Page 88 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

CHAPTER 4
4. Case studies
4.1. Questions
Our main question is: How do teachers of cooperation schools express school values and their vision on encounter and dialogue in segregated moments of contemplation and in the organization and performance of a collective celebration? We explored this question from the perspective of our three theoretical concepts: classroom encounters, equality of sources in religious education, and students’ life experiences. We collected data on religious education at cooperation schools in particular and schools featuring religious diversity in general.
4.2. Sampling of the schools
We wanted to select multiple cases to facilitate comparison. Based on our previous research, principals from eight cooperation schools showed interest in the follow- up study. We studied the online school documents of these schools to find out how the moments of contemplation and celebrations are currently organized. Four schools with segregated moments of contemplation and collective celebrations were selected.
The principals of these schools provided us with contact information for all teachers. Each principal also provided us the name of one key informant. This member of staff is a professional who is closely involved in preparing one of more celebrations at the school. In 3 of the 4 cases, it concerned the principal himself/ herself.
4.3. Design
First the principals of the selected schools were informed about the study and requested to participate by letter. In a phone call, after two weeks, we elaborated on the research objectives and the role of the participants. We also double-checked the current practice of religious education concerning the moments of contemplation and the celebrations.
We conducted a qualitative study based on multiple sources: questionnaires for teachers, interviews with teachers and interviews with key informants. To increase reliability and validity, we tested the questionnaire and the topics of the two interviews with respondents from one school. As a result of this test, we adapted the topic list of the interview with the key informant. The other instruments
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