CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Research Design Research is the formal systematic application of the scientific method to the study of comprehending the problem; educational research is the formal systematic application of the scientific method to the study of educational problem, Gay (1992:7). A research design is a plan for collecting and analyzing data in order to answer questions. Ary Donald (1985) explained that research method refers to the general strategy followed in gathering and analyzing the data, Donald. In this research the writer uses qualitative approach. The important of characteristics of the qualitative approach are, Nyoman (2009:47-48): a. Giving special attention at meaning and message, with suitable object that is as study cultural. b. Give a priority to the processing than with a result of research so that the meaning always change. c. Design and the research plan is tentative research because the characteristic of research is opened. d. The research is scientific, it happens in social cultural and context. e. There no distance between subject researchers with the research object, subject researcher as the primary instrument, so there is a direct interaction between other. 25 26 This research is designed to identify some figurative language by understanding the general meaning when they are used in the lyrics of songs. The procedures of the research are: a. The technique of descriptive analysis offered to analyze data by the reading the data. b. Identifying the figurative languages used in the lyrics of song. c. Categorize the data into some kinds of figurative languages. d. The researcher studies the general meaning of figurative language by identifying the lexical meaning and contextual meaning. Based on the explanation above, this study uses qualitative approach to describe the kinds, messages and the general meaning of figurative language used in Westlife songs lyric. In line with the description above, the design of this research is categorized into semantic content analysis. Content Analysis in literary work relies on three important assumptions of literary works. The first is objectivity. It is gone through theoretical building in the form of reliable construct analysis. The second is systematic; to be systematic has to exploit clear methods and steps. Meanwhile, the third is generalization. It is based on the context of literary works totally to get the inferences, Suwardi (2004:162). B. Data Source Data are information, evidence gathered trough experimentation or studies which can analyzed. The data are classified into two part, they are; 27 1. Primary data source “Primary data are origin document, relics, remains, or articles, or direct data which correlate with the object”, http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/primary_and_secondary_data accessed 20 June 2011. 1) Geofferey Leech, SEMANTICS. 2) Charles W. Kreidler, Introducing English Semantics. 3) Ruth M. Kempson, SEMANTIC THEORY. 4) D Pareja, theory semantics 2nd edition. 5) John Lyons, Linguistic Semantics: An introduction 6) Ary, Donald. Introduction to Research in Education 7) Sukardi.Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan 8) Lyrics Westlife’s selected songs 2. Secondary data source Secondary data is data got from the other resources or results report from other person and supporting the primary data. The writer got secondary data from some lecture and internet focused about the lyrics of Westlife songs. 28 C. Subjects of the Study The subjects of this study are the selected lyrics of Westlife song. The writer chooses to analysis the ideas D. Research Instrument and Technique of Data Collection According to the qualitative research, human is the best instrument for grasping the meaning people gives the events in their lives. The reason is that human is the only instrument with sufficient adaptability to encompass and adjust to the variety of realities that will be encountered when doing qualitative research in natural meaning. Here the researcher using the documentation method. In qualitative research, the researcher is the primary instrument to gather the data. In this study the researcher is the main instrument in collecting the required data by applying the theories, interpreting the data based on the general meaning with semantically and contextually of the song lyrics, interpreting the data based on the way of Westlife expresses figurative language and the last making conclusion based on data analysis. E. Data Analysis Data analysis is the process of systematically searching and arranging the field note, interview transcripts, and other materials that the researcher accumulate to increase his own understanding. According to Gay, data analysis usually involves application of one or more statistical technique. Data are analyzed in the way that permits the researcher to test the research hypothesis or answer the research question, Gay (1995: 8). 29 The procedure of data analysis can be drawn as follows: 1. Applying the theories related to the problems and anything needed based on the purpose of the study. 2. Interpreting the data based on the way of Westlife expresses figurative language. 3. Interpreting the data based on the general meaning, and the message. 4. Making the conclusion.