METHODOLOGY

Jennifer G. Cabarles
Grade 11- STEM (Hail Holy Queen)
 CHAPTER 3

Methodology

This phenomenological study utilized a qualitative research methodology to describe the

lived experiences of Senior High School students involved in balancing two difficult situations

while experiencing depression. This methodology was selected because I was interested in

capturing the lived experiences of Senior High School students through their perspective. I

explain my study’s genre of qualitative study specifically phenomenological approach as the

research design, research participants, research instruments, data collection procedure and data

analysis.

Research Design

This research is qualitative in nature where the essence of balancing difficult situations as

a Senior High school student is the focus of the research. The design of research methods is

related to research questions and their problems (Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991; as cited by

Silverman & Seale, 2005). This research deals with the questions of what it like is and how was

it happen. Questions like these represent the nature of qualitative inquiry research which aims at

understanding what is going on in the research. This present research seeks to understand the

participants' lived experiences and its nature is that of an open-ended inquiry. Thus, the nature of
this study is intended as a phenomenological study under qualitative inquiry. The major concerns

of this research are to understand the meaning underlying the coping process among Senior High

school students.

Research Participants

When conducting researches, many types of sampling are possible, although researchers

in qualitative research usually focus on relatively small samples (Lyell, 1998). Research

participants are generally selected because they can provide rich descriptions of their experiences

and are willing to articulate their experiences, thereby providing information that is rich and

which will be able to enrich the researcher’s understanding (Crabtree & Miller, 1992; Hutchinson

& Wilson, 1991). Two non-probability sampling approaches were used to select the participants

for this study. The sampling method was a combination of judgment and snowball techniques.

The researcher specifically selected participants who would be able to contribute to the research

topic and who would be willing to share their experiences in being depressed (Crabtree & Miller,

1992).

The participants were therefore known to the researcher, and all fulfilled the following

criteria:

 Senior High school students

 Admitted that they once faced school failures
 Students living in a broken home
 Admitted that they once experienced depression
 The sample was then expanded by asking the identified participants to refer other

depressed Senior High school students known to them who might be willing to provide relevant

input on the research topic. This is known as snowball sampling (Marshall, 1996). These

potential participants were approached by the researcher and those that fulfilled the criteria and

were willing to participate in the study were subsequently interviewed.

Research Instruments

All Senior High School students who met the selection criteria and agreed to participate

in the study completed a self-administered questionnaire. At this point, self- report bias may be a

limitation to this study, as assessment of all findings represented in this study depended on self-

report measures and as such only represent acknowledged depression while balancing difficult

situations.

However, a self-administered questionnaire has the following advantages:

 it provides absence of time bound;

 it is low in cost;
 it involves subjective aspects among students;
 it has a fair degree of reliability since wording and order is the same and respondents

remain anonymous (Parahoo, 1997).

The tool consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions. Although some questions required

factual information, most of the questions required individual responses to eliminate bias in favor

of the researcher’s opinion.

Data Collection Procedure

This qualitative study used phenomenological inquiry through in-depth interviews to

obtain the lived experiences of chosen participants. I captured personal experiences and drew out

rich descriptions and deep meaning from my participants as they described the nature of their

lived experiences.

Qualitative research emphasizes the importance of context in analyzing data[ CITATION

Den05 \l 1033 ]. During the research process and especially during the data collection phase, the

participants were able to decide on the venue for their interviews. As a result, each participant

was interviewed at a venue chosen by themselves and at the time that was convenient to them.

The participants were interviewed either at their homes or at their school. Most of the

participants indicated a preference for the interviews to take place at their study area.

The interviews were conducted by the researcher and were all conducted in English,

although there were times when participants would use their home language, which is Tagalog to

express some idioms. Although the participants’ home language was not English, their command

of the language is good due to their education and professional status. Conducting the interviews

in English allowed the researcher to transcribe the interviews as presented by the participants

without translating the interviews. However, in instances where the participants expressed

themselves in a language other than English, this information was translated during the

transcription stage. The researcher thought it necessary to translate all the interview material into

English so that the data would be accessible to people who do not speak Tagalog.
Data Analysis