGATING THE POLICY-PRACTICE GAP LITERATURE
2.3 CREATING A FRAMEWORK OF KEY RESEARCH ISSUES
2.4 A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE RELATED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION READINESS CONDITIONS (IRC) FRAMEWORK
2.5 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
3. The conceptual framework of the study
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.3 THE KEY CONCEPTUAL ARGUMENT OF THE STUDY
3.4 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
4. The research methodology
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
4.3 DATA COLLECTION
4.4 VALIDITY, TRUSTWORTHINESS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
4.5 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
5. The level of complexity and depth of the DAS policy
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 AN ‘INSIDER’ VIEW OF THE POLICY FORMULATION STAGE
5.3 THE EVALUATION MECHANISM THAT WAS USED TO GAUGE THE COMPLEXITY AND DEPTH OF THE DAS POLICY
5.4 THE LEVEL OF COMPLEXITY AND DEPTH OF THE 22 STEPS OF THE DAS POLICY
5.5 DATA FROM PROVINCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS WORKSHOPS
5.6 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
6. The intervention support given to Cape Flats Secondary School
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 THE EVALUATION MECHANISM THAT WAS USED TO GAUGE THE INTERVENTION SUPPORT GIVEN TO CFSS
6.3 THE PROVINCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL APPRAISAL TRAINING SESSIONS AS A MECHANISM FOR INTERVENTION SUPPORT
6.4 EVALUATION DATA ON DAS INTERVENTION SUPPORT FROM VARIOUS DATA SOURCES
6.5 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
7. Cape Flats’ level of functionality
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 THE CONCEPTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY OF CAPE FLATS SECONDARY SCHOOL (CFSS)
7.3 THE EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS INSTRUMENTS THAT WERE USED TO DETERMINE THE LEVEL OF FUNCTIONALITY OF
7.4 WHAT TEACHERS SAY ABOUT THEIR SCHOOL – THE ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
7.5 UNDERSTANDING THE LEVEL OF FUNCTIONALITY OF CAPE FLATS SECONDARY SCHOOL
8. Theoretical and methodological considerations in this study
8.1 INTRODUCTION
8.2 SYNTHESISING THE ARGUMENTS OF CHAPTER 5, 6 AND 7
8.3 POLICY INSIGHTS OF THE STUDY
8.4 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY
8.5 A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
References
Appendices
