LITERATURE REVIEW
4.6 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
56 them immediately after their completion by learners. Fourteen [14]
questionnaires per school were distributed to each of the four [4] schools. The main focus of the questionnaires was the impact of HIV/AIDS on primary and secondary education in Mohale‟s Hoek, Lesotho. A total of fifty six [56]
questionnaires were distributed. Before completing the questionnaire, the researcher chose to go to the sampled schools to explain when questions could not be understood. The principals were requested to distribute the questionnaires to educators in their respective classes. The questionnaires were then collected from the sampled schools immediately. The researcher took two days to collect data.
After two days a total of fifty six [56] questionnaires were completed depicting a 100% response rate. The respondents were informed that this was part of a Master‟s Degree research project at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein. The researcher thanked the respondents for their cooperation, participation and assistance in this study.
4.6.2 The interview
The interview is a specialized pattern of pre-planned, interpersonal, verbal or non verbal communication between two or more people about a matter of mutual interest. The interviews can be short and factual, lasting for a few minutes or they can last for an hour or more [Kirby, 1995:84]. The purpose of the interview was to supplement data that had been collected through the use of other methods.
In this study the purpose of the interview was to complement the questionnaires. After having developed a questionnaire to gather information from students, the interview data was collected from teachers through an unstructured interview. Unstructured intervention aims to probe deep beneath
the surface of superficial responses to obtain the meanings that individuals assign to events, and the complexities of their attitudes, behaviours, and experiences. This method allows the respondents to tell in their own words, with prompting from the interviewer.
For this research 10 teachers from each of the four selected schools were interviewed. The teaching experience of teachers ranged from one to twenty years and above, twenty-four [24] of them were females and sixteen [16] were males. The interviews were therefore conducted with approximately 5% of the respondents, based on the analyses of the survey instrument, in order to acquire a more in-depth understanding of the priorities within each category.
The main purpose of this was to form a better impression of the interviewee by allowing him/her to do most of the talking. The interviewer did this by encouraging the interviewee to voice out his/her opinions, reveal attitudes and express feelings about HIV/AIDS in schools. A teacher‟s responsibility in terms of children living with HIV and AIDS and those orphaned by HIV/AIDS was considered. The interview took place in staff rooms, on Fridays after 13:00 or during free periods; the interview took approximately fifty minutes.
The interview allowed the researcher to examine fundamental questions about how teachers and principals perceived and interpreted the impact of HIV/AIDS on schools at Mohale‟s Hoek, Lesotho. The procedures and questions asked are presented below.
4.6.2.1 Procedure
The initial introductions were made, and the interviewer presented herself as both researcher and teacher, and briefly described her background in teaching in order to establish rapport and trust with the interviewee.
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The researcher thanked the interviewee and expressed her appreciation for their invaluable participation in the study.
She then continued to say: “I am going to ask you a variety of questions about the impact of HIV/AIDS on schools, about how HIV/AIDS can affect education at Mohale‟s Hoek”.
The questions were asked in a predetermined order.
4.6.2.2 Questions
1. Has HIV/AIDS had an impact on this school?
If yes
- How does it affect the school?
2. How many children left school due to HIV/AIDS problems? Many/None
3. If many
- As a teacher how do you feel about it? Bad or Good?
4. If you feel bad about it, what actions do you, as a teacher, take to see to it that the affected children go to school?
5. If there is no action
- Who takes the responsibility of these affected children:
- The principals?
- The Heads of Department?
- Board of Governors?
- The Department of Education?
- Or Government?
6. Should children with HIV/AIDS be served under special education?
7. If yes, how can the procedures be adapted to meet children‟s needs?
8. Do you teach learners about HIV/AIDS at your school?
9. If No, do you think it is necessary to teach learners about HIV/AIDS?
10. If yes, are you going to teach them about HIV/AIDS in class or individually?
11. Do students seem to be exposed to appropriate information on HIV/AIDS on the danger of unprotected sex?
12. If yes, do you encourage them:
- to use condoms?
- to abstain from sex?
- or what?
13. Do you improve coordination of HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities in your school?
14. Does HIV/AIDS lead to deterioration in school enrolment?
15. If yes, How?
16. Do you as a teacher encourage parents to talk about sexuality which may lead to HIV/AIDS discussions with their children?
60 17. As a teacher, are you also affected by HIV/AIDS?
18. If yes, how does it affect you?
The data analyses, techniques of asking the questions and the results of these questions are presented in chapter four.