supporting tiriti-based curriculum delivery in mainstream early ...

opportunity to read reports and discuss any issues. I explained that teachers might
choose to be known and get the acknowledgement of the work they had done. As a
safeguard, however, I advised these teachers that transcripts and interim reports
would be given to them so that feedback and corrections could be made before the
final report was completed.
During the research process it became clear that it would have been very
difficult to ensure anonymity. In each case study centre there were students on
practicum, both from my own and other teacher education institutions. When other
visitors came to the case study centres when I was present they were introduced to
me and the research was explained to them. As well, parents of the children at the
centres were aware of my purpose in being at the centre.
3.4.4 Confidentiality
In particular, confidentiality was not a straightforward issue in this
research; which is frequently so for practitioner research and in particular for action
research (Zeni, 1998). Confidentiality is defined by Tolich and Davidson (1999b)
as a situation in which “the researcher can identify a certain person‟s response but
promises not to make the connections publicly” (p. 76), in order to safeguard them.
Although Snook (1999) stated that confidentiality was essential, Cardno (2003)
cautioned that “in such a small society, promises of confidentiality and the use of
pseudonyms are no guarantee that an institution or even an individual cannot be
identified when the research is discussed and/or published in the public domain”.
Indeed legally, total confidentiality cannot be guaranteed (O'Brian, 2001).
Cardno (2003) notes the importance of letting participants know how
much confidentiality can be given, so bearing this in mind and the issue of
safeguarding participants (Tolich and Davidson, (1999), I discussed confidentiality
with each group. Specifically, I made the point that in action research it was their
decision as to how much of the research would be reported and attributed to them
by name. In Case Study One the participants wished me to report them by using
their initials and Case Study Two and Case Study Three wanted their names to be
attributed to their research and the contributions they made.
Research is always an intrusion into other peoples‟ lives (Cohen, Manion,
& Morrison, 2007) and as such should be conducted with thoughtfulness and
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