Whilst embarking on this dissertation methodology sample, a quantitative method was initially desired but this proved problematic. Ideally, it could be suggested that the most productive way to research how many Home Educated children had achieved national qualifications would be to evaluate the national statistics. However, this is not possible as there is no reliable data and no formally recognised source. This suggests that if there are no statistics of factual data which can be accurately evaluated, there will be no reliable statistics on other criteria that needs to be measured such as happiness or opinions and beliefs. Although both opinions and beliefs can be used in quantitative data, it could be suggested that emotions such as social happiness do not get translated as effectively as when using a qualitative approach. Therefore, this sample suggests the use of qualitative research methods for this particular piece of methodology.
Although distributing questionnaires would be quicker and access more people; this quantitative approach has been discarded in favour of interviews. The reason for this is that although it is easy to send out 200 questionnaires, it is impossible to monitor how many will be returned. Furthermore, when children answer questions on a paper when the researcher is not present it is not obvious if the child has fully understood the question. On the other hand, if the researcher is interviewing the child on a one to one basis they can pick up on confusion over the question through facial expressions and body language. It could be suggested that the best approach for the interviews with the children would be semi structured. This means that the questions will be a mixture of clear, concise ones that elicit simple answers and more open ended questions that allows the interviewee to open up with beliefs and opinions on their education.
It is imperative when performing interviews of this nature that the collecting of the evidence is well prepared. For instance, when interviewing children, it might be more useful to video them (with their parents written permission) or record them. The reason for this is that the researcher is far more likely to lose a child’s attention if they are busy writing notes than they are when with an an adult.
Fundamentally, getting a correct record of the interviews is imperative to the success of the research. Important aspects of the research are:
- The length of the interview.
- How the questions were structured. For instance, the first questions were general but became specific as the interview progressed.
- Keep a record of the techniques for collecting the information and if this affected the interviewee at all.
- Did the interviewee appear nervous or stressed? It is important to keep a record of how the child appeared to be feeling as that could reflect on how they answered the questions.
The objective with the adult interviews is to uncover what effect Home Education has on the parents and the rest of the family. It could be believed that interviewing adults is easier than interviewing children. However, the problem is that it is easier to read the body language and facial expressions of children as opposed to adults who have learned how to hide their emotions. Furthermore, children are not as secretive about personal aspects of lifestyle such as family budget. Therefore, when interviewing adults, the questions have to be more contrived, without being leading, to elicit true answers than when dealing with a child.
As discussed in the aforementioned point, interviewing adults one to one can be problematic if the adult is holding their true thoughts and feelings back. It could be said that this happens on occasion with home educators because of the bad press that Home Education has often had. However, research demonstrates that when people get together with other individuals that are in the same position as themselves, they often let their barriers down. In other words, they speak truthfully about how they view the situation that they are in. This is why a focus group could be invaluable to someone researching whether Home Education is a fit for purpose alternative to traditional schooling.
Unfortunately, there are disadvantages to focus groups:
- One person can dominate the whole discussion.
- The topic can be lost if the group go off on a tangent and seem more interested in another subject.
- It is often hard to distinguish whether a subject is merely agreeing with another stronger minded individual.
- Disagreements can break out and the discussion becomes abandoned.
Ultimately, preparation is key when organising a focus group. The focus group for the Home Education topic would consist of between four to six people. The reason for this is that less than four and the discussion could peter out. More than six and people can break off into two groups and two conversations can take place. In that situation it would be impossible to collect usable data.
The discussion questions would strictly be organised to consist of the aforementioned questions about the children and then the questions which cover how Home Education affects family life. It is useful to allow the participants to openly discuss the questions, however, if the subject moves away from the research it is essential to gently bring it back to the topic.
The focus group should be taped or captured on film. It is preferable for another person to be filming the discussion so that the researcher will not miss any subtle relationship struggles between the group. Understanding the hierarchical structure of the collected people is helpful when doing research of this nature. For instance, it helps if you notice that an alpha female dominates the other mothers to suggest that Home Education does not affect the family budget whatsoever and no-one misses out whatsoever on their careers. If this is the case, the researcher can detect false evidence and perhaps do another focus group when the alpha female is not there.
