THE INTERVIEW SAMPLE

The number of people actually interviewed was 66. However, five of these people, all women, appeared not to fit the sample requirements, although they had been referred for an interview. Four of the five people were on income assistance, and one was on workers' compensation. They all had either Grade 11 or Grade 12 education and had taken courses at other institutions since leaving school. None of them indicated that they had any literacy problems. However, their current life circumstances did provide some insights into the difficulties faced by single women and their attitudes towards education in general. They thus provided a small reference group with which to compare the responses from the women with literacy problems.

It is also important to note that some people did not appear for their interviews. In one setting, two people did not show up. The fee payment had not been mentioned to them. Whether they would have appeared if they had known about this, is not known. In another setting, three people who were on the interview list were not interviewed. (These three persons were all living in a low-income housing unit for women). There was no answer at two doors and the third one said, "I'm not interested." Three coordinators of other programs thought they could get one or two nonparticipants to talk to the writer. In the one case, the coordinator felt the person was so embarrassed and reluctant that she did not pursue the issue. In other cases, one or two people showed up while the writer was interviewing someone else and they did not wait around. There was also one no-show in the withdrawal category. However, two interviewees were unexpectedly added to the list. One person, together with his wife and son, made a pre-Christmas visit to the home of his friend while he was being interviewed. The visitors thus became involved in the process. The other person was in a coffee-shop where his friend was waiting for an interview and he volunteered himself for later in the day.