Chapter 3: Method of the Research

CHAPTER III

METHOD OF THE RESEARCH

3.1       Research Design

                  The research is a comparative experimental research. Frankel and Wallen (2006:267) state that experimental research is type of research that directly attempts to influence a particular variable, and when properly applied, it is the best type of testing hypothesis about cause and effect relationship. The major characteristic of experimental research is that researchers manipulate the independent variable.
Comparative study is a study in which participant is randomly assigned to one of two or more different treatment groups for purposes of comparing the effect of the treatments (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006). So comparative experimental research is a research which is done by giving different treatment to two or more groups for purposes of testing hypothesis and comparing the effect of the treatments where its independent variable can be manipulated by the researcher.

                  In conducting this research, quasi experimental design is used. There are several categories in quasi experimental design, and pre-test and post-test group design is used in this research. In this design, a single group is measured or observed not only after being exposed to treatment of some sort, but also before (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006:271). At the end of this research, the achievement between both class, experimental and control class will be compared, to find out whether there is different achievement of reading comprehension or not.

3.2       Variables of Research

                  Fraenkel and Wallen (2006:40) state that variable is a concept – a noun that stands for variation within a class of objects. Therefore, the variable of this research could be classified into:

a.       Independent variable: Pre-reading activity

b.      Dependent variable: the reading achievement of tenth grade students of SMAN 2 Banjarmasin

3.3       Population and Sample of Research

                  Population is the group of interest, the group to whom would like to generalize the result of the study (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006:93). The population of interest is usually a group of people who possess certain characteristics. Therefore based on definition, the population of this research is the students of tenth grade of SMA Negeri 2 Banjarmasin.

                  There are 256 students of tenth grade of SMAN 2 Banjarmasin as the population of this research. They are divided into eight classes: X-1, X-2, X-3, X-4, X-5, X-6, X-7, and X-8. The samples are taken by random sampling technique. This technique is used so that all samples of the same size have an equal chance of being selected from the entire population. The type of random sampling that is used is the cluster sampling. In cluster sampling, only a number of clusters (groups) from the collection of clusters of the entire population is randomly selected. In this research, two out of eight classes are randomly selected in a drawing as sample. Those clusters are considered to represent the whole population with the same characteristics.

3.4       Data Collection

                  The term data refers to the kinds of information researchers obtain on the subjects of their research. Data could be anything and the device (such as test, questionnaire, etc.) and everything that is used to collect data is called an instrument (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006:112). The data provided by any instrument should be considered through validity and reliability.

3.4.1    Technique

1.   Pre-test and Post-test

In this research, data will be collected by quantitative data. The data are collected before and after the subjects obtain a treatment through the pre-test and post-test.  The purpose of this pre-test is to know the subject’s achievement of reading comprehension before the researcher is conducted. The existence of control class is to know whether the improvement in experimental class is only because of the use of pre-reading activity. For the treatment, the teacher teaches reading using pre-reading activity to the experimental class. After the treatment has given to experimental class, the writer conducts the post-test to both classes. The post-test is given to measure students’ achievement in reading comprehension to the experimental and control class whether there is different achievement or not.

2.      Observation

While the teacher teaches in experimental and control class, she is observed by using observation sheet, so are the students when they are in teaching learning process. The observation consists of teaching learning process and pay attention to the motivating strategy used, whether it uses pre-reading activities or not.

3.4.2    Instruments

The instruments used are as follow:

1.      Achievement test or ability test

            According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2006:129), achievement test or ability test is intended to measure an individual knowledge or skill in a given area or subject; they are mostly used in schools to measure learning or the effectiveness of instruction. Since the research uses quasi experimental design with pre-test and post-test, the pre-test will be held in the control group and also in the experimental group before the research is started. The post-test will be held after the treatment has been finished. There are 25 test items for each test. The pre-test and post-test will have same items.

2.      Observation forms

            According to Frankel and Wallen, the form requires the observer not only to record certain behaviors, but also to evaluate some as they occur (2006:120). The observation sheet is the performance checklist. It consists of 19 items for experimental class and 15 items for control class to determine how the teacher’s performance in teaching learning process, while to determine how the students’ performance in teaching learning process, it consists of 12 items for experimental class and 10 items for control class. The observation will be divided into 3 parts according to the steps of the teacher’s teaching process. The first part is pre-activity in how the teacher uses motivating strategy related to the topic. In part two, there is while activity of how the teacher relates the motivating strategy she uses while explaining the material. The last part is post-activity that shows how the teacher relates the motivating strategy to evaluate students’ comprehension of the material.

3.      Documentation

            Documentation is the act of collecting data from written sources (Arikunto, 2006:158). Document is the first data needed for this research. In this research, syllabus of English subject is collected. This document is used for designing lesson plan for both experimental and control class.

3.4.3    Reliability and Validity

1.   Validity

                  Validity is the most important idea to consider when preparing or selecting an instrument to use (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006:150). Validity of the test is used as a measurement in order to figure out how a test runs its function. A test is considered as valid if the content and the format of the test are familiar for the students, based on the syllabus, and the test really measures what it should be measured.

2.      Reliability

                  Reliability test is used to measure an instrument in order to figure out whether the instrument can be used as a measuring tool or not whenever the instrument is used. In order to find how reliable a test instrument is, the Kuder-Richardson approach is used. The test result will be calculated with this formula and helped by SPSS program. The test is considered reliable if the result of every item that calculated is higher than the value of r-table. The Kuder-Richardson formula is given below:

K   =    number of items of the test

M   =    mean

   =    total variant

3.5       Data Analysis

                  The method to collecting data is quantitative. Quantitative data are obtained when the variable being studied is measured along a scale that indicates how much of the variable is present. Quantitative are reported in term of scores (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006:190).

The steps that will be used are:

a)      The pre-test and post-test are held to the samples, and then are given scores by counting the total of correct answers multiplied by four.

b)      The scores are classified and interpreted into a table based on standard score in SMAN 2 Banjarmasin below:

 Table 3.1

Standard Score Interpretation in SMA Negeri 2 Banjarmasin

Score	Interpretation
90 – 100 80 – 89 70 – 79 60 – 69 < 60	Excellent Good Fair Poor Fail

c.       The average or mean score is calculated from the frequency distribution above by using the formula suggested Arikunto (2010:232).

d.   To analyze the data for quasi experimental design with the group pre-test – post-test design the t-test is used.