Survey Says . . .

Monday,Tuesday and today were spent making sure that I got ample surveys filled out as well as set up some interviews with the student participants.

On Monday morning at 8 (after that ever so crazy weekend), I went into Marilette's class of first-year students to do the survey.  Marilette was thankful because it gave her time to put things together before beginning class. There were more students in the class on Monday then the last time I was there (so I had to pass out more consent forms).  In total 98 students agreed to do the survey but only 85 were in class on Monday to complete it.  It took about 20 minutes total to get all the surveys handed out and explain to the students what they needed to do.  The survey consists of 10 short answer questions (one word answers or a sentence of two).  I forgot that some of the terminology might not be familiar so I needed to explain some words and their meaning as well as answer some questions. Also, I made sure to tell the students that complete sentences were not necessary and that spelling was not important at all. However, many of them were worried about how they sound, write or spell in English making them very self-conscious when it comes to their speaking and writing.  Even though the survey was anonymous numerous students were still worried.

I looked over the surveys once I got back to my office and some of the answers to the questions were interesting, boring, and some (like all good students) did not read the questions at all.  For example, a couple students wrote that they don't like to read (this will be a problem when they want to improve their reading :-)) and other wrote that they do not plan on staying in South Africa they want to move abroad. It is a good mixture of students in the class (White, Coloured, Black, Asian, Indian) and it is the most diverse of all the years because this is one of the classes that weens out the students for next year.  I found some of the answers revealing, honest, and interesting.

I was supposed to survey the 3rd year students (Maryna's class) at 9 during their double period (they are working on a novel).  But instead, I ended up observing the class which was very interesting and telling of how some of the students understand culture as well as education.  In class they discussed the current state of violence and some educational issues in South Africa and how some of them think things will not change and others will.   It was difficult to sit there and say nothing but at the same time it gave me time to really be objective and write down the actual happenings rather than my opinions. I am headed back to the class on Monday when they have have time to do the surveys.

On Tuesday I went into the second-year class and had them complete the surveys.  The class had grown in size so a total of 58 students agreed to be surveyed but only 53 were in class to actually complete it.  Mandie was late to class so I got to be in charge for 20 minutes or so.  The students all have their phones outs (some were googling the books they like to find the authors, looking up words or just texting), so the surveys took them a bit longer than the first-years which is what I expected (also because they have more to say about multicultural literature after 1 1/2 years at NWU).  Once again, some of the terminology I had used needed to be explained and I will be more explicit when I go into the 3rd-years on Monday.  One girl wanted to know what she should write for race (it is a fill in answer) because she is Indian but that is not always what is on a standardized form . . . I told her to put what she identifies as personally.  Another student was looking at the dictionary because he wanted to make sure he spelled Caucasian right.  Another student told me she could not respond to the question of where you want to end up teaching (i.e. country, city, rural) because  it would be up to g-ed (Potch is very conservative and some people are very religious so I was not surprised to hear this); however, she is also the one who wrote that Eat, Pray, Love was one of her favorite books.   Again I looked at some of the surveys when I  was back in my office and there were some very interesting answers, which leaves me intrigued and looking forward to interviewing the students.

Throughout the week, I sent out a couple emails asking for interviews (for the 1st and 2nd years) and a few have responded (all female except for one . . . but I was told that the females are a bit more willing to talk then males).  Hopefully, I can get more to participate but I just have to wait and see.  Two of the first-year interviews happened today and I think they both went well.   But since the two girls are first-years they do not have a vast knowledge of multicultural lit and education (they are limited to what they had in high school and during the first semester).  I think these students were good to begin with and I am curious to see how all the others go next week.  I am still a novice at qualitative research so I was probably as nervous as the brave students were today but the more I do the more comfortable I think I will become (or at least I hope).