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Scenario #1
Julie’s research project is on teenage mothers and how they deal with the stigma of having a child while still in high school. To gather qualitative data, she has received permission from the school district to talk with some of the girls in a focus group setting. Because of the age of the participants Julie will be interviewing, permission from their parents was required. Julie has received the parent’s permission and is about to conduct her interview with the students.
- @font-face { font-family: “Times New Roman”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }What advice do you have for Julie?
- How do you suggest she collect the data?
- What will she need to do to report her collected data?
Scenario One:
The first thing I would tell Julie is that she should never ever EVER use the word “stigma” when talking to her students. It’s a minor point, but implying that having a child while a teenager in high school is a negative thing is a surefire way to get the participants to clam up, become hostile, or damage the interviewer/interviewee relationship. Do we as adults know that there is a stigma to being a teenage mother? Yes. Does the teenager see it that way? It’s best to not bring it up. Language needs to be as nonjudgmental as possible. After all, inquiry is the same as any other research observation, except one is using words, as opposed to eyes or statistics or records. It boils down to the difference of coming in cold and saying, “As a single, teenage mother, your life is hard. Tell me about it,” or, in the process of discussion, saying, “what kind of things do you experience, as a teenage mother,” and then letting the discussion flow naturally.
Secondly, I would tell her to find out beforehand what kind of support organizations they may already have in place. This is important, because it can help determine what best approach exists in talking to the young women about this issue. If there is a support group that meets regularly, that is a good avenue to start. There’s a temptation to gather these young women together and talk to them in a small group setting; setting aside confidentiality issues, this might not be a good thing to do, if such a support group does not exist. After all, there may be “baby daddy” issues between some of the girls—it does happen—and this may cause problems. That’s why, in the first few interviews I would ask questions about whether or not support organizations exist, or if they are active in anything of that nature. That way, one can address students in a group setting, and get more in-depth information. Additionally, some participants may feel leery of talking to a stranger one-on-one.
Irrespective of whether she is doing one-on-one talks or small groups, she needs to try to keep each interview and discussion following the same sort of topic. For instance, I might start the discussion by addressing the issues surrounding finding out that she was pregnant, then address issues within school, social services, etc. Keep the form true for each discussion, because it will make it easier to evaluate when the time comes to transcribe and review the results. That way, you can put information side-to-side.
Additionally, make sure that you allow the participants to voice an opinion as to what could be improved. That way, when the participant leaves , she will have felt a part of something greater, and upon reflection may feel as if her voice is being heard. If Julie is having more than one interview or meeting, by placing the seeds of thought in the participant’s mind, it may help to open them up for later discussions.
Once she has collected the data, she should look for commonalities. Having organized her questioning, she should be able to easily read the data and gather information based upon that pre-interview classification of information. By going back and reading her responses, she should be able to draw conclusions rather easily. She should make sure and document what was not said, too—especially if what she finds contradicts or is not directly addressed in her pre-research and her study in the literature on the subject.
Scenario #2
Mr. Malone has just been hired as the new principal for Moore Middle School. Moore Middle School is considered a transitional school because they have had three principals in the last five years. In order to gain further knowledge of the campus culture and the faculty at Moore MS, Mr. Malone created a satisfaction survey for the staff. He handed out the survey at the first in-service meeting with his faculty and asked them to complete the survey in the first three weeks of school. The staff was told that completing the survey was voluntary and confidentiality was promised. Regardless of the results, he also informed the staff that the results would be discussed at the next faculty meeting. 98% of the surveys have been returned and he is ready to review the results and report his collected data.
Using the information provided in this module, assume the role of Mr. Malone
write a one page letter/memo to the staff with the results of the survey using the information found below.
SD D NO A SA
1. Teachers at this school feel respected. 72% 22% 0 2% 4%
2. The principal sets the climate for the 3% 16% 4% 25% 52%
campus.
3. Teachers set the climate for the campus. 15% 17% 13% 37% 18%
Scenario Two:
Dear Staff:
As we begin the 2011-2012 school year, I want to welcome each and every one of you back. It’s just a matter of days until the minds of our students will be grinding in hopes of mastering the three R’s.
In regards to the survey I recently sent out, I understand why many staff members feel as if they are not respected. Were I to place this question to most any other school in the state, I would not be surprised to see the same answer. As you know, ours is not an easy profession. I could name for you the litany of complaints that befall an outsider’s view of public education, but you are all acutely aware of them.
We face challenges every day—some are easy to overcome; others seem insurmountable, while still others make us want to question why we do what we do. We must never lose sight that our classrooms are not meant for us…they are for our students. We are employees, we are workers, but we are, more importantly, caretakers, granted with the enormous duty of ensuring that today’s child becomes tomorrow’s leader, responsible adult, and the torchbearer of society.
We have a collective duty to serve, and this duty should be our priority. Teachers, you serve to set the tone of your classroom—much like the administration sets the tone of the school. Irrespective of our employment title, we, however, share the same duty, the same purpose, the same goal—to provide our students with the best education possible.
Please know that I am here to serve you, to help you to obtain success, and provide you, as much as possible, with the tools to obtain such goals. My door is always open; my ear is always listening, my shoulder is always available for those frustrating moments. All you have to do is ask!
Remember, staff, that the new school year begins, that we are confronted with insurmountable opportunity!
