Chapter 2

Methodology

This chapter presents the methodology used in this qualitative study. This

includes the research methods and design, role of the researcher, research

participants, data gathering procedure, data analysis, trustworthiness and

credibility, and ethical considerations.

Research Design

According to University of Texas Arlington (2016), naturalistic inquiry such

as that used in qualitative research, seeks to understand in-depth knowledge of

social phenomena in their context. Instead of concentrating on the “what,” it

emphasizes the “why” of social phenomena and depends on the first-hand

accounts of people to serve as the primary interpreters of their daily experiences.

This qualitative research follows the phenomenological approach. A qualitative

research strategy called “phenomenological research” aims to comprehend and

characterize a phenomenon’s fundamental elements. The technique analyzes

the everyday experiences of human beings while suspending the researchers’

previous preconceptions about the topic. In other words, phenomenology

research investigates lived events to acquire deeper insights into how people

comprehend those experiences (Ho & Limpaecher, 2022)

Data collected in qualitative research is a data that characterizes. The

nature of this data type is non-numerical. Qualitative data is about the emotions

or perceptions of people, and what they feel. This type of data is gathered
through methods such as observations, one-on-one interviews, holding focus

groups, and other similar techniques. (Surendran,2023)

Research Locale

This study was conducted at Sto. Tomas National High School in which

there are students with sibling/s in special needs. The researchers are

conducting an in-depth interview with the students who have sibling/s in special

needs to know their experiences and struggles.

Role of the Researchers

In qualitative research, the researcher’s role is to make an effort to

understand the participants’ thoughts and feelings. As it entails asking people to

discuss topics that may be extremely personal to them. A primary responsibility

of the researcher is to safeguard participants and their data. Mechanisms for

such safeguarding must be clearly articulated to participants (Sutton & Zubin,

2015)

Research Participants

Purposive sampling is a non-probability method for obtaining a sample

where researchers use their expertise to choose specific participants that will

help the study meet its goals. These subjects have particular characteristics that

the researchers need to evaluate their research question. In other words, the

researchers pick the participants “on purpose” (Frost, 2023).

Researchers that practice purposeful sampling carefully, plan how they

will create their sample population. As the name suggests, researchers went to

this community on purpose because they think that these individuals fit the profile
of the people that they need to reach. When choosing individuals from the

population to take part in their study researchers rely on their own judgment

(Alchemer, 2021)

A purposive sample is used in phenomenology. A purposive sample being

one which selects people who have experienced the phenomenon of interest.

Different text books suggest different sized samples for phenomenological

research, but in reality, a sample of between 6 and 20 individuals is sufficient

(Ellis, 2016).

Students with sibling/s in special needs are located within the Sto. Tomas

National High School. Seven participants voluntarily decided to take part in the

study. This group of students was made aware that they could discontinue the

study at any time without facing any consequence. Each student gave their

written and verbal consent, and for those not yet of legal age, their parents or

guardians sent a letter of consent with their signature and their understanding

that the feedback would be provided to the readers regarding the students with

siblings in special needs' experiences and struggles.

The interview guide questions are only focused to the experiences of

students with siblings in special needs. Any sensitive information pertaining to

the aforementioned participants was kept private. Never will their names be

associated with any information submitted. We use code names to kept is as

confidential.

Data Gathering Procedure

detailed exploration of the students with siblings in special needs' experiences

using a flexible and responsive approach. Interviews were audio-recorded at their

preferred place, with the participants' permission.

In this phenomenological study, the participant’s life experiences may be

described in any way, We used interview to gather the participant’s oral self-

report. In phenomenological study, participants are asked to express and

describe, without being guided in any way, their experiences in regards to their

sibling/s with special needs. However, giving a full description of their

experiences, including their thoughts, feelings, memories along with the

description of the context in which they occurred was highly encouraged. It could

be necessary to provide clarifications regarding some aspects of the interview or

self-report. If so, follow-up questions should be asked for further description of

the detail without suggesting what you are looking for.

Data Analysis

The “issue” with phenomenological research in the eyes of many

researchers is that it generates a large quantity of interview notes, tape

recordings, jottings or other records all of which have to be analyzed. Analysis is

also necessarily messy, as data doesn’t tend to fall into neat categories and

there can be many ways of linking between different parts of discussions or

observations. Reading over the data to acquire a sense of what is being said

and finding major themes and issues in each text is the initial step in data

analysis when the data is fairly disorganized (Lester, 1999).

As qualitative research becomes increasingly recognized and valued, it is

imperative that it is conducted in a rigorous and methodical manner to yield

meaningful and useful results. To be accepted as trustworthy, qualitative

researchers must demonstrate that data analysis has been conducted in a

precise, consistent, and exhaustive manner through recording, systematizing,

and disclosing the methods of analysis with enough detail to enable the reader to

determine whether the process is

credible (Nowell et al., 2017)

According to The Farnsworth Group (2023), credibility is a measure of the

truth value of qualitative research, or whether the study’s findings are correct and

accurate. To some degree, it relies on the credibility of the researchers

themselves, as well as their research methods.

Ethical Considerations

City University of Hong Kong (2022) stated that research ethics provides

guidelines for the responsible conduct of research. That is why in this study, the

participants were asked their vacant time for the in-depth interview in their

preferred place where they can freely express their thoughts about the study.

Before the scheduled date and time of the in-depth interview, each of them

received the informed permission. The participants received gifts and received
the required accommodations. The participants were provided gift and

accommodated appropriately.