Methodology

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1METHODOLOGY1.

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHRather than regulating

participation

as a neutral technical input and assuming thatthe term holds one meaning for all, this study takes the approach that emphasisesthe importance of understanding the cultural context of participation practicesand recognises that there may be several interpretations of

participation

in a society.Therefore, the approach to this study is an interpretive approach. This is theapproach to understand the human behaviours with their meanings (Cohen et al.2003). Given the underlying assumption of an interpretive approach, oftencontrasted with that of a positivist approach, that one event is seen differently fromone person to another and the same event has different meanings for differentpeople, an interpretive approach enables this study to attempt to examine howCambodian parents perceive their participation and actually participate in theschool-related decision-making processes.This study also focuses on structural and external factors explaining why theseparents perceive their participation in those ways. An interpretive approachneglects these external forces whereby one interprets a situation: an interpretiveapproach is criticised for its narrowly micro-sociological persuasion (Cohen et al.2003). A critical paradigm, on the other hand, complements this danger of aninterpretive approach, its intention being to realise the social, economic, politicaland cultural backgrounds where specific phenomena occur (Merriam 2004). In thissense, the style to this study, i.e. the research design is naturalistic and partlyethnographic styles.Being naturalistic literally means showing things as they appear in the naturalworld. In naturalistic research, empirical data are gathered in their naturalisticand real-life setting unlike in laboratories or controlled setting as in other forms of research where variables are manipulated (Cohen et al. 2003). The ethnographicstyle of field research was originally developed by anthropologists and is now usedin a good many studies of small groups (Bell 1999). Ethnography describesactivities in relation to a particular cultural context from the point of view of themembers of that group themselves (Cohen et al. 2003; Merriam 2004). Naturalisticand ethnographic styles enable this study to understand the cultural backgrounds

2of parents

‟

perceptions and practices in regard to their participation, withoutmanoeuvring any variable.Naturalistic research and ethnographies share with hermeneutic a concern withmeaning. That is, a concern with hermeneutic is a concern for interpreting andrecounting accurately the meanings that research informants and participants giveto the real-life setting around them (LeCompte and Preissle 1993). However,naturalistic researchers and ethnographers can only see pieces of the reality of acultural scene, i.e. the product of the researchers and something produced by theinteraction between these researchers, and their informants and participants(LeCompte and Preissle 1993). Hence, the sites, people and other study unitscomprising the data sources are described in the next chapter as adequately andaccurately as possible, or thick description. As for the accuracy of the datacollected, triangulating with several sources of data is explained later inVALIDITY AND RELIABILITY section in this chapter.The unit of analysis of this study is an individual person such as a parent, aschoolteacher, and another educational or community stakeholder. This is becauseexamining to what extent personal background characteristics explain eachinformant

‟

s perceptions of parental participation and also exploring eachinformant

‟

s perceptions themselves are of paramount importance to this study.

Sampling

The population, potential respondents, in this study are every parent whosechildren are enrolled to a primary school in Cambodia. The research sites selectedwere Phnom Penh, a municipality and capital of Cambodia, and KampongChhnang, a province located northwestward from Phnom Penh (see the completemap of Cambodia in the opening part). Kampong Chhnang was selected because of its several characteristics as a typical rural province in Cambodia. Phnom Penhwas chosen for its comparability to Kampong Chhnang, in terms of mainlyparents

‟

background characteristics. Tables are showing demographic andsocio-economical situations of Phnom Penh and Kampong Chhnang.Table . Population and demography of the research sites (1998)

3

totalmalefemalePhnom Penh290999,804481,911517,8933,7455.7Kampong Chhnang5,521417,693197,691220,002765.0Cambodia total181,03511,437,6565,511,4085,926,248645.2land area(km2)populationpopulation density(pers/sq.km)averagehousehold size

Source: MoP (2005) Chapter 3, Table 2Table . Average monthly household income (1999)

totalwages & salariesnon-agricultural activitiesagricultural activitiesother cash receiptsotherPhnom Penh1,139,55363.1814.2440.211.197.310.23Tonle Sap344,30869.506.6233.5627.221.990.11Cambodia total403,33467.439.1536.8318.073.240.14income perhousehold (riels)monetary income (%)

(continued)

totalagricultural productsnet rental of owner occupied housenon-agricultural activitiesincome in kindPhnom Penh36.820.5526.518.970.79Tonle Sap30.5016.286.357.170.70Cambodia total32.5711.4212.747.680.72non-monetary income (%)

Source: MoP (2005) Chapter 10, Tables 10, 11 and 121)

The original source is from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (SES) 1999.2)

Tonle Sap lake region includes Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, KampongChhnang, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Otdar Mean Chey, Pailin and Pursat.3)

Monetary and non-monetary income percentages are those of October 1993

–

September 1994.Table . Educational attainment of household population in the research sites (2000)Percentage distribution of the de facto male and female household population agesix and over by highest level of education attained

malefemalemalefemalemalefemalemalefemalePhnom Penh4.614.22.83.034.541.78.37.7Kampong Chhnang17.331.20.10.364.460.14.32.5Cambodia total19.234.21.21.252.850.36.64.2neverpre-schoolsome primarycompleted primarylevel of education

(continued)

malefemalemalefemalemalefemalemalefemalemalefemalePhnom Penh29.526.012.24.97.22.39412,7375.94.0Kampong Chhnang12.25.51.40.40.20.02,4011,1071.70.7Cambodia total16.98.82.40.90.80.226,23829,1172.51.1some secondarycompleted secondarynumbermedian year of schoolingmore than secondarylevel of education

Source: MoP (2005) Chapter 6, Tables 11 and 12

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