Chapter Two Research Methodology

Introduction

This study, for various reasons, is not purely quantitative and it was not meant to

be since it is believed that the mixed approach is best in this type of study. By mixed

approaches, it means the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. This

chapter also is an account for the explanation of the corpora, the data collection and

sampling. Finally, this chapter will deal with the analyzing procedures as well as the

analysis of data collection.

Research Paradigm and Approach

Research Design

The implementation of the mixed approach is preferable since the nature of this study

imposes this kind of approach

1. There is no existence no variables in this study to examine or control. In other

words, there is no independent variable (IV) and no dependent variable (DV).

2. This study consists of two short stories from a collection of other 11 short stories.

These corpora contain words and the analysis of these words will be carried out

qualitatively. Moreover, this study aims at using transitivity analysis,

particularly its semantic categories that deal with (verbs and verb processes; material,

doing, behavioural, etc), of course, with reference to participants and then with

reference to agency and how does it work to criticize certain patriarchal discourses

and ideologies in "The Tale of the Shoe" and the "Tale of the Apple". Therefore, the

interpersonal analysis will take place, precisely modality analysis.

Research Approach and Method

This work aims at analyzing the two short stories by Emma Donoghue to explore

the ways in which Emma downplayed agency to portray her female character in the
light of her parody to the patriarchal society. Through the work's investigation of the

characters' agency, light will be shed on the reasons why Emma preferred her

characters to be agentive and agentless in diverse situations. The analysis of these

situations would be accompanied with the application of the feminist approach. Thus,

in this new respect, agency and its effect in the position of these characters will not be

achieved without an analytical method using the qualitative approach.

It was mentioned earlier the relevance of the qualitative approach to our study and

thus, due to various reasons, amongst that as André Queirós,

Daniel Faria1, and Fernando Almeida (2017) pointed out in their article that is entitled

the Strengths and Limitations of the Qualitative and the Quantitative Research

Methods that the qualitative research has never been interested in (numerical

representatively, although sometimes it depends on, but rather with trying to dig deep

into a given problem for more understanding. Thus, in this respect, the researcher is

never detached from that problem, but rather becomes "both the subject and the object

of his research". They added further, that the chief objective for the implementation of

the research methodology is to produce very deep and illustrative information for the

enabling of the multi- dimensionality of the problem analyzed. Thus, and because of

the aforesaid aspects, "the qualitative research concerned itself with aspects of reality

that cannot be quantified, focusing on the understanding and explanation of the

dynamics of social dynamics of social relations"(370). In other words, the qualitative

research works on the basis of human relations and reality in order to understand how

the society and social relations work.

Jennifer Mason (2002) explains how the qualitative approach works

Through the qualitative research, we can explore the wide array of dimensions

of the social worlds, including the texture and weave of everyday life, the
 understandings, experiences, and experiences and imagining of our research

participants, the ways that social processes, institutions, discourses or relation

work, and the significance of the meanings that they generate. (1)

Mason, added that the analysis got from the application of the qualitative approach

is very rich and deep because it tends to relate many factors to its analysis, amongst

context. Thus, the qualitative approach has the ability to construct arguments "about

how things work" in their contexts (1). These are among the strengths of the

qualitative research.

Data Collection and Sampling

The data collection of this work is taken from the two short stories that were

mentioned earlier. Thus, the corpora at hand are the kind of documents that needs

documentation analysis, because it is a qualitative data collection. The corpora are

available in the internet. Arikunto (2006) asserts that “in documentary method, the

researcher gets the data from books, magazines, documents, etc.” (Ben Moussa 39).

Population and Sampling

Population originally is meant to deal with a group of people that the researcher

will generalize the findings of his research on them (Research Methodology, Chapter

Three 138). However, population has other dimension that does not concern only

with concrete groups as people "but also, and mainly, to text – the domains of the

analysis. For example, is it to be newspapers, programmes, interview transcripts,

textbooks, conversations, public domain documents examination, scripts, emails,

online conversations” (Cohen, 2007, p. 477). Therefore, this study's population

consists of the clauses of The Tale of the Shoe and The Tale of the Apple.

Meriem Webster in her dictionary defined population as "a group of individual

persons, objects, or items from which samples are taken for statistical measurement".
Sampling, moreover for Meriem Webster "is the act, process, or technique of

selecting a sample, or a representative part of population for the purpose of

determining parameters or characteristics of the whole population" (Par. 05 Fridah)

Material

The corpora that are used in this study are The Tale of the Shoe and The Tale of

the Apple which were written by Emma Donghue. These two tales occur in Emma

collection of eleven short stories that is entitled Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New

Skin (1999).

The choice of these two tales, in the first basis, was based on their popularity and

widespread simply because they are retellings of the Cinderella and Little Snow

White. Not only that, another reason has driven us for this choice is the overuse of

techniques of suppressing agency of her some characters, despite her emphasize to

portray their strength through the female narrative voice. Sometimes also, the

investigation will clearly state the situations where the same characters seem very

agentive and in control of their decisions.

Data Analysis Procedure

A referential method will be used after data are collected for this study in order to

identify the reasons behind the use of modal verbs to carry out the meanings the

writer wants to convey and how does this affect the ways her characters are portrayed.

In addition, at the level of the clause, a semantic analysis will be followed come

across the different types of processes (verbs) and participants (subjects). That is to

say, the analysis will deal only with whether are much more agentive or agent less, or

both with, of course, justifications in both cases. Thus, to achieve the aforementioned

purpose, the tales are going to be divided into sentences or clauses, after that the

sentences will be divided into their main semantic traits for them to be analysed. This
technique of dividing the whole into small segments is called segmenting and it was

first proposed by Sudaryanto (1993). The steps to carry out this study are the

following:

* For the analysis to be efficient, the two tales will be read carefully and scrutinized

* As a second step, the stories will be divided into clauses

* After that, the clauses are divided into small grammatical units

* Identifying and studying the types of processes as well as participants

*See how agency is downplayed and for what reason and how does it affect the way

the characters are characterized with reference of the intention of the writer to

empower them through speech.

*The analysis that will be drawn from the agency analysis will be further strengthened

with the application of the feminist approach.

*Interpreting the findings

*Drawing conclusions

Table.1. Sample of Data Analysis of Sentences that Contain Action Verb in Barak
Obama’s State of the Union Speeches

Argumentative, informative utterances Semantic traits

Sentences Participant Process

Agent Patient Dynamic Stative

*I listened out for my mother * *

Le Dit et Le Non- Dit. A propos De L’Agerie ET De L’Algerien: Chez Albert Camus

is the title of the book from which It this table is taken. This book is written y Tayeb
Bouguerra.