Focus Group Synthesis Essay

757 Words2 Pages

A better use of the focus group method would have been to collect the responses of the PTs to the direct research question at the start of the study and again at the end. Doing this could have added much-needed validation to the process and results of the study. Procedures The author does a very good job of outlining the procedure. The procedure process is in detail enough to be replicated. Yow also describes each element of the procedure as it relates to the theoretical literature included in the study. There is also an inclusion of the data analysis procedure. The author describes how the information from the PTs’ free writes would be collected, analyzed, coded, categorized, and triangulated across themes with methods references of procedure …show more content…

This summation of the data and the resulting actions needing to occur as a result do not precisely correlate to the question. The question posed by the author was how do PTs view themselves as oppressive and liberative mathematics educators? The expected answers to this question would be for a PT to respond as “oppressive or liberative”. The majority of students lacking in the mention of self-oppressive teaching moments does not definitively support or discredit the question. It does not answer the question at …show more content…

The author goes through points the PT’s left out of their responses (mentions of race and socioeconomic status) and the implications for teacher education. The author makes one recurring recommendation that educating teachers give PTs time to reflect, write, and discuss oppressive and liberative practices as to become better in the field. There is one limitation that went unmentioned by the author. The participants in the study were those who signed up for the class. It is very easy to say that the responses they turned in were generated under the pressure of wanting to sound good or wanting to pass the class which does not speak to their true opinions on the subject. The study itself, as stated previously, lacks numerical backing. There should be some type of statistics aligning the idea liberative practices output student success. Without this, the author limits herself to her own opinion and the light backing of the study results and leaves the ending on a null and repetitive note that liberative practices will give equal math education to all.

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