Page 23 - FINAL RESEARCH PAPER THESIS 2020

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction
This chapter described the research design, the population, sample and sampling procedures, the
instruments and methods which were used to collect data from the sample, data analysis and ethical

considerations.

3.2 Research design
Research design refers to the blue print of a study or the framework that has been created to seek

answers to research questions (Bless et al., 2006). Sekaran & Bougie (2010) on the other hand
states that research design addresses important issues relating to a research project such as purpose

of study, location of study and type of investigation. Research designs, however, will vary from

simple to complex depending on nature of the study and the specific hypotheses formulated for
testing. The study adopted a qualitative research approach in order to gather the necessary data

that answered the research questions. The qualitative approach was used to elicit the views, beliefs
and experiences of UNAM student teachers’ on the challenges they encountered in teaching Poetry

in English as a second language. Qualitative research is based upon the assumption that multiple

realities exist in people’s perceptions of the world. According to Shank (2002), the role of quali-
tative research is to help the researcher to understand a particular social situation, event, role, group

or interaction.

3.3 Population
A research population is known as a well-defined collection of individuals or objects known to

have similar characteristics (Bless et al., 2006). Similarly, population can still refer to all the units,
individuals, objects or events that will be considered in a research project (Borg & Gall, 1990).

The study targeted a total population of all English student teachers participants who were placed
in the 18 schools in Khomas region. The student teachers are those pursuing Bachelor (Honours)

Degree in Education majoring in English Second Languages at UNAM (Main campus) in Khomas

Region. The reason for using this population and choosing UNAM (Main campus) in Khomas
Region was that most of the student teachers were enrolled at this campus.

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