Theory Building in Educational Research by Kettley Nigel;

Author:Kettley, Nigel;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Interpretative strategies

The mechanics of recursive and integrative coding should not be conflated with the interpretative strategies required for STTB. In the objectivist paradigm, data interpretation is depicted as the ‘reading’ of the results of inferential tests of statistical significance where the parameters of the data, the conditional requirements of a test and the percentage of variance explained dictate the outcome (Dancey and Reidy 2008). Subjectivists in contrast usually define interpretation as the induction of core categories from data coding activities governed by, for example, the production of memos and theoretical notes (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1998). For objectivists comparisons are usually made within groups, between groups and over time, while subjectivists prefer comparisons between individual cases. The paradigm war is, once again, reproduced by the level of aggregation concerned in the process of interpretation and by the presence or absence of definitive rules for interpretative judgements. Nevertheless, many educationalists have developed a sceptical appreciation for these modes of interpretation because statistics cannot simply be read, and narrative codes give voice to both researchers’ and respondents’ opinions.

Here it should be recalled that all science is ultimately a social activity. However, interpretation in science cannot be an intellectual free-for-all where any cognitive schema can be applied to make sense of the data. Systematization is the defining characteristic of scientific interpretation. A sneaking regard for the interpretative strategies of the objectivist paradigm might be inferred from this statement. However, this is not the case as quantitative strategies fail to identify the deep causes of patterns. Nor are the frameworks of subjectivist interpretation wholly adequate, for the error is reversed; deep causes are frequently created for inconsequential or unsubstantiated patterns. Therefore, in STTB a cross-paradigm or paradigm neutral model of data interpretation must be developed. Beyond the relatively obvious mechanics of integration, those shown in Table 4.2, the distinguishing characteristics of this model of data interpretation can be readily delineated.

There are two starting points for data interpretation in educational research. These are the acquired data or knowledge and the imaginative scientist as a creative, biographical entity. The former is, to a greater or lesser extent, an expression of the latter, although the degree to which systematic procedure have been enacted in research potentially curtails this relational quality of social scientific knowledge. Proceeding from the data the productive researcher must commence inductively by exploring patterns of predominant and subordinate behaviour in the numbers and/or narratives. Unsurprisingly, this is the first really active stage of recursive and integrative coding, which is further developed through encapsulative and relational coding to explore intervening variables and the causal relationships between concepts. Throughout this processes of coding, however, the researcher must make explicit their cognitive processes and the cognitive schemas which have resulted in the identification of patterns, concepts and causal chains.

Confessions of creative licence or interpretative inadequacy are not necessary. Instead, succinct and honest expressions of, for example, the inductive derivation of explanatory frameworks are required. Many media are available for this purpose, such as diagrammatic, tabular, narrative or even audio-visual summaries (see Chapter 6).

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