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

The constant-comparison coding method proposed by Glaser and Strauss
(1999) required that each unit of data be compared to the former units, in order to
determine if it resembled any other data or if it was different from former units.
According to Glaser and Strauss (1999): “We shall describe in four stages the
constant comparative method: (1) comparing incidents applicable to each category, (2)
integrating categories and their properties, (3) delimiting the theory, and (4) writing
the theory” (p. 105). In the process of data analysis of this study, the
constant-comparison coding assisted the researcher to classify students’ similar
experience into several categories, to make some related theoretical sense of each
comparison, to develop theories and to conclude the data into several themes as
findings. The similar conventional issues repeated by participants were used to
expand the previous themes of communications strategies. On the other hand, the
whole new issues discussed by students not only could be reported as the significant
findings for curriculum designers, but also could be regarded as updated discussion
topics for the fieldworkers or valuable reports to the administrators in schools.
Credibility
Credibility is a significant issue in qualitative study. Many scholars
emphasized its importance. For example, Guba and Lincoln (1989) defined
credibility as an important way of ensuring quality of data in qualitative evaluations.
Also, Schwandt (2001) argued that “Credibility addressed the issue of the inquirer
providing assurances of the fit between respondents’ views of their life ways and the
inquirers’ reconstruction and representation of same” (p. 164). For establishing
credibility in the qualitative design of this study, open-ended questions and case
study were employed.
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