Interview Project Example3.docx

Interview Project Example3.docx

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InterviewProjectExample3

PersonalExperiencesofPupilsinCatholicEducation

Examiningtherelationshipsbetweenreligiousschooling,faith,ethnicityandchoice

UnderstandingQualitativeResearch20XX

StudentNo.:

XXXXXXX

TableofContents

Introduction3

Literaturereview4

Methodologyandtheresearchprocess6

Analysis9

Reviewoftheresearchmethods14

Conclusion16

References17

ListofAppendices

Appendix1:

PlainLanguageStatement

Appendix2:

ConsentForm

Appendix3:

Interviewguide

Appendix4:

InterviewTranscript

Appendix5:

MyPersonalExperienceofBeingInterviewed

Appendix6:

EthicsForm

Introduction

CatholiceducationhasalonghistoryinScotland,beginningpriortoReformationandrevivingwiththestartofasubstantialIrishimmigrationinthenineteenthcentury（Conroy,2002）.Today,itisstillapreferredchoiceofmanyCatholicparents（andincreasinglynon-Catholiconestoo）,witharound90percentofCatholicchildrenattendingCatholicschools（DrJ.BradleyinMcKinney2007:

120）.Faitheducationhowever,isthecentreofmuchheateddebateincontemporaryScotland.Thesedebatesusuallyfocusontherole,methodsandgeneralviabilityoftheseinstitutionsinatimewhensecularismisgainingpriorityabovereligion.

Thepurposeofthefollowingreportistopresentsomeofthecontemporarydebatesaroundthisissue,withaspecialfocusonindividualexperiencesofCatholiceducation.EventhoughthereisalargeamountoftheoreticalandphilosophicaldebateabouttheroleandimpactofCatholicschools,thereislittleifanyempiricalworkcarriedoutonthesubject.Furthermore,whenempiricalresearchmethodsareemployed,theseareusedtoexplore“expertopinion”（seeMcKinney,2007）ratherthantheviewoftherecipientsandbeneficiariesofCatholiceducation–i.e.thepupilsandtheirparents.Accordingly,thisgapcanbefilledbycollectingandanalysingnewempiricaldata.

Thepresentreportaimstoaddressthisgapbycollectingandanalysingprimarydataonthetopic.Duetoconstraintsinthetimeandotherresourcesavailable,theempiricalpartofthestudywasrestrictedtoasingleinterviewcarriedoutwithaformerCatholicschoolattendee,thusitisnotaimedatproducinggeneralizabledata.Moreimportantly,itarguesfortheinclusionofpersonalexperiencesandopinionsinthedebateonCatholiceducation.Additionally,thereportisgoingtoexplorethemethodofsemi-structuredinterviewingandexamineitssuitabilityforthepurposesofthisresearch.

Thestudyfocusesonthefollowingquestions:

∙WhataretheparentalreasonsbehindoptingforaCatholicschool?

∙Inwhatwaydoconsiderationsofreligionandethnicityrelatetothisdecision?

∙WhatimpactdoesCatholiceducationhaveonone’sreligiousandethnicidentity?

Literaturereview

TheliteraturearoundfaithschoolsandCatholicschoolsinparticularisveryvaried,althoughitgenerallyneglectsempiricismforthesakeoftheoreticalandphilosophicaldebates.SomeofthemostpopularissuesdiscussedaretheroleofCatholiceducationinthe21stcentury（McKinney,2007）,thedivisivenessoffaitheducation（HalsteadandMcLaughlin,2005）andsectarianism（McKinney,2007）.Althoughthereisnotagreatamountofliteraturedirectlyfocusedonthequestionsbeinginvestigatesbythisstudy,muchofthewiderliteraturecanberelatedtotheseissues.

AccordingtoPring（2005:

52）,themostimportantfeatureoffaithschoolsisthattheyofferachoicefortheparents.ThreemainargumentssupportingtheexistenceofCatholicschoolsemergefromtheliterature,andtheseseemtoreflectthepossiblereasonsbehindtheparentalchoiceforCatholiceducation.

∙Thefirstone–andperhapsthemoststraightforwardone–isrelatedtoreligionitself.Mrs.F.Gilpin,HeadTeacheroftheNotreDameHighSchoolarguedthattheexistenceofCatholicschoolsisbasedonarelationshipbetweentheChurchandtheparentsandtheaimsofthetwoaresimilar:

theybothwant“theirchildreneducatedinaCatholicfaith”（McKinney2007:

142）.McKinneyalsoarguesthatasmanyparentsstoppedpracticingbuttheystillhangontoCatholicbelievesand/orvalues,theymightfeelincapabletotransferthesevaluestotheirchildrenandturntoCatholicschoolsinstead.

∙ThesecondargumentemphasisestheeducationalvalueofCatholicschools.ThereisageneralviewofCatholicschoolsas“betterperforming”,oftenattributedtothespecial“ethos”oftheseschools.Thereis,however,veryweakempiricalevidencesupportingthisview（Pring,2005:

52-53）.Nonetheless,astheproportionofnon-CatholicstudentsreceivingaCatholiceducationisonthegrowth,itisarguedthatCatholicschoolscaterforawiderneedofspiritualityanddisciple,valuesthatmanyconsidertobeabsentfromnon-denominationalschooling（McKinney,2007:

145）.

∙Thethirdargumentrecognisesthecommunitybuildingcharacteroffaitheducation.McKinney（2007）alsopointsouthowtheformationandpromotionofaCatholiccommunityisseenasanintrinsicstrengthofCatholicschools.Hearguesthatthisisanimportantaspect,whichdrawsnotonlydevoutCatholicstowardschoosingCatholiceducationfortheirchildren,butalsothosewhoaresemi-detachedorevencompletelydetachedfromtheirreligion.ItisalsosuggestedthatinafamilywithaCatholicbackground,sendingthechildrentoaCatholicschool“isjustanautomaticresponsebecausethatisthethingtodo”.“（I）t’salmostlikeatribalthing,it’s,wewentthere,ourparentswentthere,ourgrandparentswentthere,andsothekidsaregoingtogotheretoo.”（ProfessorD.CarrinMcKinney,2007:

152）.

ThisnotionstronglyrelatestotheideathatCatholicschoolsaresuccessfulincreatingandsupportingastrongreligiousandethnicidentity–assumingthattheIrishCatholiccommunitycanbeseenasanethniccommunity,sincetheyare“agroupwithacommonculturaltraditionandasenseofidentitywhichexistsasasubgroupofthelargersociety”（Bradley,p.189）.

BradleystatesthatCatholiceducationis“oneofthelinchpinsofdistinctiveCatholicidentity”（p.168）andassuchisstronglysupportedbyCatholicparentsevenifthesearenotpracticingtheirreligion.Furthermore,healsopointsoutthat

“Thereisstillasenseofcommunityamongstthosepeopleandthatthecommunityarisesfromtheircommonorigins,commonculturalthinking,practicesetc.andsomeofthesethingswouldbesecularofcourse.”（McKinney2007:

149）

Finally,AnnettearguesthatCatholicschoolsaresuccessfulinrelatingtheirpupilstothisCatholiccommunitybyassistingthemindevelopingastrongsocialcapital（2005:

196-197）.

Methodologyandtheresearchprocess

Asthereisnoexistingtheorydirectlyrelatingtotheresearchquestions,thestudyemploysaninductiveapproach–aimingtotakethefirststepstowardsthegenerationofnewtheory,basedonthefindingsoftheresearch（Bryman,2008:

11-13）.However,existingtheoriesonconnectedissues–asdetailedintheliteraturereview–havebeenusedwhendefiningthefocusoftheempiricalwork.

Asthepurposeoftheresearchwastoexplorepersonalopinionsandexperiencesrelatingtotheissuesstudied,aqualitativeresearchmethodseemedappropriate.Malinowskiarguedthatthebestwaytograsppeople’spointofviewistotalktothem（RitchieandLewis,2003:

139）.Forthedatacollectionmethodthesemi-structuredinterviewhasbeenchosen.Inthismethod“questionsarenormallyspecified,buttheinterviewerisfreertoprobebeyondtheanswers”（May,2001:

123）.

AstheaimoftheresearchistoexploretheopinionsandexperiencesofthebeneficiariesoftheCatholiceducationalsystem,thepopulationtobestudiedconsistsofCatholicschoolattendeesandtheirparentsorlegalguardians.Theintervieweehadbeenidentifiedthroughpurposivesampling（RitchieandLewis,2003:

78-79）.Duetotheethicalissuesinvolvedwithconductingresearchinaschoolsettingorwithchildren,ithasbeenseenasappropriatetorecruitformerCatholicschoolattendeesinsteadofthepupilscurrentlyattendingaCatholicinstitution.Inordertokeeptheresearchtimely,itwasalsoimportantthattheintervieweehaslefttheCatholicschoolrelativelyrecently,thusinterviewingacurrentundergraduateseemedareasonablechoice,evenmoresosinceaccesscouldbeachievedthroughtheUniversity.Takingtheseintoaccountitcanbesaidthattherewasanelementofconvenienceinvolvedinthesamplingprocess.

Asithasbeenpointedoutabove,timeconstraintsandotherfactorshaveonlyallowedforoneinterviewtobeconducted.Consecutively,theintervieweehasbeenaskedbothaboutherownopinionsandexperiences,andthoseofherparentsorwiderfamilywhenitwasappropriate.

Theinterviewitselfhasbeenconductedface-to-face.Thiswasconsideredappropriateinordertomaketheinterviewmorepersonalandallowfornon-verbalsignstobedetected.Fortheplaceoftheinterviewaquiet,closedlocationwaschoseninasemi-publicspaceontheUniversitycampus.Theuseofthislocation,seenasa“commonground”fortheinterviewerandtheinterviewee,providedasenseofsecurityandincreasedtheconfidenceforbothofthem.AsRitchieandLewis（2003）pointout,theroleoftheinterviewerstartsatthemomentwhentheresearchermeetstheparticipant.Accordingly,Ihavestartedofftheconversationwithgeneraltopics,notrelatedtothetopicoftheresearch,andonlyproceededtotheformalinterviewwhensomeleveloftrustappearedtobecreated.Ithinkthiswasparticularlyeasyinthissituation,sinceeventhoughIhaven’tknowntheintervieweebefore,oursharedexperienceofattendingthesameuniversityandsomeofthes