Researcher(s) Introduction
My name is Hayley Armstrong and I am currently planning a thesis project which will contribute towards a Masters in Educational Psychology.
Project Description and Invitation
This is a case study of a single classroom that includes a child who receives funding through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) and is part of a wider inclusive school community. It aims to explore how values relating to inclusion are applied and how these are experienced by the children in the classroom.
I would like to invite you and your child to participate in this research. This information sheet explains the project, please read this information sheet before you make a decision about participating.
Participant Identification and Recruitment
This study will be based in a single classroom. The participants will include the class teacher, the principal, a child who receives ORS funding, their parents, four other children in the class, the teacher’s aide and the ORS funded teacher.
Project Procedures
If you and your child agree to participate, you will be asked to sign a consent form which shows that you understand the study and have chosen to participate. I would also ask you to discuss this project with your child, and I will provide them with an information sheet and discuss what being involved in the project would mean for them. If they also consent then I would observe in the focus classroom and the wider school environment for one week to gain an understanding of the environment and practices. Observations will be recorded in field notes. Copies of work, meeting minutes (e.g., IEPs) may also be examined (with permission from you, your child and the school). I will try to ensure my presence causes no disruptions. I would also ask you and your child some questions.
124 Data Management
I will be observing the teacher and the five participant children in the classroom and school grounds and taking field notes. I may talk with your child about what is happening for purposes of clarification and this would be recorded in the field notes.
I would like to interview your child and sound record this conversations so I can transcribe it at a later date. This would be a semi-structured, conversational style discussion about what they like and dislike about school and their experiences in the classroom. I have guidelines for questions I might ask, but other questions will come up during the conversation. Your child will informed they can stop the discussion at any time, they do not need to answer any questions they do not want to and if they want to withdraw from the project at any stage they may do so without any disadvantage. Once the conversation has been transcribed I will give a copy to your child for them to read (or I will read it to them) and they can alter their responses if they wish.
I would also like to interview you, and you will also have the options of stopping the discussion, declining from answering any questions that you do want to or withdrawing from the project at any stage, without any disadvantage to yourself or your child. I will transcribe the interview and you will have the option of editing this if you wish.
I might use some examples of students work, or IEP notes, as data for the project, but I will only do this with the permission of the child involved, their parents and the school. I will look at the school charter, particularly around the special need policy.
All data collected will be confidential to myself and my supervisors, and will be securely stored so no one else will be able to gain access to it. The names of participants and the school site will be changed, and any identifying features will be removed or changed. At the end of the project any personal information will be destroyed, except that, as required by the University’s research policy, any raw data on which the results of the project depend will be kept in secure storage for five years, after which time it will be destroyed.
Participant’s Rights
Your child is under no obligation to accept this invitation. If your child decides to participate, they have the right to:
decline to answer any particular question;
withdraw from the study at any time during participation;
ask any questions about the study at any time during participation;
provide information on the understanding that your name will not be used unless you
give permission to the researcher;
125
ask for the recorder to be turned off at any time during the interview.
review the transcription and to remove or change any information that you do not wish
to have included in the final project.
Project Contacts
If you have any questions about the project, either now or in the future, please feel free to contact:-
Researcher – Hayley Armstrong
Phone: 022 322 3363
Email: [email protected]
Supervisors – Dr. Jude MacArthur
Phone: 027 741 5413 Email: [email protected] Wendy Holley-Boen Phone: 09 414 0800 ext 41595 Email: [email protected] Compulsory Statements
This project has been reviewed and approved by the Massey University
Human Ethics Committee: Southern B, Application 13/70. If you have any concerns
about the conduct of this research, please contact Dr Nathan Matthews, Chair, Massey University Human Ethics Committee: Southern B, telephone 06 350 5799 x 80877, email [email protected]
126