Talanoa - Scholarly Commons Home

The talanoa (in the case of this study included critical dialogues, discussions, telling
stories) were in the Tongan language. The main research question was fleshed out in
sub-questions (see Chapter 3) as guides to talanoa about the practices as lived and
practised by Tongan people in their homes.
There were two sessions for each group. During the first session, the participants
discussed the guiding questions. In the second session, the participants reviewed the
Tongan transcription to validate, make amendments, clarification and/or additions to the
scripts. The data was tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Note taking was taken
when appropriate.
Finding an appropriate location for the Talanoa research sessions as a group and a place
quiet enough to be able to tape record in was crucial. Telling participants to travel to
AUT Wellesley campus would be expensive because of petrol. Taking them to a chapel
in a church would be uncomfortable for those who are not members of that church.
However, I felt it would be relevant to conduct an educational research in a place of
education.
Therefore, I sent a letter requesting the Vaevaemanava Board of Trustees to allow the
three talanoa research sessions to take place in the school building after school hours.
The letter was sent in the hope that they would accept the request because I am a
Tongan and the school is a Tongan Preschool. This took two weeks, due to the Board’s
meeting calendar dates, and it was accepted. The data collection, the talanoa sessions,
were conducted at the Vaevaemanava Preschool building. The venue was most
convenient to both the researcher and the participants.
Light refreshments were provided at the end of each talanoa session in appreciation of
their time and support. Light refreshments are part of the ordinary custom of Tongan
people and was not used as an inducement to participate in the research. During the
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