A Dissertation by GRACE HUI-CHIN LIN Submitted to the Office of ...

After collecting the abundant data, the data seemed to be overwhelming and
hard to organize and interpret. However, after the processes of transcribing the
collected video data into words, grouping the similar concepts of feelings into the
same categories, and reconfirming the findings with students, the reports for the
students’ feelings were written in a method of constant comparison provided by Dey
(2004), and Glasser and Strauss (1999). In this study, the qualitative data obtained
through a video camera had been categorized in a cooperative attitude with the
participants. The seven Taiwanese university EFL learners’ perceptions were
described thickly, reconfirmed, compared and reported.
Thick Description
The collected statements of students’ feelings had been transcribed and
presented through the method of thick description. The thick descriptions for 7
individuals allowed readers access to the Taiwanese university EFL learners’ feelings
through “a realistic and naturalistic form of performative writing” (Denzin, 2001, p.
100). With sufficient details, “thick descriptions capture and record the voices of
lived experience” (Denzin, 2001, p. 99).
According to Denzin and Lincoln (1998), “Thick descriptions and
inscriptions create thick interpretations. Thick interpretations interpret thick
descriptions, in terms of the local theories that are structuring people’s experiences”
(p. 326). Hence, through thick description and thick interpretation, the researcher of
this study was able to face the abundance of collected data and prevail against the
challenges caused by the complex stories about the student’s learning experience.
After the perceptions expressed had been described thickly, but not
conceptualized in a hurry, several themes started to emerge from the transcription
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