Complete thesis - Murdoch University

In contrast, summative evaluation examines the impact of the context after the fact. This maybe ascertained from formal assessment tasks as well as direct observation. As a component ofsummative assessment, impact evaluation looks at the flow on from the intervention, eitherin the short term or longer.The data collected and analysed for both of these evaluation strategies is also availablefor monitoring analysis, to assess the integration of the innovation into the overall teaching/learningprocess. It may also comprise meta-analysis, which looks at the weight of evidence:the extent to which the results are consistent across a variety of different studies/casesby integrate the results to arrive at an overall or summary judgement on an evaluation issue.The Action Research strategy adopted in this study utilises both formative and summativeevaluation techniques but also allows for monitoring analysis to take a prominent position:the integration of data collection/data analysis allows the research to be shaped and reshapedby the participants in the research, based on the themes identified through examination ofthe data. This thematic analysis aims to identify important elements within the data, withthe categories into which the themes will be sorted induced from the data itself. It is thebasis of grounded theory research (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1992). According toOrona (1990), the value is in the approach’s acceptance (if not reliance) on intuition andcreativity, nuances and detail.The first stage, open coding, is a way to generate an emergent set of categories and their properties.This phase is seen as requiring effort and reflection, and rather than being straightforward,the process is seen as non-linear, somewhat chaotic and the constant comparisonrequired demanding. Ezzy (2002) suggests this as a strength as well as weakness: it leadsto new ways of understanding as new ideas are put together or insight into participants’interpretations is acquired. Once the coding is applied to the data, the next phase, axialcoding attempts to abstract from the detail of the categories identified to isolate themes.Each of these identifies the context for all categories within it. Finally theoretical codingidentifies the core category to be verified or revised based on secondary analysis of the dataor triangulation methods.Other authors name this approach framework analysis (Lacey and Luff, 2001; Richie andSpencer, 1994), template or codebook analysis (King, 1998).Coding, then, is a process of dis- and re- assembling the data to produce new understandings,with the ability to assign codes dependent, in part, on the human observer’s familiarity withthe context. As such, our data collection procedures involve the researcher engaged in directinvolvement in the learning environment.Reflection is also an aspect of evaluation, and in this study, plays the important role of205