Procedures

The sample for this study was drawn from a low-income community in a New Brunswick city. The area is home to a concentration of families dependent on welfare support. About half of the students in the area elementary school reside in low-income homes; many of the families are receiving income assistance and live in a government-subsidized housing project. English is the predominant language spoken in most homes, with French spoken at times by parents in two of the homes, but not to their children who speak only English. A variety of community-based educational, health care, and social services programs are offered to many of the families.

The school resource teacher made initial contact with potential parent participants. She provided a general overview of the study, introduced me as her friend and obtained permission to release their telephone numbers to me if they expressed interest in participating. [Refer to the overview of the study for the resource teacher contained in Appendix D.] I then made follow-up contact to confirm interest and to discuss involvement requirements. I explained clearly that participation was voluntary. Letters of informed consent with the study purposes, participant obligations, methods of maintaining confidentiality, rights of participants to withdraw, and the name of the researcher and affiliated institution were required to be signed before an individual was permitted to take part in the study. [Copies of these forms are contained in Appendix B.] The consent forms were read to the parent participants, having regard for the low literacy level of some of the parents.

My success in readily gaining entry in the participants' homes may be in part due to my ability to fit into many settings and to adjust to the needs of the participants, a skill acquired from my work experience. Staff working in the community forewarned me to be cautious about my social presentation to facilitate acceptability. They informed me that many of the families had unpleasant experiences with government employees such as child protection social workers. They felt that if the families associated me with their other government workers, they might assume I was a potential threat to their welfare and be less open. Thus, they suggested that as a government employee, I should take precautions to keep that part of my identity separate from my student researcher role.