DD had no objection to my conducting my research there if the lecturers in the mathematics department were agreeable. She directed me to the head of the mathematics department, HD, who was very helpful. He did not have any objection as long as the administration did not.
I explained to HD in detail the nature of my study. I asked for time to interview, to observe the lecturers and pre-service teachers in their work, and to work with the pre-service teachers on the intervention activities. For this I requested a normal college period with the entire class, over the first half of the semester, i.e. six weeks.
HD worked out a timetable giving me access to the pre-service teachers to conduct my activities during their private counselling and tutorial study time, and so that
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• my activities did not interfere with the normal teaching periods of the lecturers;
• participating in my research did not add additional hours to the heavy workload of the pre-service teachers.
HD asked certain lecturers to let me have their counselling and tutorial periods. Counselling and tutorial periods were supervised by assigned lecturers but no teaching was conducted. The lecturers concerned were happy to be relieved of these periods. From their comments I gathered that they were overloaded and were glad of relief. The lecturers were keen that I was given periods that were scheduled for the earlier part of the day. This was because in Malaysia the heat and the humidity in the later part of the day could be very enervating. They were
concerned that the pre-service teachers would not be at their best if I had them after mid-day.
I started my fieldwork three weeks into the third semester. Initially I was given one hour per week to work with the pre-service teachers but I was successful in negotiating two hours per week. This extra time was needed when I found that the pre-service teachers took much longer than expected with the intervention activities.
6.9.1. Interviews with Lecturers
At the beginning of the fieldwork I was introduced to the lecturers by HD in the mathematics lecturers' room. They asked me to explain my study to them and requested that I posted a copy of my research proposal on the notice board for their perusal. HD unsuccessfully tried to get the lecturers' approval for my observing them during their lecturing (the lecturers' refusal was discussed in detail in Section 5.3.5.)
6.9.2. Questionnaires and Interviews With Pre-service teachers
Once the timetable for my work was arranged, I was free to move about in the college. I went for my first session with the pre-service teachers in the home economics room as scheduled.
When I introduced myself to them they already knew who I was, HD having briefed them. I
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then explained the nature of my study to them. Below is my introduction to the pre-service teachers (the Bahasa Malaysia version is in the Appendix F)
I am a Ph.D. student currently doing my research in mathematics education. I am interested to know about your experiences with mathematics, mathematics teaching and learning while you were in school and college. With this questionnaire I hope to build up a body of knowledge about your experiences with mathematics, mathematics teaching and learning. After you have completed this questionnaire, I wish to interview each and every one of you so that I can understand your responses to the questionnaire in greater depth. Your responses would also help me to work with you in a series of activities, where mathematics is presented in alternative ways.
• For today I would like you to present your views through the questionnaire.
I then directed their attention to the questionnaire; and read the following instructions aloud to them.
• If at any time you have any queries about this questionnaire, please do not hesitate to ask me. This is not an examination but rather a session where you can reflect on your past mathematics learning experiences, be they primary or secondary based.
• The spaces provided below the questions are for you to explain your answers in detail.
• I hope that everyone of you will give me your fullest co-operation, responding as clearly and honestly as possible.
• Your responses are confidential and will only be used for this study.
I thank you very much for your patience and your co-operation.
After the introduction the pre-service teachers asked questions like
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• Why was I doing this study?
• What did I mean by beliefs?
What sort of activities did I want them to engage in?
I explained that beliefs were their personal perceptions, views and experiences about learning mathematics. It was necessary to use the Bahasa Malaysia equivalent for belief (such as pandangan, pengalaman, meaning views and experiences respectively) as the direct translation (percayaan) for the word belief has a religious and spiritual connotation.
After this introduction I distributed the questionnaires to the pre-service teachers. Everyone diligently answered the questionnaires which, once completed, were handed to me; we then set up the interviews. These were conducted after college hours as the mornings were filled with scheduled courses. The interviews usually took place at two in the afternoon and I managed to
interview three pre-service teachers per day, each interview being about an hour long.