Page 90 - Empowering pre-service teachers through inquiry - Lidewij van Katwijk

Chapter 4
4.3.2 Questionnaires
One week before each focus group, all participants received a questionnaire that contained items asking about their perceptions of pre-service teacher research. All pre-service teachers in the focus groups completed the questionnaire. Nine participating educators (35%) did not complete the questionnaire, because of a lack of time.
The questionnaire is based on a validated Dutch instrument (Mathijsen, Joosten-ten Brinke, Krol, Kools, & Bolhuis, 2012), developed to evaluate the attitude of pre-service teachers toward student research. This instrument refers to four broad perceptions: (1) attitudes toward pre-service teacher research (14 items), (2) the perceived purposes of pre-service teacher research (5 items), (3) the perceived ability of pre-service teachers to conduct research (6 items), and (4) the expectation that pre- service teachers will conduct research in their future profession (7 items). Twenty-six percent of the items were negatively formulated and therefore reverse scored, for example: “Conducting research is a compulsory component of the degree programme but I do not understand how it is useful for a teacher”
For RQ1, we used measurement items from the second area; for RQ2, we relied on the efficacy items from the third category. Finally, for RQ3, we linked seven attitude items from the first area with four items about future predictions from the fourth area, as well as four other items (e.g., “Research fits naturally into the work of a teacher”). The instrument provides six-point Likert scales, so participants must choose positive or negative responses (i.e., fully disagree to fully agree). Three open questions also asked about the most important learning outcome, the value of pre-service teacher research, and other terms that come to mind about conducting research.
4.4. Data analysis
We began this study with within-case analyses, observing consistency in the formulation of the purposes for pre-service teacher research, according to the results from both the focus groups and the questionnaires. The questionnaires were meant to provide additional data and low numbers led us to use only descriptive statistics in SPSS. Next, we conducted cross-case analyses to enhance the generalizability of our findings about the perceived purpose, learning outcomes, and value of pre-service teacher research, as well as to look for potential transferability to other contexts (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014).
In the exploration phase of the analysis, we started inductively and separately coded quotes related to the purpose, learning outcomes, and value. For example,
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