Examining problems in project work executed in high schools according to student and teacher views

Research Design

A case study strategy was used to better understand the phenomenon holistically and in-depth. As Merriam (1998) puts it, a case study is suitable research design if the study is about the process. In this current study the researcher tries to understand and discover how the project-based work proceeds in physics lessons and how participants (teachers and students) define their practices and problems encountered. The identified cases are three different types of secondary schools in the city of Trabzon, Turkey in which project-based work has been executed.These schools were chosen since they were schools that participated in a physics project competition at the national level from the city of Trabzon.

The Participants

The participants of the study are five volunteer physics teachers and five volunteer secondary students who had some experience of doing project-based work at the national level in their respectives schools that are the cases of this multiple case study. Table 1 summarizes the participating students’ and teachers’ backgrounds. All participating teachers and students have had some experience of doing project-based work in physics lessons.

Table 1. Background information about the participating students and teachers

Students	Information about students	Teachers	Information about teachers
A	Anatolian High School student, age 16, grade average 4.65.	A	Working in an Anatolian High School, female, with 13 years of experience and first year in her current school
B	Private High School student, age 16, grade average 4.70.	B	Working in a Private High School, female, 5 years of experience and fifth year in her current school
C	Private High School student, age 16, grade average 4.00.	C	Working in a Private High School, male, 7 years of experience and first year in his current school
D	Science High School student, age 17, grade average 5.00.	D	Working in a Science High School, male, 19 years of experience and twelfth year in his current school
E	Science High School student, age 16, grade average 5.00.	E	Working in a Science High School, male, 11 years of experience and second year in his current school and doctorate student

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the participating teachers and students. It is worth noting again that the participating students and teachers were purposefully chosen as the sample of this study since they all had experience in project work during physics lessons.

As Stake (1995) asserts, for transferability, the researcher provided input into the reader’s naturalistic generalisations. So, warranting generalisation is the job of the others interested in this study. It is believed that enough information about the research process and raw data as quotes or data in the tables were presented for the reader to judge the adequacy of the process and assess whether the findings flow from the data to enhance confirmability (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

The researcher ensured the participants that no harm would come to the participants because of the nature and results of the study. The participants also informed that the information they provided might be in the final report, but their identities will not be revealed in any stage.