AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
diagnosed as gifted by psychologists based on a psychological
examination.
4.2
Research Methods
The nature of our research was mixed, which provided a
comprehensive view of the preconceptions of pre-primary-aged
children. The research design built in this way allowed us to
determine whether there are differences in the level of children's
preconceptions. The starting point of the qualitative strategy was
the phenomenological approach, which anticipates identifying
children's preconceptions. In the statements of individuals, we
tried to capture their understanding of the selected phenomenon,
we were interested in how they understand the importance and
meaning of the selected phenomenon from the emotional area –
“success”.
In the research, we used the research method of projective
techniques, specifically free associations to identify the cognitive
component of preconceptions of pre-school children. Children
(orally) completed free associations with the selected
phenomenon (success). As another method, we chose a semi-
structured flexible micro-interview not exceeding the limit of 20
minutes. The interview was implemented in order to identify the
cognitive, structural, but also the affective component of
preconceptions about the selected phenomenon of “success”. We
recorded and saved all the children’s statements in the form of
audio recordings. The structure of the questions was prepared so
that the researcher had the opportunity to ask additional
questions. The questions were concise and understandable as a
condition for interviewing with regard to the cognitive level of
the participants. When creating the tool, we emphasized the
individual and specific characteristics of individuals, and
through other questions, it aimed to reveal the social context of
the development of children’s personality. We chose the semi-
structured interview to be flexible in asking questions and to be
able to change the order of the questions, or add more according
to the situation so that we could address what we considered
important for our research in response to participants' answers.
In the qualitative evaluation of children's statements, we took
into account the semantic (literal) but also the pragmatic
(actually expressed) meaning of children's sentences. The
research was intentionally carried out in kindergartens at the end
of the 2018/2019 school year, specifically in May – July (at the
end of pre-school education), when psychological diagnosis and
testing of giftedness in children are also carried out. In
agreement with the parents, we obtained the information about
the test results from the teachers, and then the results were
confirmed by the kindergarten principals. We also verified this
information by visiting the first year of primary school in the
respective city integrating gifted children, or places that have
already created classes for gifted children for the beginning of
the next school year (2019/2020).
After fieldwork and conducting the research, the collected
material was processed and analyzed with projective techniques
and interviews based on the principles of the analytical strategy
of the constant comparative method. Through content analysis
(open coding) of components in the statements, we elaborated
semantic categories present in all children’s statements. The data
from projective techniques were processed using the content
analysis method, which we used to analyze and categorise
children's statements. We processed the data in MS Excel and
interpreted them into clear figures and tables. The data
evaluation from projective techniques is presented through the
processing and interpretation of data in the form of a summary
report. Children interviews were subjected to content analysis
(open coding). When processing the interviews, we used a literal
transcription from the audio recordings into the records. Based
on authentic statements, these records were used to create
categories, which we assigned to the individual children’s
statements. To compare the data in terms of giftedness, we also
used quantitative content analysis. Therefore, based on the
number of interpretative categories of individual children
groups, we further evaluate the data in comparison tables. In this
phase, we used information and results of diagnosing giftedness
in pre-primary education to evaluate the data, based on which we
also compared it. The aim of this comparison was a more
objective identification of differences in the identified
preconceptions of children about the selected phenomenon.
Therefore, when evaluating the data from the interview, we also
proceeded with the so-called expert assessment – in our case, to
score the authentic statements of children. However, only
statements on the cognitive and structural component of
preconceptions were scored; the affective component is analysed
and interpreted only in graphs. The scoring was done by three
unbiased persons:
pre-primary teacher;
parent of a pre-school-aged child;
researcher.
5
Results and Discussion
In the following section, we present an analysis and
interpretation of research data collected through projective
techniques (free associations) and a semi-structured micro-
interview about a selected emotional phenomenon of success.
For the clarity of the results, we firstly present the analysis of
free associations (hereinafter referred to as “free associations”)
with the selected phenomenon stated by the kindergarten
children, i. e. the children of pre-primary education (hereinafter
referred to as “kindergartens”). This is followed by the analysis
and interpretation of flexible semi-structured micro-interviews
about the phenomenon.
5.1 Evaluation of Projective Techniques: Free Associations
with the Phenomenon of Success
In this part, we examined in particular the cognitive component
of children's preconceptions about the phenomenon of success.
Children's statements on the question “What do you think of
when you hear the word success?” were analysed and processed
in the following Graphs 1, 2, and Table 1.
Graph 1: All Free Associations of Pre-School Children with the
Phenomenon of Success
In Graph 1 we see all the free associations that children of pre-
primary education mentioned with the phenomenon of
“success”. The category of no answer or “don't know” had the
largest representation, in which most children spontaneously
answered “don't know”. The second most represented category
was the importance of success, in which children stated that
success is when someone wins, wins a medal, a trophy, some
prize, is wealthy, but also when the immediate environment is
proud of a successful individual. Similarly, the children
mentioned various sports in which success is the goal (football,
Olympics, running, racing, tennis, etc.), but they also mentioned
the reasons for success – a successful person is good at
something or is lucky.
Furthermore, we ranked all pre-school participants according to
the number of free associations and subsequently marked those
who were identified as gifted based on a psychological
- 58 -