Chapter 3

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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. The Place and Time of the Research


The research was carried out at the English Education Department of
Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University, which is
located in Ir. Sutami Street 36A, Kentingan, Surakarta. The researcher conducted
the research in April and May 2016 in the academic year of 2015/2016.
Below is the timeline of the research activities:
Months of 2016
Research Activity
Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Formulating and revising title
Arranging and revising
proposal
Collecting data
Analyzing data
Writing report

B. The Method of the Research


In analyzing students’ errors in pronunciation, in this research, the
researcher used descriptive qualitative method. Flood, Lapp, Squire, and Jensen
(2005: 7) believe that qualitative research materially involves qualitative data –
researchers’ description of the participants’ activities under circumstances relating
to education and their way of thinking about their association in those. It is used to
investigate the language teaching and learning carried in the educational setting.
Qualitative research generally requires small numbers of participants as it is
particularly recognized for its details in a large amount containing in the
descriptions.
Aligning with the words of Kothari (2004: 2), descriptive research is a
research which includes surveys and fact-finding examination, primarily in order
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to give description of the state of the issue being investigated. Inasmuch as it can
provide essential information regarding the average member of a group,
descriptive research beneficially helps researchers to achieve the research
objectives (Marczyk, DeMatteo, and Festinger, 2005: 16).
Descriptive qualitative method was applied in this study because it
supports the aim of the research. This research is to find out important information
derived from the average member of a group and present the data in form of
description. The data itself was obtained from observations and interviews with
the members of the group, which was subsequently described based on the real
facts.

C. Population, Sample, and Sampling


1. Population
According to Kothari (2004: 14), all parts of a group under examination
in any field are considered population. Similar to the definition of population
suggested by Marczyk et al. (2005: 18), which refers to all members belonging to
a group of interest to the researcher, which holds a subset for the researcher to
study. In other words, population is a group of individuals sharing a characteristic
or more of interest to the researcher, in which a subset will subsequently be
studied in great detail by the researcher.
The population of this research is the fourth semester students of English
Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas
Maret University in the academic year of 2015/2016. It covers 55 students divided
into four classes.

2. Sample
Sample is a representative subset of the population which is studied in
great detail by the researcher, for researchers may find it difficult to study each
member of the population. Since researchers are typically unable to study the
entire population, they need a sample (Marcyzk et al. 2005: 18). In line with
Marcyzk et al., Goddard and Melville (2001: 34) define sample as the
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representative subset of population for the researcher to study as it is often neither


practical nor possible to study the entire population.
The sample of this research is all 14 fourth semester students from class
B1 of English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty
of Sebelas Maret University in the academic year of 2015/2016.

3. Sampling
In this research, the researcher used cluster random sampling to pick one
out of four classes to serve as the sample, which subsequently was studied in
detail. According to Kothari (2004: 65), in cluster random sampling, the
population is divided into subdivisions which themselves clusters consist of
smaller units, and then one cluster is randomly picked out of all clusters. Similar
to Kothari, Goddard and Melville (2001: 37) suggest that in cluster random
sampling, the researcher randomly chooses a cluster of all resulting from the
subdivision of the population into subgroups to serve as the population sample.

D. Data and Sources of Data


In qualitative research, there are three common sources from which data
are collected: informants, places and events, and archives or documents
containing information relating to the issues of the research. Pope, Zibland, and
Mays (2000: 114) state that “transcripts and notes are the raw data of the
research.” They also pronounce that the data do not provide explanations;
therefore, the researcher needs to examine and interpret them for their lucidity.
Along the lines of that, cited from Center for Teaching, Research & Learning
(n.d.), it is stated that qualitative data “may take the form of text, audio or video
files, photographs or field notes”.
In this research, the data collected took the form of recordings, which
were subsequently transcribed by the researcher. Those included errors of speech
sounds visually represented by phonetic transcriptions. The primary data were
obtained directly from the students serving as sample during speech performance
and interview and their speech formats and scripts.
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E. Technique of Collecting Data


Collecting data is the process of obtaining data required in the research to
enable the researcher to analyze comprehensively. Several methods of data
collection are observation method, interview method, collection of data through
questionnaires, and collection of data through schedules (Kothari, 2004: 95). In
this research, the data collection methods that the researcher applied were
observation method and interview method.
As stated by Kothari (2004: 96), the information sought in observation
method is obtained from the investigator’s own way of observing the respondents
without asking them questions. Since it is important in observation method to
decide the phenomenon being observed and whether the observations should be
recorded or not, the researcher assigned the students’ individual sounds
pronunciation for the object of observation, and in order to make the observations
easier, those needed recording. Video recording is a technique for collecting data
through observation which assists the researcher without having to make notes
continuously and allows the events to be reviewed repeatedly (Hancock,
Ockleford, and Windridge: 2009, 19).
Along with observation method, the researcher also conducted an
interview as a part of data collection technique. According to Marczyk et al.
(2005: 117), interview is a relatively simple approach to data collection which
produces a wealth of information. The researcher used the interview method to
find out whether they were aware of mistakes they made, to examine the errors
performed by the students, and the causes.

F. The Validity of Data


According to Johnson (in Golafshani, 2003: 603), “credible and
defensible result” of a research comes out of the satisfying validity or
trustworthiness. As Marczyk et al. (2005: 66) have noted, any types of research
are primarily conducted in order to bring valid conclusions as results. They define
validity as the theoretically and scientifically sensible quality of a research study
or investigation.
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As stated by Golafshani (2003: 603), the validity of research is


commonly enhanced using triangulation. Patton (in Golafshani, 2003: 603)
suggests that “triangulation strengthens a study by combining methods. This can
mean using several kinds of methods or data.” There are five kinds of
triangulation in qualitative research:
1. Triangulation by data source (data collected from different persons, or at
different times, or from different places)
2. Triangulation by method (observation, interviews, documents, etc.)
3. Triangulation by researcher (comparable to interrater reliability in quantitative
methods)
4. Triangulation by theory (using different theories)
5. Triangulation by data type (e.g., combining quantitative and qualitative data).
The type of triangulation chosen depends on the purpose of a study.
Miles and Huberman (in Meijer, Verloop, and Beijaard, 2002: 146)

In order to test the data validity, the researcher used triangulation by


method and triangulation by theory in this research. As clarified in technique of
collecting data, referring to triangulation by method, the researcher used
observation, interviews, and documents relating to the issues in this research;
triangulation by theory has been enlarged on in chapter II.

G. Technique of Analyzing Data


Following the data collection, data analysis was done subsequently
owing to achieving the objectives of the research. Based on the suggestion offered
by Corder (in Ellis, 1994: 48), the following is the steps of analyzing data in error
analysis research:
1. Collecting data
The data collected by the researcher was obtained from the students
delivering speech in the class. Their having to perform delivering speech was due
to the lecturer’s assignment, which was then recorded by the researcher.
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2. Identifying errors from the recording of students’ speech


The researcher identified the students’ errors by transcribing their speech
facilitated by their speech format and scripts and marking the mispronounced
words. In order to find out whether they made mistakes or errors, the researcher
interviewed the students. The students made mistakes when they realized they had
made mistakes, otherwise, they made errors.

3. Describing the errors


In this step, the researcher described the students’ errors by providing
and comparing the errors they made and the correct pronunciation. The errors
were classified into segmental features violation (vowels and consonants) and
types of error.
The students’ errors were eventually presented in form of percentages
calculated from the amount of errors they made, counted beforehand by the
researcher. The following is the calculation of the students’ errors percentage:
e
𝐸 = X 100%
i
E : errors percentage
e : the number of errors
i : the total number of errors

4. Explaining the errors


This part of error analysis procedure relates to the explanation of the
errors based on the sources of the errors. The researcher endeavored to figure out
the reasons students made pronunciation errors in their speaking performance.

5. Evaluating the errors


By evaluating the errors, the researcher was able to consider the effect on
the students’ errors on their speaking performance. The students’ speaking
performance under the influence of their errors in pronunciation could be
perceived by the researcher during the evaluation of the errors.

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