1. What do the dissertation examples that you read get right that you want to emulate?
I really liked the organization and descriptions that Sherman (2021) shared. The author discussed triangulation, and why each aspect of triangulation was important. The author also shared the steps in recruiting participants, including being an “insider” as well as reservations potential participants had. Further, Sherman (2021) shared possible limitations of being an educator and having bias, and the importance of having safeguards to help with that.

Johnson (2019) shared how the data would be evaluated, and I would like to research the methods for evaluation that were shared, as they may inform my decisions. Further, Johnson (2019) discussed in-depth what a phenomenological study is (which I used to compare to Sherman’s (2021) case study), which verified that my study is phenomenological.

2. How might you do things differently?

As I read Johnson’s (2019) study, I had to consider if I would want to do interviews alongside focus groups. After reading why the author chose to use focus groups, I decided that I am content with my own triangulation, which is the literature, observations, and interviews.

3. Write an outline of your initial thinking about methods.

• Determine how many participants to include, and how to recruit those participants.
• Develop interview questions.
• Determine timeframe for observations and how to observe in an online space.
• Consider ways to evaluate data.

4. What research methods do you propose to use?

This is a phenomenological study, in which I will use interviews, observations, and literature.

5. How do these align with your title and research questions?

Through this study, I would like to explore why homeschool parents join the group, what they expect from the group, how the group meets (or does not meet) those expectations, and how supportive the Facebook group is for the members.

6. What is the underlying epistemology of this methodology?

The underlying epistemology of phenomenology is a shared experience of people within a phenomenon. In my situation, the phenomenon is homeschooling Facebook groups, and I will determine how the members within the group perceive the situation.

7. What are the limitations of this methodology?

The limitations include researcher bias, and generalizability (since I’m only studying one group).

8. How do you plan for your methods to work from a logistical point of view?

I plan to begin the study by observing the group. Then, I would like to obtain participants and interview those participants in a semi-structured way.

9. What kinds of material will they provide you? (e.g. evaluation data in the empirical/practice genre, research data in the empirical/observation genre, field metanalysis data in the case of the theory genre).

My study is empirical/observation, so I hope to gain research data around parent perceptions of the Facebook group.

Cite the dissertations that you read and include excerpts that support or demonstrate your responses

Sherman, S.L. (2021). Case studies: African American homeschoolers: Who are they and why do they opt to homeschool? [Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University].

“I conducted self-analysis continually whenever I experienced inner thoughts during the observations because I wanted to offer suggestions for improvement but could not” (p. 60).

“In each online community, I posted a message in the message center stating the purpose of the study: to meet families who would be interested in participating in this dissertation study, eighteen families eventually responded to these postings, expressing interest in participating in the study. I performed initial screenings to determine eligibility to participate in the research via email. Once families appeared to fit the framework of this research, consent forms were mailed to each family. Upon receipt of signed forms, the researcher scheduled a telephone screening interview to ask the initial 10 questions from the protocol. The telephone screening was a second level of eligibility verification. Subsequent to the screening interview, I arranged an appointment for the initial observation” (p. 65).

Johnson, V.K. (2019). A phenomenological study: The experiences of homeschool students who persisted in college at a faith-based institution [Doctoral dissertation, Liberty University].

“The transcendental approach is used for studies that focus on setting aside judgments and preconceived ideas regarding the phenomenon being studied (Creswell & Poth, 2018). Moustakas (1994) said that transcendental research allows the researcher to use intuition to obtain a picture of the participants’ experiences with the phenomenon. By contrast, hermeneutical phenomenology seeks to interpret the experiences of the participants (Creswell & Poth, 2018). The goal of this study was not be to interpret the experiences of the participants but to describe the experiences of homeschool students who persisted in college at a faith-based institution in the Southeastern United States. For this reason, the transcendental approach was most appropriate for this study” (p. 59).