4.6.4 Questionnaire: Dialogues

Recipients of the questionnaire also had the opportunity to participate in individual dialogues or questioning in the same way that participants in the discussion list were involved in individual dialogues with the researcher. The cover of each questionnaire contained a section inviting participants to participate in an online discussion and/or an interview. Twenty two individuals expressed an interest in participating in interviews. Five individuals from this 22 were selected to participate. These individuals were selected because they indicated in their questionnaires that they never used the Internet for teaching. Some of them had not used the Internet at all for any purposes. The discussion list profiled primarily the beliefs of individuals who were comfortable with online technologies and who were, in the case of many of the participants, teaching and learning using the Internet. An essential aim of the research was to capture a range of beliefs. The dialogues between the researcher and these five individuals provided the means of capturing beliefs of individuals, who, in terms of their online comfort level, were at the opposite end of the continuum of use as compared to the discussion list participants.

The dialogue was conducted using the telephone since the participants all lived in rural areas at some distance from the researcher. Our discussion began by talking about our experiences. The researcher as well as the participant, exchanged stories about professional and, sometimes, personal lives. Following the establishment of a basic rapport, the discussion centered around responses made in the questionnaire. From this discussion, we engaged in a more general dialogue about the Internet, its use in the classroom and, most often, the participants then talked about the challenges related to Internet use. The dialogues could be described as open-ended and non-directive (Hammersley Atkinson, 1983). The participant was encouraged to converse at length and on his/her own terms.