Gathering Information

I listened to him (my exhusband) all the time because I knew he was smart. But I never agreed with him on the soul things. My soul cannot only just feel, but it can see, hear, and experience. When I lived with my first husband I never thought about these things.

The initial conversational interviews were an opportunity to learn how the women felt about themselves and what shaped their feelings. I did not have a set of interview questions, but approached each conversation with some general topics in mind. I started the conversation and followed the women's leads. The conversations provided a starting point for the women and me so that later we could look back to see if there had been shifts in self-concept. I did not tape record the conversations as I felt the women might be uneasy with the tape recorder. Instead, I wrote notes.

Once the project was underway, I took notes during and after sessions. I observed and noted responses to activities and changing ideas, concepts, and behaviours of both the project participants and me as the researcher. In observing, I drew from my training and experiences as an early childhood educator. I tried to describe what I saw without making inferences or drawing conclusions. I noted such things as body language, social interactions, whether affirming statements were used, the delivery or degree of comfort when speaking out in the group, the ability to offer new ideas, and participants' ability to speak to their own personal needs.

At the end of the project, I used a series of exercises to invite women to reflect about their involvement in the project. I also asked women for copies of their writing and drawings.

Consent and Confidentiality

When I met with each participant before the project started, I explained that she could review information I collected from her during the interview, check it for accuracy and change what I had documented before I used it in any context.

Throughout the initial interviews, I continually asked for verification of what the women were sharing and allowed them the opportunity to clarify or make changes. At the end of the interview I read everything back to the participant word for word. Each participant gave me permission to use the information. I also asked participants for consent to use information as I collected it during the project. For example, if I took notes about something a person had said or done, I asked for permission to write it down and use the information.

I offered all participants anonymity, and assured confidentiality to every individual who chose to share information with me. On occasion within this report, and on the author line of the booklet created during the project, some participants' names are included at their request. In all other references to the participants, anonymity has been maintained.