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discernable. However, as can been seen <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g section, access<strong>in</strong>g such a<br />

centre was not possible.<br />

4.2.1 Access to Case Study Centres<br />

I used convenience sampl<strong>in</strong>g to select the <strong>early</strong> childhood centres for the<br />

three case studies. Convenience sampl<strong>in</strong>g is a method of sampl<strong>in</strong>g where the group<br />

is simply “accessible, easy to contact, [and] well-known (to you)” (Well<strong>in</strong>gton,<br />

2000, p. 62). For this study, accessibility was a paramount and convenient<br />

consideration. Specifically, for Case Study One, I had known one of the centre<br />

owners for about 20 years through Playcentre connections. The relationship<br />

cont<strong>in</strong>ued because my grandson attended this centre for 3 years. Association with<br />

the centre was susta<strong>in</strong>ed after my grandson left to go to school, as I typically<br />

visited practicum students at the centre <strong>in</strong> my capacity as an evaluative lecturer up<br />

until the po<strong>in</strong>t at which the research commenced. At that po<strong>in</strong>t I ceased visit<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

centre as an evaluative lecturer to remove any possibility of ambiguity between<br />

roles.<br />

Whilst it was convenient to approach a friend for access to a centre for the<br />

research there were two other reasons that <strong>in</strong>fluenced my decision. First, I knew<br />

both centre owners were enthusiastic about professional development for their staff<br />

and, second, they were also proponents of decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g by consensus. Whilst<br />

the first of these factors would encourage <strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> research, it was<br />

considered that the latter would ensure “voluntary participation” (Davidson &<br />

Tolich, 1999, p. 376). For this thesis, that consideration rema<strong>in</strong>s an important<br />

dimension of my personal research philosophy.<br />

Well<strong>in</strong>gton (2000) warns “access is difficult; it requires time, effort and<br />

perseverance” (p. 64), which I found to be true. Despite my prior and ongo<strong>in</strong>g<br />

relationship with the owner and teachers, it still took 7 months from <strong>in</strong>itial contact<br />

about the possibility of <strong>in</strong>volvement until the action research actually started.<br />

In many ways this was a consequence of adherence to the ethical<br />

pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of voluntary participation and <strong>in</strong>formed consent (Tolich & Davidson,<br />

1999b). Further, <strong>in</strong> the time span that occurred between first contact<strong>in</strong>g the owners<br />

and commenc<strong>in</strong>g the research, several teachers transferred between units with<strong>in</strong><br />

this cluster of centres. Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, these transfers meant the orig<strong>in</strong>al group had<br />

129

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