Critiquing A Qualitative Case Study In Appendix A

In a qualitative case study, the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis; therefore, skillful interviewing is essential for the researcher. (Sillisano et al. 2011) The interview questions that I created were developed to address the questions that are guiding this study, and were based on similar queries that were used in other case studies most notably Sillisano et al. (2011) and their case study of IB programmes in Texas. Included in Appendix A is the IB PYP Campus Administrator Questionnaire. I will validate the questions by sharing them with IB PYP principals, whose campuses do not receive Title I funding, but who work in the same district. I will ask the principals to review the questions to determine if the

According to Harrell, and Bradley (2009), “in semi-structured interviewing, a guide is used, with questions and topics that must be covered.” In my study, the questionnaire that I will created will serve as my interview guide because it contains the questions that should be answered by the principals during the course of our conversation. Additionally, using a semi-structured interview protocol will allow me both flexibly about when in the conversation the questions are posed to the principals, and allow me to ask follow-up questions that might arise from the principal’s responses. All the information from the interview will be recorded and then transcribed. In order to ensure the confidentiality of the participants, the principals will not identify by their real names. Instead, each will be provided with pseudonym to protect them and their campus.

I am planning to use two sources to collect the Quantitative data regarding the campuses and their IB status. The campuses demographic data will be obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) public web page. TEA has historical data on every public school in the State of Texas, including campus enrollment, ethnicity, free/reduced lunch price eligibility, participation and achievement on the STAAR, information on gifted students, ESL and special education populations. While data regarding the campuses IB status can be found on the IBO

First, prior to the conversations with the principals, I plan to send them a copy of the questionnaire to allow them time to reflect and prepare thoughtful responses to the questions. Secondly, Markle, West and Rich (2011) believe that using modern technology can lead to improved trustworthiness of research data. Therefore, I am planning to use an audio recorder to capture the principal’s exact thoughts during the interviews. This should lead to more authentic data because according to Markle et al. (2011) the benefit of using recorded audio is increased authenticity. I am also planning on adhering to the recommendations that were put forth by Hays and Singh (2012), concerning data management by completing reflective journal entry after each interview. Finally, taking a cue from Fielding (2000) who wrote, “contemporary researchers should design their research with archiving their data in mind from the outset”, I plan to store the recordings from the principal interviews so that an auditable trail of data will