Derrington 2012 thesis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

CHAPTER 7
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE QUALITATIVE DATA
7.1 Introduction
The interviews gave voice to the students in a way that was not predicted at the outset
of this research: they provided rich insight into the students’ attitudes, lifestyles and
ideas. The anecdotal evidence also helps support the study’s quantitative findings.
‘The narratives of everyday life are used to construct and to share cultural values,
meanings, and personal experiences. They also express - and indeed enact - the social
conditions of power and influence in everyday life’ (Coffey and Atkinson, 1996
p.76). The interviews were designed to be flexible and each question was open-ended,
allowing students as much freedom as possible. Their main purpose was to put
students at ease so they engaged in conversation.
In order to capture the participants’ contribution, this review includes quotations most
of the time, rather than paraphrasing, in order to keep the character and meaning of
the student’s language. The interview extracts are referenced by their appendix and
page number. Any questions or comments made by the interviewer are shown in
italics and the students’ names have been changed.
Session notes also formed part of the qualitative data and together with the students’
individual reports which are included as appendices 5.10a – 5.10x, helped to create
the students’ case studies presented in chapter eight and appendices 8.1 and 8.2.
Complete transcriptions of all the interviews were made and are included as
appendices 7.1.1 – 7.1.43 49 . Any drawings which the students made were scanned and
attached to the end of each relevant interview transcription.
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%* !Original audio recordings are also available for reference. !
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