A matter of methodology
Marjorie Henry, Contributor

In the last lesson I started to discuss the school-based assessment. I referred to the schedule of activities given in the syllabus for the development of the report and began to remind you of the expected approach in doing aspects of the study. I also mentioned deciding on the topic for the study, as well as the aim. This week, I will move on to the matter of methodology. This aspect of practical skills must answer the questions how, when and where. Let me look at each separately.

How

You are required to identify the type of data collected or the method used to determine how the instrument was distributed. You may have administered a questionnaire, done a survey or conducted interviews. Please note that all studies do not require the use of all of these. In addition to these methods, there is also the use of secondary sources. This should also be noted. When you do observation in the field you must have a checklist of what you observed. Incidentally, this is to be presented in the study.

WHEN

Make sure to record the date when you did your data collection. In other words, you must make a note of when you administered the questionnaires, conducted the interviews or went into the field for observations.

WHERE

Record the name of the study site you visited for the purpose of observation, survey, interviews or to do the questionnaires.

You are awarded four marks for methodology and you can get the maximum marks by ensuring that you do all of the above.

As you do your enquiry into your chosen topic, always keep the aim of your study in mind. The questions that you develop for your interviews and questionnaires should result in giving you information to satisfy the aim of your study. You will recall that I stated in the previous lesson that your study must be based on primary data. Your questionnaires provide the most important source of primary data.

The topic, aim and methodology are all recorded on your strategy sheet. In addition to these, you must state the location of your study area. This is the only place where this information is recorded. For this you should give the name of the study site, its relative or specific location and the territory. For example, should you choose to study a food-processing plant, a topic from economic activity, you should give the name of the plant, state the town or village where it is located, and the parish in Jamaica. Where you have failed to do your strategy sheet properly, there is time to review and correct it and to resubmit it to your teacher.

I return to the suggested timetable to develop your SBA by highlighting what you should get done during this first term.

1. Process the data you have collected and organise it in an orderly manner. It must show some sequence of the process or activity you have chosen to study. Pull from your data, also, information that you can use for your illustrations. I will return to the matter of the illustrations at a later date.

2. Draw your location maps. There should be at least two maps, namely a site map and a territorial map. Your site map must show a sketch of the actual place or point of study, the road leading to it and any other important man-made and natural features. The territorial map would be a map of the parish in which your study area is located. It must show the study area in relation to other features such as the main road and the main river within the parish. Please note that both maps are to be accurately and neatly drawn and properly labelled. Print on your maps rather than writing in cursive. They must have a title, a scale, a key and the north arrow. Finish your maps in ink, preferably black ink.

The discussion continues in the next lesson.

Marjorie Henry is an independent contributor. Send questions and comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com