THE END for data collection stage!

It is with great pleasure that I announce to all my dear friends among the registered practising counsellors in Malaysia that I willnot be chasing you guys to complete my survey. The day has come for me to end this data collection stage and commence my data analysis stage.

To those who have responded to my survey, I can't thank you enough for your time and cooperation in making my PhD journey less stressful than before. For your information, 371 counsellors responded to my mailed survey while other 169 responded to my online survey. although the total number is encouraging, I had to throw some responses after data screening/cleaning stage. Currently, I have 508 pure cleaned data to work on.

I hope I can make some sense to this RAW data and come up with something very meaningful and useful to the profession of counselling in Malaysia.

My online survey is still accessible...

Good Day! My fellow registered practising counsellors (KB, PA),

Please be informed that my online survey is still open for your participation if you have not participated before in neither of my mailed nor web/online surveys. So, hurry up! Please click on the web page link in my previous blog post (It's just down there...below this post). One click and you can reach my online survey in no time at all.

Thank you.

Cheers and Wassalam
Rafidah
Melbourne, Australia.

Communicating Research: My Fieldwork, My Data, and the Related Challenges

On the 9th of November 2009 at 11 to 11.30 am (Room G.29), I shared my experiences and challenges of collecting data in Malaysia to an audience of about 15 HDR students during EROS seminar. The title of my presentation was: Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: A preliminary analysis. I talked about several aspects of my research and shared some significant experiences and challenges while collecting data in Malaysia. The topis that I covered were:

• A glimpse of my PhD project
• The data collection stage
• The challenges of collecting data in Malaysia
• Some preliminary findings
• Some useful strategies and tips for survival during data collection esp. in Malaysia
• Some implications for research

Some of the challenges that I encountered during my study away period were divided into two categories: personal challenges and research-related challenges. As a person, I emotionally suffered during my time in Malaysia because of split-family and different research context: I was in KL and my husband was in Kuching. So, we had to split our kids: Nabil with his dad in Kuching, Sarawak, and Nawfal, the younger one, was with me in KL the whole time during our fieldwork. We were being separated for more than three months! This was the most painful experience for me as a mother because I had never being separated with Nabil before. It was tough and yet I had to stay focus and persevered for the sake of my PhD research. Up untill today, I didn't know where I got the courage to survive during those months. Maybe, I was so busy with my research work and hence I didn't have much time to ponder or think about him... Maybe... The main thing that mattered, I survived!

If these challenges were hard enough for me, imagine myself with another bunch of research-related challenges. My life was a total misery during those hectic yet lonely months! Some of the key challenges that I encountered during my data collection stage were:

• inaccurate and not up-to-date contact details obtained from LKM
• poor response rate - ignorance or negligence? no time to complete survey? Or, simply perceived research as higghly irrelevant to improve practice?
• limited time/time constraint (3 months to complete pilot, actual survey, and interviews)
• limited budget/funds - only AUD2000/= to cover all costs incurred.
• research timing clashed with too many major festivals (oublic holidays) in malaysia
• lost in action! I got lost when trying to reach one of  my interviewee's office in KL...sigh.

So, my experiences and challenges taught me a few lessons that I can never forget:
As a person, I should treasure every moment that I spend with my family because when unexpected separation comes, at least I have many sweet memories to hold on to. As a researcher, I should make be well-prepared before, during, and after the data collection stage.

• Before collecting data: well-thought, well-designed, sound research proposal? A good timeline?
• During: get things carefully organised (make your to do lists, set your priorities, make contacts, and get things/plan into action asap!). If necessary, try to throw more than two birds using one stone!
• After: get your raw data organised - entry, check, and clean - asap and evaluate each progress.

Overall, I learnt that every challenge that I encountered also brought some sweet moments along its way. So, these sweet moments become my sweet memories that will help me become more motivated, more energised, and more focussed to complete my study. So, No Pains No Gains!

Have you participated in my survey on multicultural counselling in Malaysia?

Dear fellow registered counsellors,

Have you completed and returned my mailed survey questionnaire? If yes, million thanks to you for your time and cooperation in assisting my PhD research. You are truly a 'genuine' counsellors who know the role of research in the advancement of knowledge and profession.

For those who haven't had the chance to participate due to time constraint or difficulty in accessing my web-based survey, I would encourage you to find some time to make contact with me via my email address or mobile handphone number (017-3440987) so that I can assist you in whatever ways I could. I know that you really want to contribute to this research, but you may have some problems. So, please contact me for assistance. I truly believe that your participation can greatly enhance and contribute to this research.

If you still unable to get access to my web-based survey, please click on the following web page links based on your preferred language:

For the Malay version of the survey, please click:
Click Here to take survey

For the English version of the survey, please click:
Click Here to take survey

I very much hope that you will kindly participate in my research because the returned rate is still very low. Please help me to make a small contribution to our profession. Specifically, please help me to provide some evidence in order to develop a set of standards or guidelines for evaluating multicultural counselling practice in Malaysia. With these guidelines, we can help each other to improve our understanding and practice especially when working with clients in the Malaysian context.

Thank you.
Rafidah
(I will be going back to Melbourne on 30th October 2009, so I hope you can understand my situation. Thank you.)

Conducting Interviews

September was the month for conducting interviews with 12 registered-practising counsellors in Malaysia. This was the part that I liked most of the research. By conducting interviews, I can meet different people and learn about different things that could tell me a story regarding malaysian counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. The first and second interviews were carried out on 10th September 2009. The rest of the month was spent with families and friends because Eid Mubarak fell on 20th September 2009. So, my parents and I (of course with nawfal) departed from KL to Kuching on 14th September 2009 and we stayed in Kuching until 23th September 2009. For me, this was a self-reward after doing all the hard work of p reparing for survey packages with the help of my parents. So, I did enjoy myself with visiting relatives and interesting places in Kuching. A truly enriching experience for me!

Then, on 25th september 2009, we headed back to Lumut, Perak, to celebrate Eid with mom and dad's families at batu 4, segari. The best part of course eating delicious lunch at my big brother's house with a specil dish made from crab...Yummmmmm!!! On 28th September 2009, we went back to KL. So, that's the end of my 'energising' period. Time to focus on work now. More interviews will be coming and more new things that I will learn... Chaiyok! Chaiyok!

Data Collection: The good, the bad, and the challenging times/tasks.

Being energised!

Why is multicultural counselling important in Malaysia?

Why is multicultural counselling important in Malaysia? This question becomes my research background.

1. MC is important in Malaysia because the socio-political context of Malaysia is unique yet complex. This can influence and pose challenges to the profession itself.

2. The Malaysian counselling profession has failed to seriously consider diversity. This is because there are ethnic disparities among the providers and the recipients of counselling in the Malaysian context. Yet, Malaysian counsellors have an ethical-legal responsibility to ensure that their practices are multiculturally competent when working with diverse clients from different cultural backgrounds. To date, there has been no clearly identified set of standards for judging the quality of multicultural competence formulated for use in Malaysia yet.

3. In addition, previous literature have shown that addressing diversity in counselling practice with clients from diverse backgrounds can enhance the process and outcome of counselling in multicultural contexts. However, there is a lack of empirical studies exploring multicultural counselling in specific cultural contexts such as Malaysia.

In view of the above factors, my phD project aims to advance research in the area of multicultural counselling in Malaysia so that it can contribute towards improving the current practices to become more multiculturally competent! Don't you want to work effectively and ethically with diverse clients regardless of their cultural background? Do you want to be multiculturally competent counsellors?

Why Am I Doing This Research?

Why am I doing this research?

There are a lot of factors which motivate me to do this research and one of them comes from my personal and professional background. As a person, I am a product of a mixed-ethnic blood as depicted in this old photo. Specifically, I am an Indian-Malay-Muslim woman of age 35 years old. My late grandfather was an Indian Muslim migrant (trader?) from Southern India. I have experienced life from low socio-economic background during my schooling years to middle socio-economic background during my employment years. Therefore, I like to think that I have a multicultural identity as a result of an intersection of ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and social class.

As a professional, I am a product of Western education and training in psychology and counselling from the University of Western Australia (Perth) and University of Malaya. However, my own reflection of practising and teaching experiences for more than 10 years has helped to foster my multicultural awareness regarding cultural issues in counselling in the Malaysian context. Based on this awareness, I have started publishing articles to share my thoughts and experiences with other helping professionals in Malaysia. Some of these published works are chapters of books, journal articles, and conference papers:

1. Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2003). Counselling approaches and related issues in sexual relationships. Masalah Pendidikan, 26, 115-124;
2. Salim, S., & Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2005). Development of counselling services in Malaysia. In Z. A. Ansari, N. M. Noor & A. Haque (Eds.), Contemporary issues in Malaysian Psychology (pp.237-264). Kuala Lumpur: Thomson Learning;
3. Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., & Amit, N. (2006). Value issues in the helping relationship. Masalah Pendidikan, 29, 47-56. ISBN 0126-5024;
4. Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., & Amit, N. (2007). Values pertaining to spirituality and religion in counselling: Issues and challenges in the Malaysian perspective. In A. Husain, S. Jamaluddin, O. Hashim, S. C. Lau, M. Mohd Nor., & H. Sulaiman (Eds.), Horizons of spiritual psychology (pp.231-247). New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House;
5. Amit, N., & Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2005, 28-29 November 2005). Aspek kompetensi seorang kaunselor pelbagai budaya (multicultural) dalam pengamalan kaunseling di Malaysia [The competency aspect of a multicultural counsellor in the practice of counselling in Malaysia]. Paper presented at the Persidangan Kaunseling Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

This makes me realize that there is a pressing need for a multicultural focus in the Malaysian counselling profession in Malaysia especially in a journey towards developing our own counselling model - a culture-sensitive model when counselling the Malaysian clients. Don't you agree?

Thank you for participating in my research!

If you would like to contact the research supervisor about any aspects of this study, please contact the following:

Dr Janette Simmonds
Principal research supervisor
Faculty of Education
Monash University Clayton campus
Wellington Road, Clayton
Victoria 3800, AUSTRALIA
Email: Janette.Simmonds@education.monash.edu.au

Thank you for your interest and participation in this research. I genuinely appreciate your time in completing the survey.

Regards,
Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin
Researcher
Faculty of Education
Monash University
Email: Rafidah.Aga@education.monash.edu.au