CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY



      5.0 Introduction
The review of the scientific literature (Chapter 2) suggested a more complex scenario about the causation of AIDS than is generally discussed. There was evidence that the complexity of the subject was beginning to be debated in the press and TV during 1992 (see Chapter 3) but I had found no evidence of the conventional, politically correct dogma being questioned in any educational literature or establishments (Chapter 4).

      5.1 Research Strategy
In order to establish the validity of HIV and AIDS education programmes in schools and test the impressions created by the review of educational literature, I decided, to adopt the following research strategy, for implementation early in 1993:
      - to conduct a survey of teachers, regarding
          - self-perceptions of their role and responsibilities in delivering HIV/AIDS education programmes and to:
          - ascertain how aware they were of the controversies among the scientific community
      - to conduct a survey of students in the first year of study at a college of Further Education, who had recently left school
          - to establish their satisfaction with the HIV/AIDS education they had received at secondary school and to
          - test their knowledge base, including those same controversies.
Triangulation could be achieved, to increase the validity of the findings, by comparing the student and teacher perceptions of the effectiveness and content of HIV/AIDS education programmes. Given the limited scale of this study and the location of West Herts College, where I work (Watford), the survey was restricted to Hertfordshire secondary schools, from which the college recruits the majority of its students. Basing the study in Hertfordshire had the added advantage that I could draw on the recent work of Gascoigne in designing and drawing conclusions from the survey.
      For both teacher and student surveys it was decided to use a questionnaire technique, rather than structured or semi-structured interviews for two reasons, namely:
      - to achieve a larger sample size and so increase validity of findings
      - to encourage honest responses, given the sensitivity of the subject. It was felt that neither teachers nor students would wish to admit gaps in their knowledge, face to face.

      5.2 Research Methodology
            5.2.1 The Teacher Survey
The questionnaire and covering letter used to conduct the teacher survey are attached at Appendix 1. Approval was obtained from the Vice Principal (Academic) at West Herts College to issue the letter on College-headed paper and to refer back to the earlier Health Education Project, conducted under the umbrella of TVEI, which teachers, at least in S.W. Herts, would remember. Reference, in the letter, to Dr Stuart Ware (County Health Education Co-ordinator), David Andrews (County PSE Adviser) and Jan Campbell (Health Education Adviser) lent weight to the survey and set it in context, for the respondents.
      On 28th April 1993, the letter and two copies of the questionnaire were sent to the Head of Science at each of the 83 Hertfordshire LEA secondary schools in the County. Due to a clerical error, question numbers 27 and 28 were repeated. For purposes of analysis they were renumbered. At each school, the member of the science staff most closely involved in the delivery of HIV/AIDS education and one PSE teacher were asked to respond. Two stamped, self-addressed envelopes were supplied to each school, so that each teacher could respond independently of the other. It was hoped that this would increase the response rate and reduce response time. Coding the questionnaires made it possible to pair the responses from teachers at the same school. The decision to target PSE and Science teachers only was based on Gascoigne's finding that these were the curriculum areas where most HIV/AIDS education was delivered.

      The questions were broadly grouped, to establish:
    - the nature of the school and whether it has a policy on HIV/AIDS (Questions 1, 4, 5 and 10)
    - who teaches about HIV/AIDS (Questions 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9)
    - how much and what kind of staff development is available to support teachers (Questions 11-14)
    - how teachers perceive their role (as educators or trainers?)
      - what are the aims of HIV/AIDS education programmes
      - what teaching styles are used and
      - what is the relative emphasis on knowledge and values/attitudes (Questions 15-18)
    - what learning materials and other sources of information are used by teachers (Questions 19-25)
    - whether HIV/AIDS education is set in the context of other STDs (Questions 26 and 27)
    - how well informed teachers are about the controversies described in the scientific literature, to what extent these are included in programmes and at what age (Ideally I would have liked to have asked more specific questions but considered that to do so would be too challenging and might have reduced response rate. Therefore the questions used were designed to be non-threatening but did not capture information as well as I would have liked.) (Questions 28-31).

            5.2.2 The Student Survey
The questionnaire used to conduct the student survey is attached at Appendix 2. During the Summer Term of 1993 (i.e. concurrent with the teacher survey) the student questionnaire was distributed via group tutors at West Herts College, Cassio and Leggatts Campuses, in Watford, Hertfordshire, to first year students following a variety of further education full time programmes. Nine college courses were covered.

      The questions were broadly grouped to establish:
    - information about the college course of study and school of origin (Questions 1-3)
    - the effectiveness and nature of the HIV/AIDS education at school (Questions 4-14)
    - the extent of their understanding about HIV/AIDS and in particular their awareness of the controversies described in Chapter 1 (Questions 15-24)
    - the extent of their knowledge about other STDs in relation to HIV/AIDS (Questions 25 & 26)

      5.9 Summary
This Chapter has described the methodology of the teacher and student surveys used to establish the nature, purpose and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS education programmes in secondary schools in Hertfordshire. It has also explained the rationale for adopting these methods. The findings and conclusions of the two surveys are presented in the next two Chapters.




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CONTENTS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2: THE SCIENCE OF HIV AND AIDS
CHAPTER 3: MEDIA COVERAGE OF HIV AND AIDS
    TABLE 1 - HIV/AIDS NEWSPAPER COVERAGE
CHAPTER 4: HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMMES...
    TABLE 2 - WIDELY USED ... MATERIAL
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 6: ... HIV/AIDS EDUCATION IN 60 ... SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 7: ... STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES OF SCHOOL HIV/AIDS EDUCATION
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES


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