CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODS METHODOLOGY

3.0?? Introduction

This study assesses impact of inductive teaching and learning of grammar on students

of Eguafo Abrem senior high school. Research methodologies employed in this study will be

discussed in this section including research design, study area, population, sampling and

sampling procedure, data collection instruments, pilot testing, data collection procedure and

data processing and analysis.

3.1?? Research Design

According to Hernández (2011), research design is defined as a highly intellectual

activity used in the investigation of nature and deals specifically with the manner in which

data are collected, analysed and interpreted. The research method determines the frame of

explanations arising from the analysis of data and observations. From the above definition,

one can not do his or her study without research method. For the purpose of this study, the

methodology that was deployed were quasi experimental design and descriptive survey

design with a quantitative approach. Quasi-experimental research is characterized by the

existence of pre- treatment and post-treatment, the presence of experimental and control

groups (Selinger & Shohamy,1989).

There are many forms of quasi-experiments but the one chosen for the current work is

pre-post-test with experimental and control groups. The experimental group is exposed to the

intervention/ treatment exercise. On the other hand, the control group is left without any

treatment. From the description given on the design, the researcher adopted the pre-test post-

test with control and experimental groups. The reason for the selection was that it helped the

researcher to do a better comparative study of the control and experimental group.

practical, mainly for researchers because they indicate specific needs. Osula went further to

say that descriptive survey design is necessary for all sorts of study that aims at appraising a

situation and draw conclusions and generalisation. The key aspect of this kind of design, thus

according to Best and Kahn (2007), is that it reflects the current situation of a phenomenon,

feelings, and continuous patterns.

Study area

The current study will be carried out in Eguafo Abirem sSenior hHigh sSchool in the

Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem municipality in the cCentral rRegion of Ghana. According to

the 2010 population census, the population of Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem municipality

in the cCentral rRegion of Ghana has a population of 161,873 out of which 51 percent is male

and 49 percent female. It is therefore a male dominated area. In terms of education, the

municipal assembly has senior high schools, vocational schools, junior secondary schools and

primary schools.

Population

Population, is the group of interest to the researcher; the group to whom the

researcher would like to generalize the results of the study (Kritsonis, 2009). The population

for the study will consists all English lLanguage all form two students reading core English

(523) and all English language teachers in the school (32). This number (554) consist the

accessible population for this study.

Sample and sampling procedure

With regard to the current study, the researcher will select 4 core English classes for

the collection of the data as well as all English teacher in the school. Out of the 16 core

English classes, 4 classes will be randomly selected using the lottery method. The two classes

will be assigned to the experimental group and the other two will be assigned to the control
group. Questionnaires will also be so administered to all teachers from the school. For

the current study, the researcher used purposive sampling to select all the teachers for the

study. Purposive sampling is the process whereby the researcher selects a sample based on

experience or knowledge of the group to be sampled. Bernard and Karmel (2002) state that

purposive sampling, when used appropriately, is more efficient than random sampling in

practical field circumstances. Also, Raenkel and Wallen (2000) advise that subjects to be

surveyed should be selected purposively, if possible, from the population of interest as they

possess the information the researcher wants to obtain. Even though, purposive sampling has

disadvantages, the researcher chose it because she needed to be sure that she could work with

the participants to test the impact of the teaching method being studied. There was no

sampling in the classes?? because all those who were available were used.

***So, what was your sample size? How many students? How many teachers?? state

them!

Data Collection Instrument

Data allows us to look over the researcher’s shoulder and see what he saw. Data

makes research empirical, and empirical research is highly valued because it represents

something outside our opinions and ourselves (Griffe, 2012). Examples of data collection

instruments include questionnaires, various types of tests, observation schemes, and

transcription protocols. The instruments used for collecting data for this study were

questionnaire, pre-test, and post-test. The pre-test will?? be used check the performance of

the participants in terms of grammar and the post-test will also will be used check how

inductive method of teaching grammar would have impacted.

to a group of people in order to collect data about some topic(s) in which the researcher is

interested (Jupp,2006). It is a data-collection instrument that asks respondents for

demographic information, opinion or questions of fact (Griffee 2012: 67). For the current

study, a questionnaire instrument will be adapted from thesis by Ananii (2015). The

instrument has 27 close-ended questions that will be administered to 32 all English

Language teachers in the school. The items on the questionnaire were divided into 5 namely,

biographical information, current teaching status, teaching approaches used to teach

grammar, professional training or in- service training and students’ performance. All closed-

ended questions were set based on the headings already stated. The researcher used closed

ended questions because it was very easy to code and also it becomes very easy when

analysing.

Data Collection Procedure

This section gives a detailed description of what was (or will be) done in carrying out

a study. As earlier stated, the researcher used questionnaire for teachers, pre- test and post-

test for the students. The reviewed questionnaire will be piloted to test its validity before it

was finally administered to the teachers selected to participate in the study. Before

administering the questionnaire, official approval will be sought from the relevant authorities

to enable the teacher to freely participate in the study. The administering of the questionnaire

will take about two weeks to complete. The researcher will seek permission from the

respective headteachers of the school. The researcher used four weeks for the class pretest

and posttest.

The intervention involved pre-test, intervention and post-test. Pre–test according to

Corbett (2003) explains that pre-test can find out the level of the students’ knowledge and

ability before the intervention starts, and so performs a useful diagnostic function. He further
states that tests during an intervention can gauge progress, increase motivation, and act as a

further diagnostic measure. In order to identify the actual problem at hand, the researcher

adopted this procedure to diagnose the perceived research problem before the actual

intervention or treatment.

The researcher will give 20 multiple choice grammar test exercise based on JHS 2

English textbook. The reason for choosing this exercise was that the researcher wanted to

know how grammatical structure is used. They will sit in class for 70 minutes to answer the

questions. After 70 minutes, the two groups, experimental and the control group will hand all

the answered scripts. One week will be used to mark the exercises and the results will be used

as pre-test score. The researcher will prepare a detailed lesson plan based on subject-verb

agreement to teach this class. The aim is for teaching this class is for the students to use target

structure effectively in their essays. This is the aim of every language teacher. Asamoah

(2001) attests to this fact that lessons in the syllabus and textbook aim at getting students use

the grammatical structure accurately and fluently to express themselves. To go by the aim

stated above, the researcher will take the students through some stages. The following are the

stages for the lesson. Presentation: The lesson on subject-verb agreement will be

demonstrated in meaningful situations. role play, dialogue, dramatization, conversation and

videos to introduce the structure. Later, sentences will be formed to help the students grasp

the grammar structure then students will be asked to form sentences using the target structure

because the topic was not new, students were able to predict what they would be doing. The

students will be involved in lots of activities.

The control group, on the other hand, received tuition through the traditional teaching

approach. Post interventionwill be the final stage to test the students’ performance on the

targeted structure so the same grammar-based exercise will be given to control and

experimental groups. This will be marked and scored to serve as the post-test score.
Ethical Consideration

Strydom (2005) defines ethics as ‘a set of moral principles which is suggested by an

individual or a group and is subsequently widely accepted as rules and behavioural

expectations about the most correct conduct towards experimental subjects and respondents,

employers, sponsors, other researchers, assistants, and students. In this regard, the researcher

will seek ethical approval from the Municipal education office as well as from the

headteachers of the school to ensure that she does not abuse the rights of the respondents.

Also, all respondents will be briefed on the study before administering the questionnaires and

having the intervention, to add to this, data collection methods were designed such that they

protected the confidentiality of the information obtained. This is done assigning a numerical

code for all data collection forms.

Data Processing and Analysis

Processing and analysis of collected data provided facts and figures. These facts and

figures enabled an interpretation of results about the findings and hence affirmations can be

made from the study. The responses to the numerous questionnaire items will also be added,

collated, and statistically analysed in addition to the pre-test and post-test scores. Descriptive

statistics will be produced to provide a description of participants in the study. Age, sex and

teaching experience of participants. The background information of the individuals will be

analysed using percentages and frequencies.

Data on research question 1(examine the strategies teachers use in teaching grammar

at Eguase Senior High School) will be analysed using Means and standard deviations. Data

on research question 2 (to assess the impact of inductive teaching on academic performance

in English at Eguase Senior High School) will also be analysed using paired samples t-test.

Finally, data on research question 3 (To assess if impact of inductive teaching on academic
performance in English at Eguase Senior High School was able to differentiate gender.) will

also be analysed using independent samples t-test.

Summary

This chapter presented the method and research procedures adopted in collecting data.

In chapter 4, the data gathered through these methods are analysed.

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