Importancia de la afectividad en la individualización.

According to Robson (2002), conducting research ethically “means that you follow a code of conduct for the research, which ensures that the interest and concerns of those taking part in, or possibly affected by, the research are safeguarded" (p. 18). Also, Blaxter, Hughes and Tight (2006) argue that “all social research gives rise to a range of ethical issues around privacy, informed consent, anonymity, secrecy, being truthful, and the desirability of the research” (p. 158). As a researcher, I was keen to address several ethical issues during the preparation of this academic work with my full recognition of the ethics of research at the University College London which emphasises the importance of ethics in research and provides guidance to its researchers during the implementation of their studies in line with the guidelines of the British Association for Educational Research (BERA). Therefore, as mentioned above, I gained official approval from the relevant institutions and authorities. Also, special consideration was given to the study participants. Therefore, I took into account the ethics of research through three basic stages during the course of this academic work, as follows: (1) considerations before the interview; (2) considerations during the interview; (3) considerations after the interview.

4.14.1 Considerations before the interview

All participants in this study, whether mothers or teachers, were over 20 years of age and competent to consent to participating in the study. As the researcher, I had explained to the the administration of the daycare centre that it was essential that the selected participants understood the research so that they could give their approval by telephone before the face to face interview with me. Obtaining their informed consent was a very important step before the interview. Saudis can be reserved and sometimes unwilling to participate in studies but once they have given their consent, they will usually stick to their decision. If, on the other hand, they refuse to participate in a study, they will not change their decision. As a researcher belonging to Saudi society, I understood the need to respect the culture and desire of mothers and teachers; hence my explicit request to the centre’s management to obtain telephone approval prior to the interviews.

Second, before the interview, I clearly explained the general nature of the research and its purpose to the participants. I also clarified that any confidential information will not be disclosed. I explained that I would not publish any information that they did not want to be made public. In light of these points, it was made clear that the participants had the right to refuse to answer any questions.

Also, if they felt uncomfortable in any way during the interview session, they had the right to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason. The affirmation of these rights was intended to promote trust between the participants and me. Importantly, the participants were asked to sign two informed consent documents; one remained in their possession and the other one in mine. As mentioned earlier, I also made sure to translate the approval form into Arabic (Appendix D) in order to give them the opportunity to know about their rights in participating in this research. I secured their approval through their signatures. They also provided their email and telephone numbers in case we had to be in touch again.

4.14.2 Considerations during the interview

For the actual interviews, I carefully coordinated with the centre in order to be provided with a special place. As mentioned above, it was important to give the participants a sense of comfort and confidentiality while talking to me especially as the mothers and teachers have a working relationship with this centre. The place chosen was convenient and comfortable, away from the site management centre and children's classes. As the researcher, I was keen to build a friendly and comfortable relationship with the participants through general informal conversations and smiles. I welcomed them and offered coffee so that they would feel at ease and not worry or get scared about the interview with an academic. I also said that there would be a voice recording during the interview, which would later be written down. I further explained to them that they had the right to ask for the sound recording to be stopped for personal reasons or if they did not want the information to be audio recorded. Indeed, this happened in three cases where the participants spoke about very confidential personal matters. At those specific points, I stopped the recording and only listened to them. For the interviewees to feel comfortable, I showed interest through nonverbal expressions, intent listening and not writing any side notes. I wanted to make sure that my participants felt at ease and could express their views - whether positive or negative - in all honesty and transparency. All the participants were enthusiastic about the interviews and agreed to the information being published for scientific purposes and benefit the field of special education. They also confirmed to the mothers in the interview that they need to interact with researchers through interviews and hear their views and experiences on any issue of special education that concerns their children.

4.14.3 Considerations after the interview

After obtaining data from the interviews, I was careful as the researcher to conceal the names of the participants and replace them with general codes such as M1, T1, as described earlier. I also withheld any official papers showing the name of the centre or the participants’ data. This ensured that anonymity and confidentiality were preserved according to research ethics. I also thanked the centre's administration and the study participants in a letter without mentioning any specific name or family.

The participants raised some pertinent issues in this research. Therefore, I asked the participants about the possibility of presenting some explicit and sensitive issues related to family or peers before writing the sound recordings. The participants agreed saying that it was important to have open discussions on sensitive issues in order to raise awareness about the nature of their work with children with disabilities. Also, the participants urged me to present my findings and the issues they raised so that the Saudi government and the relevant ministries could take necessary actions. They also specifically asked me to provide a real picture of the situation of the children with DS and highlighted the need for transparency and credibility. To preserve the data, I used a high-quality recording device to store and save the interviews. My supervisor and I were the only people to have access to the recordings. Only data relevant to the topic has been used in this study. The remaining data has been kept safe and can be accessed by me for future use.

4.15 Chapter Summary

This chapter provided a detailed explanation of the most important methodological frameworks adopted for this study. The data collection methods, the data analysis procedures, issues of reliability and credibility, and ethics were also discussed. The data collection methods yielded rich data, as presented in the following chapter. As the researcher, I decided to provide a short narrative presentation of the interviews. The next chapter will therefore provide the individual responses of the interviewees. These will contribute to the reader's understanding of the topic and will lay the foundation for the emergence of codes and themes. The presentation will also allow other researchers to explore the most important issues raised by providers of services for children with DS, mothers and teachers. This may contribute to future qualitative studies on these issues in different contexts and provide theoretical frameworks for such studies.

Chapter Five: Individual Responses of Participants

5.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a summary of the individual responses, not a literal translation of what the interviewees said. In some instances, verbatim quotes are included. The goal of this chapter is to clarify some of the views, feelings, and backgrounds of participants and their attitudes on the role of social media in helping participants during the activation of EIS for children with DS. Since the current study is considered the first of its kind in the field of special education and social media in the Saudi context, it was deemed important to give the opportunity to providers of services such as parents and teachers to voice their views, feelings and demands on the issue of social media and early intervention services. Individual responses were organised in this study according to the group of participants. The first group consists of mothers referred to as M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and MPS. The second group is made up of the teachers T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and TPS. The codes were used to maintain anonymity, as explained in Chapter 4. In this section, the responses have been arranged in a specific sequence to make it easier to identify the topics reviewed. Each individual presentation includes a general introduction to each case in this study. For the mothers, the introduction includes the medical history of the birth of a Down Syndrome child. For the teachers, the introduction comprises their professional and educational background. Then the paragraphs begin sequentially with a focus on what the participants mentioned about their use of social media in terms of preferred types and reasons for preference, as well as the most used platforms, and the reasons for this and the pros and cons of using these platforms. Any further important information was then included.

Therefore, this chapter provides a social background and context to the responses and acts as a kind of preface for the reader to understand the themes and discussion in the later chapters. This individual presentation is based on a view of Stake (1995), who stresses the importance of describing each participant or situation in qualitative research in order to allow the reader to engage with the identity of the participants, their views and their feelings towards the subject of study. Therefore, I decided to give the interviewees individual attention in this chapter. I was keen to organise all the participants in this study in a coordinated sequence, so as to facilitate the reader's understanding and focus on topics related to the context of this study.