Chapter 3

Methdology

This chapter contains the research design, data gathering tools and procedure, and data

analysis used in the study. It will also cover the profile of the participants in the study.

Research Design

This research applied phenomenological study method to find out the passiveness of

Adventist adults in choir singing. Phenomenology studies people’s conscious experience of their

life-world; that is their “everyday life and social action”. Van Manen (as cited in Merriam &

Tisdell, 2016) explains it further by saying: “phenomenology is the way of access to the world as

we experience it pre-reflectively. Pre-reflective experience is the ordinary experience that we live

in and that we live in most, if not all, of our day-to-day existence”

In phenomenological study, a common meaning is described by several individuals of their

lived experiences of a concept or phenomenon. It focuses on describing what all participants have

in common as they experience a phenomenon. The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce

individual experiences with a phenomenon to a description of the universal “essence” (Creswell

& Poth, 2018 p.75).

Thus, this research explored the human experience or phenomena “passiveness of the

Adventist adults in joining an adult choir” even though such choir is accessible in their very own

church. Furthermore, this research intended to find out the shared “essences” of the said

phenomenon as understood and experienced by the participants. The researchers gathered facts

from the perspective of the persons involved to find answers on the phenomena stated above, thus

making phenomenology the best method in conducting this research.

Participants of the Study

A purposive sampling was done to determine the participants of this study. Purposive

sampling intentionally samples a group of people that can best inform the researcher about the

research problem to be examined (Creswell & Poth, 2018).

This study focused on five participants from two selected Seventh-day Adventist Churches

that have an existing adult choir; two (2) from Frisco Seventh-day Adventist Church and three (3)

from Puting Kahoy Seventh-day Adventist Church. All the participants satisfy the criteria that the

researchers were looking for which are: Adventist adults aged fifty and above (50+), and are not

part of the adult choir.

The participating individuals were given pseudonyms to protect and maintain their privacy

and were interviewed face-to-face separately to avoid biases.

Table 1. Profile of the Participants

Participant Gender Age

Nancy F 53

Jonel M 67

Teresa F 58

Lyndo M 57

Marie F 61
Data Gathering Tools

Because phenomenological study puts emphasis on a phenomenon to be explored, the

phenomenological interview is the primary method of data collection to get at the essence or basic

underlying structure of the meaning of an experience. DeMarrais (2004) defines research interview

as a “process in which a researcher and a participant engage in a conversation focused on questions

related to a research study, with person-to-person as the most common form of interview”. These

questions usually ask participants for their thoughts, opinions, perspectives, or descriptions of

specific experiences. As Patton explains, “we interview people to find out from them things we

cannot directly observe. . . . We cannot observe feelings, thoughts and intentions. The purpose of

interviewing, then, is to allow us to enter into the person’s perspective” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2018).

According to Dexter, “interviewing is the preferred tactic of data collection when . . . . it will get

better or more data, and depending on the topic, interviewing is sometimes the only way to get

data” (Merriam &Tisdell, 2018).

This research paper used the semi-structured type of interview based on the description of

Merriam & Tisdell (2018) wherein the interview questions are more flexibly worded or is a mix

of more or less structured questions. Secondary tools like voice recorder and/or video camera

android application will also be used to store the data for easy data recollection to be used for the

data analysis. The research was done from AY 2018-2019.

Data Gathering Procedure

Collection of data was obtained through a semi-structured interview to explore the

passiveness of Adventist adults in joining the church choir. First, the researchers thought of a

church with an adult choir and purposely chose members of the church that are not part of the choir
to be participants for the study. The participants were then asked for their availability to be

interviewed. Three interviews were done in the comforts of their home while the other two were

done right after the church service. Before the interview started, the informed consent and the

purpose of the study was discussed, together with the use of an audio recording device for further

reference.

To build rapport, the researchers first asked some opening questions and the demographic

profile of the participant. Once the participant feels comfortable, the researcher then proceeded

with the interview using the semi-structured guideline and asked follow-up questions when

needed. The participants used the local tagalog language and were given the time they needed to

respond freely and so the interview duration vary from each participant. After the interview, the

researcher thanked the participants.

Data Analysis

This study used the Colaizzi Method (1978) in analyzing the data gathered. The five audio-

recorded interviews were transcribed and translated to English with the help of language experts

to ensure the translations were transcribed rightfully. The researchers then proceeded with the

analyzation using the Colaizzi method. Firstly, the researchers familiarized themselves with the

transcript by reading it several times to make sense of the content. Any personal thoughts and

prejudices were bracketed in order for the phenomenon to be experienced by the researchers.

According to Gearing (2004), bracketing is a scientific process in which the researcher must be

honest and vigilant about her own perspective, pre-existing thoughts and beliefs and developing

hypothesis…engage in the self-reflective process of “bracketing”, whereby they recognize and set

aside (but do not abandon) their priori knowledge assumption, with the analytic goal of attending

to the participants’ accounts with an open mind.

 Secondly, significant statements pertaining the phenomena were identified and extracted

from the transcript. Next, the researchers identify and formulate meanings from the statements.

Each meaning was coded in one category. To ensure consistency of the coded meanings, the

researchers compared the formulated meaning with the original transcript with the help of a

research consultant. These identified meanings that are common on all the accounts were then

clustered into themes. The researcher then merged all themes on the phenomenon “passiveness of

Adventist adults in joining the choir” and writes descriptions incorporating all the themes

produced. A validation to this exhaustive description was confirmed with the research supervisors.

The researchers then condensed the description down to a short, dense statement that captures the

aspects essential to the structure of the phenomenon. And finally, the researchers asked for

verification from the participants if the extracted essences from their experience were correct.

Ensuring Trustworthiness

Qualitative research has to demonstrate trustworthiness in providing rigor and strength to

the study validity and reliability in all stages including data collection, data analysis and

descriptions

Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations are vital in this type of research. Hence, the following steps are

considered since the involved individuals have integrity and dignity to protect.

Confidentiality – the researcher will maintain confidentiality all throughout the interview

process.
 Voluntary Participation – the participants will not be forced to answer the questions but

are encouraged to take their time. The researcher will wait patiently until they willingly comply.

Autonomy – the participants will have the freedom to speak their own minds accordingly

and without the influence of the researcher to avoid biases.

Professionalism – since the age gap of the researchers and the participants are wide, it is

important that the researchers adhere to the cultural value of respecting the elderly but at the same

time be professional in interacting with the participants.

Chapter 4

Results and Discussions

The purpose of this study is to find out the reasons behind the passiveness of Adventist

adults in joining the choir. This chapter will focus on the results of the gathered data. It includes

the