February 2007
Dear Parents
As you may have heard from your daughter, I am presently studying for a MEd in Education at the Faculty of Education, University of KwaZulu – Natal. I completed my Honours degree specializing in Gender and Education, and I have pursued my Master’s in the same specialization.
My area of interest is specifically in Gender and Mathematics and the impact that this has on girls. With the new FET in place and Mathematics/Mathematical Literacy being a core subject I wish to explore how girls construct their gendered identities in relation to Mathematics. I believe that unless girls incorporate Mathematics positively into their identity work it will be very difficult for them to feel comfortable in and achieve at compulsory Mathematics.
The focus of my intended research for this degree is on exploring the ways in which private school girls in grade 11 construct their relationship to Mathematics. I am particularly interested in finding out how girls in the specific ability groups of Core Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy develop and construct their relationship to Mathematics.
At a group discussion last week, I gave all the grade 11 girls the opportunity to remove themselves from the selection process and assured them all that their non - participation would in no way affect my opinion of them or disadvantage them in anyway in the future. After I had the names of all the learners who were willing to participate in my research, I randomly selected the participants by placing all the names into an envelope and drawing out six. Your daughter’s name was one of the six that I drew.
Your daughter’s participation in this research project will require that she be involved in the following activity:
• An interview/conversation with me that will last for approximately between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
At the moment, I plan to only have one interview with each participant, but should an interesting issue or idea arise that I would like more information on, I may ask for a follow up
interview/conversation session. In these interview/conversations, I am interested in hearing your daughter’s opinions and ideas about Mathematics. I will ask for her permission to record these interviews onto an audiotape.
I am conscious of the fact that you would be concerned about how your daughter’s participation in this project my affect her academic and sporting commitments. All academic and sporting commitments will take
precedence over my research and all interviews and group discussions will take place after school hours and at a time that will be suitable to both your daughter and yourselves. I undertake that neither your daughter nor you will be inconvenience by this research project. I will adapt and suit the methods to accommodate all the participants’ schedules and commitments.
You daughter’s participation in my research project will also involve me observing her in the environment of her Mathematics/Mathematical literacy classroom in order to observe how she interacts with her fellow learners, her teacher and how she experiences the natural environment of the classroom. I do not intend to make your daughter feel uncomfortable and under no circumstances will her teacher or fellow learners know the purpose of my visits to the classroom, unless your daughter chooses to divulge this information to them.
As a participant, your daughter will be aware of my presence in your Mathematics classroom, but in order to minimize the disruption to her learning programme, I felt it may be better for her not to know during which lesson I will be observing her. Owing to time constraints, I have budgeted on only observing each participant twice.
I plan to draw on audiotapes of the interviews and group discussions, journals, and my observations of your daughter in the classroom environment as evidence for my MEd research. I will only refer to her written and spoken words and my observations of her participation if I receive written consent from you. Once I have analysed the data collected and re-written them into your daughter’s specific mathematical story, I will return the story to her for her approval of its contents.
If I receive your consent, I will draw upon your daughter’s written and spoken words and my observations in a way that respects her dignity and privacy and that of your family too. Your daughter’s name or any information that might identify her or the school directly will not be used in the MEd thesis or any other presentation or publication that might come out of the study. Copies of your daughter’s written work, audiotapes of interviews and discussions, and my observations will be securely stored and disposed of if no longer required for research purposes.
I cannot offer your daughter any material benefit from participating in my study, but perhaps her involvement may assist her to view herself, and the relationship she has constructed with Mathematics in a different light.
It is important for me to emphasize that your daughter’s participation in my study is completely voluntary and that she is free to withdraw from participating at any time should she so desire. Her decision to withdraw from the study will in no way influence my continued relationship with her and will not result in any form of disadvantage during her future school career. The College Principal is fully aware of the nature, purpose and details of my intended research project, and has made the school available to me as a site to conduct research.
This is on condition that I obtain informed consent from both my participants and their parents.
I would appreciate it if you could take some time to consider my request and then complete, sign and return this letter to me. I will then give you a copy of the completed letter. Should you need any issues clarified or explained, please do not hesitate to contact me or my supervisor at the University of KwaZulu – Natal on the following details:
Charmaine Vermeulen [email protected] (031) 261 7369
Professor Deevia Bhana [email protected] Work – (031) 260 2603
Thank you very much.
Yours sincerely
Charmaine Vermeulen
Professor Deevia Bhana
DECLARATION
I ……….. (name of parent) hereby confirm that I understand the contents of this letter and the nature of the MEd research, and
GIVE DO NOT GIVE
(tick one) my consent for Charmaine Vermeulen to observe/interview my daughter in her Mathematics lessons as evidence for her MEd research and any other presentation or publication that might come out of the study.
I understand that I can revise my decision at any time.
Signature of parent:
Date: