Leedy and Ormrod (2010) state that ethical behaviour is of critical importance in research, just as it is in any other field of human activity. According to Welman, Kruger and Mitchell (2005), ethical considerations that a researcher must consider include informed consent, and the participants’ rights to privacy and protection from harm. Denzin and Lincoln (2005) explain that in qualitative research in particular, researchers necessarily intrude into the participants‘ lives and thoughts, so they need to do so carefully, respectfully and ethically,
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and it is their duty to ensure that ethical practices are conducted at all times during the research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005).
The participants in this study were professional teachers protected by the South African Constitution, and its Bill of Rights in particular, which protects the rights of all South Africans to human dignity, equality and freedom. At all times the researcher was mindful and respectful of their protected rights.
Prior to the commencement of the study permission to conduct the research was sought from the DoE, and permission was granted (see Appendix A). Ethical approval for the research was obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal‘s Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee ((Protocol reference number: HSS/0412/018M, see Appendix B), and the study was carried out according to the ethical guidelines stipulated by the university. Permission from the school principals was also sought and granted (see Appendix C). In order to make sure that the school principals were adequately informed about the nature of the research, the researcher conducted a presentation and provided the principals with a proposal that explained the research purpose, aims and objectives.
3.8.1 Informed consent
In qualitative research informed consent is extremely important because of the personal and in-depth nature of the information being collected. Potential participants were contacted verbally and by means of a circulated letter that explained the research process (see Appendix E). Those who agreed to participate were required to read and sign an informed consent form (see Appendix D), which explained that participation was voluntary, and that their identities and the information that they shared would be kept confidential.
3.8.2 Right to privacy
The respondents’ right to privacy was guaranteed. The names of the teachers were not used, and pseudonyms (Participant A, B, etc.) were assigned to all participants to ensure
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anonymity. The data was handled in compliance with the Data Protection Act of 1998, and was stored in the supervisor‘s office in a safe and lockable cabinet. Participants were given access to all the data relevant to them as individuals. The data will be discarded or shredded after five years.
3.8.3 Protection from harm
The respondents were assured that they would be protected from any physical or emotional harm. There was no physical risk involved in participating in the study, as participants were simply required to complete the questionnaire and participate in face-to-face interviews. Participants were informed that they could withdraw at any stage of the research if they felt that their rights were being violated or their lives were at risk.
3.8.4 Involvement of the researcher
A researcher should guard against manipulating respondents or treating them as objects or numbers rather than as individual human beings. They should not use unethical tactics and interview techniques. Accordingly, the researcher made a concerted and thoughtful effort was to uphold ethical considerations throughout the study. As discussed in section 3.5.4, the researcher examined her personal views, feelings and attitudes to determine how they could potentially influence the investigation, and tried to minimise any bias or preconceived ideas.
3.9 CONCLUSION
This chapter has discussed the methods that were used to collect data for analysis. It dealt firstly with the overall research paradigm that informed the approach to data collection and analysis (the interpretivist research philosophy, the qualitative approach and the exploratory purpose), and then described the overall research design (the case study research strategy employed, the research setting, the purposive sampling procedure and the data collection procedure using structured interviews and a questionnaire). Braun and Clarke‘s (2006)
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process of thematic data analysis was then described, as well as the methods used to ensure trustworthiness in the data, the limitations of the study, and the ethical considerations that were taken into account.
In the following chapter the research findings from the structured interviews and questionnaire will be presented and analysed.
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CHAPTER 4
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The previous chapter outlined the research design and methodology that guided this study on exploring inclusive education practices in an intermediate phase mathematics classroom in Umlazi District. The data collected is presented and analysed in this chapter using thematic analysis, and is interpreted using constructivist theory.
The research questions that guided this study were as follows:
• What are educators’ perceptions of inclusive education and what are their practices in the intermediate phase classroom?
• How can educators in the intermediate phase mathematics classroom enhance inclusivity?
• How does inclusive education need to be improved in the intermediate phase mathematics classroom?
Two data generation instruments were used to generate data: scheduled interviews and questionnaires. The scheduled interviews were used to answer the three research questions, and the questionnaires were used to collect sufficient data on the knowledge and experiences of teachers who are teaching mathematics in the intermediate phase. The data generated through the questionnaires enriched the information generated from the scheduled interviews. Interviews are effective when the researcher wants to fully understand someone‘s impressions or experiences, or learn more about their answers. However, questionnaires can be flexible and convenient. The data collected using the two data collection instruments was analysed using Braun and Clarke‘s (2006) method for conducting thematic analysis, and interpreted using Vygotsky‘s constructivist theory. The findings were assessed against the extant literature discussed in Chapter 2.
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The study was conducted at three primary schools. Eight educators were chosen using convenience sampling, each with three year experience or more teaching mathematics in the intermediate phase. These respondents teach in institutions where resources are lacking, and language is a barrier since the LoLT in the intermediate phase is English, as opposed to the home language in the foundation phase. The respondents complained about overcrowding in the classrooms and about how inclusive teaching practices are not properly facilitated. The findings are presented as the respondents’ actual statements, and are therefore representative of the participants’ voices. This is then followed by a discussion of the findings in relation to the literature reviewed and in terms of constructivist theory. In accordance with the ethical considerations taken into account in this research, the participants’ identities are protected and they are referred to as participants 1–8.