Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Results from the analyses of interviews (Chapter Six)

The mission at writing my Chapter Six was accomplished at 1pm on 21st December 2010!!! Yeeehaaaa... And, what a chapter it turned out to be. Comprising 97 pages with four major headings, I think it's gonna be OK. The best part of it was the fact that I managed to complete the chapter a week earlier than its deadline. So, I planned to do a thorough self-editing and I hope I can improve its current quality! However, I have made a promise to myself that I will do this self-editing task after I had a really good break during Christmas Holidays... Ho! Ho! Ho! Self-reward is an important strategy to energise myself. So, I will now go to the EzyDVD store and rent some good movies and I will make my shopping list to enjoy the Christmas Sale!!!

Have fun and live life to the fullest. After all, it is only a PhD.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Communicating My Research (Part Two)

Believe it or not, but I have presented six papers in the year 2010 and another two were just completed! With these presentations, I think I have communicated my research to a wide range of audience among the academic community. Below is a list of references based on these publications/presentations:

2010:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, November). Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the Victorian Counselling College State Conference 2010, The Treacy Centre, Melbourne.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, November). Undertaking a mixed methods research: Issues, challenges, and lessons learnt from a PhD journey. Paper presented at the MERC Collaborative Colloquium, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, August). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: progress report. Paper presented at the Psychology PhD Student Seminar 2010, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). A national survey of multicultural counseling competency in Malaysia: preliminary analyses. Paper presented at the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010), Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Australia.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). Professional counsellors' experiences and perceptions of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: A qualitative examination. Paper presented at the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010), Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Australia.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., & Simmonds, J. (2010, July). Malaysian counsellors engaging with culture and diversity in counselling culturally different clients. Paper presented at the XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP), The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). Journeying towards becoming a multiculturally competent counsellor: From practice to research and vice-versa. Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2010 (A Research Odyssey), Faculty of Education, Monash University Clayton Campus.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., Muhamad, H., Sailin, S. N., Zakaria, N., Ali, M., & Amit, N. (2010, May). Malaysia higher education system: current issues, challenges, and hopes. Paper presented at the MERC Global Education Systems Day 2010 (theme: Higher education; current issues and challenges), Monash University Clayton Campus.
2009:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, November). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counseling in Malaysia: A preliminary analysis. Paper presented at the MERC Emerging Researcher Open Seminar (EROS), Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, July). Respecting diversity: Becoming multiculturally competent counsellors in Malaysia. Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2009, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., Muhamad, H., & Ali, M. (2009, June). Malaysia education system: Challenges and hopes. Paper presented at the MERC Global Education Systems Day 2009.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, June). Annual Progress Report: Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the Residential School Psychology Presentation 2009, Krongold centre, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, May). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the PhD Confirmation Seminar, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, January). PhD Progress Report on Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive in Malaysia. Paper presented at the PhD Psychology Students Seminar 2009, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton.
2008:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, October). Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive counselling: A mixed methods study. Paper presented at the Malaysian Post Graduate Round Table Forum 2008, Monash University, Caulfield Campus.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, July). Cultural competence in counselling practice and training of counsellors in Malaysia: Are we there yet? Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2008 (Education: New Horizons), Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, July). Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive counselling: A mixed methods study. Paper presented at the Psychology Residential Presentation 2008, Krongold Centre, Monash University.
Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008). Pendidikan kaunselor di Malaysia: Cabaran dan harapan [Counsellor education in Malaysia: Challenges and hopes]. In N. Idris & Nik Azis Nik Pa (Eds.), Perjuangan memperkasakan pendidikan di Malaysia: Pengalaman 50 tahun merdeka (pp. 466-490). Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications & Distributions Sdn Bhd.


The time has come for me to concentrate on writing my thesis and perhaps even try at writing for Publication. Who knows? I may learn something throughout the journey…
Moving forward: The road to become a competent helper!



 

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Writing for publication?

I don't know how to share my worries and stress with other people regarding the importance of publishing some parts of my research in ISI-indexed journals. As a sponsored student, there are conditions imposed upon me by the two sponsoring bodies: UM and MOHE. The former requires that all staff-in-training to publish at least three papers in ISI-indexed journals during their candidature. Else, the top management will not consider staff's request for study and scholarship extension. These staff are also not eligible for promotion if they haven't got at least three published papers in ISI-indexed journals. I personally don't like this because to write a paper in ISI-indexed journals requires a lot of time, energy, efforts, and money. How am I going to concentrate on producing a good or even 'outstanding' thesis if I have to sacrifice some of my study time to write papers? But, reality bites... Who am I? I'm just 'ikan bilis' and those top management personnel are 'ikan haruan'. I am just a cucumber and those people are durians. They can easily put my PhD journey to end on the grounds of non-compliance. Inilah nasib orang miskin yang tak berduit untuk tanggung pengajian sendiri....

On a positive note, well, this is just another challenge that I need to face and deal with during my PhD journey. Yes, it takes time to write journal articles! Yes, it takes efforts to write quality papers, but the experience would be rewarding. I haven't got any papers published in any international journals yet. So, why not take this opportunity to try to publish at least one paper. The reviewers' comment and suggestions might be useful to refine my thesis before submission. I think I should try. well, at least that I can do is try, right?

Write...write...write...no matter what.
Write...write...write...to produce what?
Write...write...write...to be bright
Write...write...write...till it becomes right.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

First attempt at writing my qualitative results...

I tried but it was not deep enough.
I tried but it was not critical enough.
I tried but it didn't quite right
So, I ended up reading more and dig more in the hope to be right.

Why was it so difficult?
Why was it so subjective?
I can't master the right skills
I can't produce the right piece

How to write the right piece?
How to show that a quality analysis with the right synthesis?
How to search for the right themes?
How to define and name the emergent themes?

So many questions, so much worries
No time to dig, no time to worry
Do as I can to refine the piece
No matter how many, trying is the best!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Commucating Research: Brief Review on Conference Participation.

To All - Good Day!
To all Muslims -  Wishing you and celebrating with you the joys and warmth of a blessed Ramadhan. May the divine blessings of Allah fill your life with peace, happiness, and success!

Last month was the month for communicating research in national and international conferences. I enjoyed every moment that I spent during the conferences, especially during IACCP and ICAP. It was such an enriching experience for me as a professional among a community of psychologists and scholars around the globe. So, here are some brief reviews/comments of what I can conclude from my participation in the conferences.

1  Global Education Systems Day 2010 (Theme: Higher Education: Current Issues and Challenges)
Date and Venue: 11 May 2010 Elizabeth Burchill Building 68, Monash University
Presentation Type: Oral research paper and poster
Title: Higher Education in Malaysia: Current Issues, Challenges and Hopes.
My review/comment:
As I was one of the organising committee for year 2010 GESD, I am proud to say that the event went well. In fact, it was much better that GESD2009 because of the number of participating countries and presenters for this year event. Last year, I presented on 'Introduction to Malaysia Education System' in collaboration with Haslina dan Marlina. This year, the Malaysian team comprised six members - Me/Rafidah, Haslina, Norzila, Siti, Marlina & Noh - but only four were physically present. The other two were still in Malaysia during the event day. It was a day that I learnt about higher education systems in 11 countries! A good break for a diversion of thought...



I'm in action....ready...steady...GO!
During tea break - eating and posing!
2 MERC Annual Conference 2010:  A Research Odyssey
Date and venue: 2 July 2010 Faculty of education, Monash university
Type: Individual oral paper
Title: Journeying towards becoming a multiculturally competent counselor: From practice to research and vice-versa.
My review/comment:
This is the third time that I participated in MERC. Again, as I was one of the organising committee for this annual conference of MERC, I am proud to say that it went very well. The materials - program proceeding, the CD, the name tag, the conference bag - were much better in quality and appearance than the previous MERC conferences. I'm glad that I was involved and I'm glad that I made this contribution to the faculty. Indeed, MERC has helped me survive as a PhD student since I transfered my candidature from Melbourne Uni to Monash on April 2008. I hope other students feel the same way too about MERC. Will I be able to participate in MERC Annual Conference next year? Hmmm....

 (Left) - I was attending the welcoming/opening ceremony of Iaccp2010.
(Below) - I  met some delegates from Malaysia too.
I posed right after the workshop ended. The workshop was OK but it didn't meet my expectations...
I am standing (and posing) between Alan Fiske and Daphna (both are keynote speakers from the USA).
Thank you iaccp because I was re-united with my former lecturer - David Sang - who taught me Cross-Cultural Psychology from the UWA afer more than 12 years!




3 XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP)
Date and Venue: 7 – 10 July 2010 The University of Melbourne, Australia
Type: Individual research paper [presented]
Title: Malaysian counselors engaging with culture and diversity in counselling culturally different clients
My review/comment:
So, looking at the above pictures and some others that I took during the IACCP, I am confident to say that IACCP was awsome! A truly amazing and enriching experience for me. I met a lot of researchers and scholars from other countries around the world. I treasure every moment that I spent away from my data analysis. I also attended a workshop which highlighted the importance of developing a culturally-relevant assessment for mental health problems with clients/patients from different cultures. I even spoke with David Matsumoto and Walter Lonner, whose work that I cited in my literature review chapter. I hope to participate in iaccp again. Insya-Allah.
My husband and I attended ICAP2010 and we both presented our current work-in-progress based on our PhD research.
Meeting and posing with delegates from Malaysia (UUM).





Meeting and posing with delegates from Malaysia (UMS).
Looking more like a 'student' rather than a 'professional psychologist' - Who cares?
Two key individuals from Counselling Psychology Division - Fred Leong (USA) and Bob (Australia)

4 International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010)
Date and venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Individual oral paper [presented]
Title: A national survey of multicultural counseling competency in Malaysia: preliminary analyses




MCEC even has a special place for Muslims to pray...! Awesome, eh? I posed there too with some friends.
This is the 'venue' where I presented my brief oral paper. It's just a sound-proof cubicle!
Captivating views from MCEC!

 
5 International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010)
Date and Venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Brief oral presentation [accepted]
Title: Professional counsellors’ experiences and perceptions of multicultural counseling in Malaysia: A qualitative examination

My review/comment:
What can I say about ICAP? At first I thought that IACCP was big enough but ICAP was bigger and better! Just imagine this, 3,400 participants from all kind of Applied Psychology background and from 67 countries around the world came for the conference. And, the scientific program comprised 3,223 presentations including Addresses from leading scholars around the globe! I felt so small and yet so proud of being one of the community members of applied psychologists, representing the counselling psychologist community from Malaysia. I am thoroughly humbled and inspired! ICAP2014 on 8-13 July 2014 - I've saved the dates already and Paris, France...please wait for my first visit!
       Both my presentations went well. The only problem was I didn't get as many feedbacks as I anticipated. I was very disappointed with the chairperson of my oral presentation because she didn't manage time well during the plenary session presentation. So, as the last presenter for the session, I didn't have much time to present and worst, I had no feedback at all from the audience! Sigh...
      The food and the conference venue were excellent. Both were prepared to cater for the needs of culturally diverse people. Well done MCEC!

6 The 5th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Date and venue: 2 – 5 August 2010 Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Type: Virtual presentation [accepted and declined]
Title: Multicultural counseling in Malaysia: How do Malaysian counsellors respond to power differential issues in the counseling context?
My review/comment:
I regret to inform you that I couldn't participate in this conference because of time-constraint and financial issues. Till next time.

7 The APS College of Counselling Psychologists (Vic) State Conference 2010
Date and Venue: 12 November 2010 Treacy Conference Centre, Parkville, Melbourne
Type: Individual oral paper [accepted]
Title: Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia
No comment yet!

Overall, I enjoyed myself tremendously by participating in those conferences. I learnt a lot too not just about people/all kind of psychologists and their work, but I learnt how to better manage my research too. I became so motivated to finish and complete my study so that I can prepare better papers for upcoming conferences and journal publication!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Commucating Research: Participation in Conferences

Good Day!
Today is the 1st of July. July is the month for sharing some of my preliminary findings with fellow researchers in the field of psychology and counselling. I know that I am miles away from completing my overall data analysis, but there is no harm in communicating some parts of my thesis based on the preliminary analyses, isn't it? So, here are some updates regarding my past, upcoming, and future participation in conferences. Hope some of you could come and help me to improve my current work-in-progress.

1  Global Education Systems Day 2010 (Theme: Higher Education: Current Issues and Challenges)
Date and Venue: 11 May 2010 Elizabeth Burchill Building 68, Monash University
Presentation Type: Oral research paper and poster
Title: Higher Education in Malaysia: Current Issues, Challenges and Hopes.

2 MERC Annual Conference 2010:  A Research Odyssey
Date and venue: 2 July 2010 Faculty of education, Monash university
Type: Individual oral paper
Title: Journeying towards becoming a multiculturally competent counselor: From practice to research and vice-versa.

3 XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP)
Date and Venue: 7 – 10 July 2010 The University of Melbourne, Australia
Type: Individual research paper [accepted]
Title: Malaysian counselors engaging with culture and diversity in counselling culturally different clients

4 International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010)
Date and venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Individual oral paper [accepted]
Title: A national survey of multicultural counseling competency in Malaysia: preliminary analyses

5 International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010)
Date and Venue: 11 – 16 July 2010 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia Type: Brief oral presentation [accepted]
Title: Professional counsellors’ experiences and perceptions of multicultural counseling in Malaysia: A qualitative examination

6 The 5th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Date and venue: 2 – 5 August 2010 Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Type: Virtual presentation [accepted]
Title: Multicultural counseling in Malaysia: How do Malaysian counsellors respond to power differential issues in the counseling context?

7 The APS College of Counselling Psychologists (Vic) State Conference 2010
Date and Venue: 12 November 2010 Treacy Conference Centre, Parkville, Melbourne
Type: Individual oral paper [accepted]
Title: Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia

 By participating in these conferences, I hope to get some constructive feedback and comment on how to improve my current work-in-progress. With that, I thank you and see you at the conferences!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Roadblock: Struggling with NVivo 8 after first-cycle coding

Oh! Dear...

I am having a mental block right now. Not just a mental block but it is also considered as ne of the many roadblocks in my PhD journey. Guess what? I have screened through all the open-ended responses from my survey and finished analysing four main questions in my Section C.

The problem is: I saved each one of the questions and its codings in a different NVivo project. In total, I have 4 NVivo projects! So now, I'm wondering how to make connections between all these separate projects. Have I done a major mistake here?
Pat (Bazeley, 2007) explains something regarding 'One or many projects?' but I have difficulty to translate his expalanation into my current work-in-progress. Oh! Dear... Oh! Dear... I don't want to re-do everything... I have analysed exactly 1784 statements given by survey participants and came up with suitables codes during my first-cycle coding. I truth, it was really a daunting experience. I had to push myself to complete it.

Dear God!
Grant me wisdom to solve this problem...Ameen.

From WIKIPEDIA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_block):
"A mental block is either a repression of painful thoughts, or an inability to continue a train of thought, like in the case of writer's block. A similar phenomenon occurs when one cannot solve a problem in mathematics which one would normally consider simple. In the case of writer's block, many find it helpful to take a break and revisit their topic after taking time away from it."

Friday, May 28, 2010

First cycle coding: Qualitative data from survey

Good day!

I can't believe it! I thought I have posted something last month (April) but... Oh! dear. One possible excuse that I can think of right now: I'm a temporary single mom (TSM)! As a TSM, I have multi-task to manage - Studying, cooking, grocery shopping, driving kids to childcare and back home, washing dishes & clothes, doing laundry, etc... As a result, I tend to be forgetful and stressful.

With excuse or no excuse, let me update you with my current work-in-progress. Last month, I was so busy trying to finish preparing my interview transcripts (verbatim). Oh! My God! It was such a daunting experience! Luckily, I just got 12 interviews. I can't imagine how am I going to cope if I were to prepare more than 12 transcripts. It would be a total nightmare, I guess. So, on the 10th of May, I managed to finished the task. Congratulations to myself because it was 2 days earlier than the deadline that I set for myself. As a celebration to my small victory, I totally avoided work and attended one academic function called 'Global Education Systems Day 2010' in Building 68. Not bad because I was one of the organising committe members of the event - the MERC/Monash Education Research Community.

Then, on the 12th of May, my journey to analyse the qualitative data from my survey started. For your information, my qualitative data come from two sources: the open-ended questions (OEQ) from my survey questionnaire and interviews. In my survey (mostly in Section C), I have 5 'pure' and 7 'comment-like' open-ended questions that I need to analyse. Imagine how many statements that I need to code? 508 participants times (x)12 open-ended questions equal (=) 6096 statements (roughly)!!! I am killing myself. Indeed, I am. At the moment, I have finished analysing 9first cycle coding) 3 of the 'pure' OEQs. Mind you, it was so challenging because this is the first time in my life that I'm using NVivo 8 to analyse qualitative data. As a novice and a beginner, I am too slow. I bumped into so many roadblocks but I kept on going. I made a note in my so-called 'analytic memo' of my questions, issues, or concerns and I hope one day, I'll have the answers. My plan is 'to continue doing the first cycle coding' for the rest of the OEQs and then do the second cycle coding. This is a wise decision because at this moment, I haven't got a clues how to do second cycle coding using NVivo 8!!!

The truth is, at this moment, I prefer doing research using a quantitative approach rather than qualitative one simply because I love numbers! But, at the same time, it's kind of fun learning and experiencing something new in my PhD journey. Afterall, having two flavours (quantitatively and qualitatively) contributes to better taste than simply have one flavour to research. Right?

So, let the journey continue...till next time.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Preparing 12 Interview Transcripts (February - May 2010)

I thought I have planned well. I thought everything has been taken care of. I thought I didn't have to bother about preparing the interview transcripts, but as a saying like this -"always expect the unexpected"- is something that I cannot avoid. As I read my initial transcripts prepared by my so-called RA, I noticed a lot of errors - more than 60% error. So, I had to re-do the whole transcripts so that I can prepare my interview data for analysis. So, it took me about 4 months to prepare my interview transcripts.

The Good - I managed to immerse myself in the richness of my interview data. I know everything about my interviewees - their personal background, the professional involvement in counselling, their perceptions and experiences regarding multicultural counselling, their challenging cases, their ways of doing counselling with culturally different clients, their barriers and challenges in the practice of counselling, and their tips and recommendations. I know and I can memorise their lines - any useful and interesting quotes. So, although it was a daunting experience for me when trying to revise the whole transcripts (revise = re-do the whole thing), I treasure the moment and the challenges. at least I know how does it felt when preparing transcripts for qualitative data analysuis. It's totally suck!

The Bad - I hate doing interview transcripts! No more doing transcripts after this PhD. No more! It was such a time-consuming task! It delayed my 'constructive' work because I had to listen to the audio.digital recording and type. Such a boring routine. I truly madly deeply hate the whole process of preparing the interview transcripts!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Reviewing Progress: To apply or not to apply?

April 2010 was a busy month for me because this is the time that I need to reflect and critically review my current work-in-progress. I revised my PhD gantt chart and detailed out the specific work schedule that I need to accomplish in order to complete my research. I also discuss all possibilities with my supervisor. The outcome of this was: I have to apply for a one-year extension.

As I was using a mixed-method design and got quite a lot of data for both quantitative and qualitative part of the research, I have to allocate more time for analysing my qualitative data. So, I need at least 6 months to complete my data analysis. And, I need more than 6 months for thesis writing. What can I say, I have planned, I have worked hard to meet my objectives but there is always something that is beyond my control. What I have been through so far was challenging enough for me:
  1. Transfer Uni & change supervisors - I had to do this because I had totally changed my initial research proposal. There were so many benefits that I got from this experience! At one viewpoint, it seems that I had a vision of the upcoming future because after 4 months I left my former uni, I got a sad news that one of my former supervsiors was passed away. He was the one who inspired me to search and locate the 'right' topic for my PhD research. I treasured every moment that I spent with him during our supervisory meetings. At another viewpoint, this is my destiny... I am happier and feel more supported at my current uni. Good bye Melbourne U...
  2. Temporary Single Mom - I had the experience of being a single mom for more than 3 months because my husband had to go back to Malaysia for his second fieldwork trip. So, my life was totally changed because I had to take care of two little boys during his absence. "Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu yang memikul". This is one of the unwanted consequences of doing your phd under the 'spouse program' where you didn't have enough money and time because both husband and wife are doing their phd. My experiences as a temporary single mum (facebook)
  3. Spouse Program - I totally hate this program. How come you give partial scholarship to two PhD students from two different universities, commencing their studies at two different time/year and have to care for two pre-school children??? Childcare cost is very expensive coupled with demanding living expenses and yet you still have the same contract to comply??? For me, this spouse program is totally inhumane. Atleast, they should consider paying for childcare cost...so that we can fully concentrate on completing our studies. That would be fair enough!
For me, my phd journey has taught me a lot of things about my research topic and also about how to live life to the fullest. Yes, I didn't socialise enough, yes, I didn't go for sight-seeing enough, yes, I didn't actively involve with Uni life, but I am thankful that I still know my priorities in life. So, I will do my very best and let Allah do the rest. So, with this realisation in mind, I lodged my application for an extension to my sponsoring bodies on 16 April 2010.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My current work-in-progress: Writing Results from the Analyses of Survey Data



I can't believe it! Time flies… I still remember that it took me almost three months just to prepare my data file. I did all the necessary steps to screen and clean my survey data. Although the total number of returned surveys were 538, I had to omit some cases because they were not complete and did not comply to the conditions to run my tests of significance. So, I ended up with 508 participants' responses. Not too bad, eh?

I have tried my very best to select, run, and interpret my survey data but what I did thus far were focusing on the quantitative data of my survey. Based on the analyses that I've done so far, I get very meaningful findings that could help me to understand the nature and status of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Specifically, I know about:

  1. Malaysian Counsellors' Personal and Professional Backgrounds;
  2. Malaysian Counsellors' Self-reported Multicultural Counselling Competency;
  3. Comparisons of Self-Reported MCCs with Survey Mode, Gender, and Ethnicity;
  4. Factors that Influenced Malaysian Counsellors' MCC;
  5. Profiles/Characteristics of Multiculturally Competent Counsellors in Malaysia.

Interesting, isn't it? I am in love with my data and also the results that I got from the analyses. However, there are so many emerging issues and concerns that I need to address in order to complete my results. Although I have a good summary of the overall phenomenon regarding multicultural counselling in Malaysia, I have yet to get ready to look at the qualitative aspects of my survey data. This means that I have to start analysing my open-ended responses as soon as possible.

See? I am actually miles away from ready to submit my thesis in October 2010. Analysing the qualitative data is not an easy task. It is a time-consuming process. Arghhhh! I kind of feel the heat now… The good thing about my PhD journey so far…I'm still in the mood! I don't have that so called 'PhD Doldrums Syndrome' or even trying to procrastinate. I will continue my journey to reach my destination! That's for sure!!!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Analyzing Survey Data: Preliminary Analyses

Welcome 2010!!!

This year is my final year. In fact, it is the scariest year in my PhD journey. I am expected to submit my thesis by October 2010. So very soon you know.

Anyway, let me update you with my current research activities. Since the last couple of months I was so bust doing the data screening and checking for my survey data. I have divided my survey data into two main categories: the quantitative data and the qualitative data.

Alhamdulillah, I have finished my preliminary analyses on the quantitative survey data. However, I am yet to write my Results chapter in order to present the preliminary findings. I know that I am miles away from ready but I am going to enjoy every step of the way in order to really understand the various statistical analyses that I have used or intend to use.

A brief report on my preliminary analyses:
Preliminary analyses
The preliminary analyses were necessary in order to inspect the data file and to explore the nature of the variables in an attempt to address the research questions. There are several stages in this process. The first stage involved using descriptive statistics to report on the frequencies of the (a) demographics of the survey participants (such as their gender, ethnic, and religious identities, age range, highest education level, and socio-economic status (SES)); (b) education and training backgrounds related to multicultural counselling (such as their previous counsellor education programs and trainings in multicultural counselling); (c) work-related information such as the name of their jobs, the settings, the types of counselling they mostly offered to clients, and their clientele; and also to report the mean and standard deviation of the (d) overall self-reported multicultural counselling competency and its subscales (i.e., awareness, knowledge, and skills). The survey data were analysed separately first (i.e., mailed versus online survey) in order to check for similarities and differences in the patterns of results.
The second stage involved using graphs such as histograms, bars, and lines to describe and explore the data. This was necessary to explore patterns and styles of differences among several categorical variables such as gender, age, ethnic group, and others. This stage is also useful to observe patterns of results between the mailed and online survey samples.
The third stage involved checking the reliability of the instrument. ‘Reliability means that a measure (or in this case questionnaire) should consistently reflect the construct that it is measuring’ (Field, 2009, p. 673). In this reliability analysis, Cronbach’s alphas were used to compute the internal consistency of the items. Cronbach’s alphas for the total scores on multicultural counselling competency for mailed and online survey samples were checked first, followed by the alpha values on each of the total scores on multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Detailed results on these analyses were reported in the previous section and they were all showed similar patterns: Cronbach’s alphas of more than .70 for the overall scores on MCC, total scores on knowledge, and skills, indicating acceptable reliability value; and Cronbach’s alpha of .50 and more for total scores on multicultural awareness.
The fourth stage involved conducting tests of significance to compare means between groups to determine whether self-reported MCCs of counsellors differ significantly by preferred survey mode (mailed versus online). This analysis was purposely conducted in order to determine whether the scores from the mailed and online survey should be combined for further analyses or treated as two separate data and analyses. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the total MCC scores for mailed and online survey participants. There was no significant difference in scores for mailed (M = 113.09, SD = 10.71) and online survey participants, M = 114.40, SD = 9.58; t(508) = -1.27, p=.21 (two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean difference = -1.31, 95% CI: -3.35 to .72) was very small (eta squared = .003). This means that only .3 per cent of the variance in MCC is explained by survey modality. Subsequent independent-sample t-tests were conducted to compare each of the total scores for multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, which were the three components of MCC. Similarly, there were no significant differences in scores for mailed and online survey participants with respect to participants’ multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. This finding clearly indicated that scores from the mailed and online surveys can be combined for conducting further analyses to address the research aims of the present study.
The fifth stage involved conducting multiple regression (i.e., ‘categorical predictors and multiple regression’) to explore relationships among several categorical variables and MCCs (Field, 2009, p. 253).

For your information, I am still not sure about the fifth stage though...
I have to read... read and read...

Till next time.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Data Screening: Peek-a-Boo!

Preparing SPSS datafile for analysis is not an easy task. This is in fact the most critical stage because I have to use full concentration and be as thorough as possible throughout the whole process. Phewww...!

Although I am thankful that I can skip the data entry stage (because I paid someone/so called RA to help me with that daunting task during my fieldwork), I still have to go through the whole process of checking and screening my survey data. So, it took me nearly three months (Since 16 Nov 2009 - January 2010) just to do the screening, the checking, identifying 'errors', going back to the individual questionnaire to correct these errors, and entering the correct response into the SPSS datasheet. Here are the specific work and date that I did which I recorde in my SPSS log book:
  1. 16 Nov 2009 - checking the codebook
  2. 17 Nov 2009 - checking for errors: Mailed survey data (Section A)
  3. 18 Nov 2009 - cont. checking for errors (Section B)
  4. 19 Nov 2009 - working with online survey data: recode from excel into spss
  5. 1 Dec 2009 - working with mailed survey data: checking interviewees' responses
  6. 2 Dec 2009 - locate BIG mistake in spss datafile: 36 redundant ID (data entry)
  7. 3 Dec 2009 - re-checking for errors in mailed survey data
  8. 9 Dec 2009 - data entry 6 newly arrived questionnaires (ID364 - 369) - consultation with Dr Sharil
  9. 10 Dec 2009 - data screening: online survey data
  10. 15 Dec 2009 - compute total scores, compute missing values.
  11. 16 Dec 2009 - working with mailed survey data: follow-up with 7 respondents to ask for their responses to account for missing values
  12. 21 Dec 2009 - data entry: got one more questionnaire via mail. Total mailed survey: 370. Then, proceed with checking for outliers and preliminary analyses
  13. 22 Dec 2009 - Read JP and run visual displays of data.
  14. 24 dec 2009 - working with onliine data: total collected was 268 but afer the cleaning process, I got 141.
  15. 30 Dec 2009 - Run preliminary analyses and reliability analysis using online data
  16. 31 Dec 2009 - Finally got my 'pure-clean' data: Mailed (369) and online (139) equal 508!
  17. 7 Jan 2010 - Read Kline (2005) chapter 3: Data preparation and screening and re-run data screening again to double check accuracy (mailed data).
  18. 8 Jan 2010 - re-run data screening with online data
  19. 15 Jan 2010 - Practice stats analyses with 3 data files: mailed, online and combined.
  20. 19 Jan 2010 - run SPSS tutorial
  21. 21 Jan 2010 - Analysing open-ended comment boxes in Section A (manually!!!)
The biggest challenge that I encountered when I found that there were 'redundancies' in the participants' ID. There were about more than 30 cases that I had to check and double check. This means that I had to go back to the source - my collected questionnaires - to locate the 'right response' and the 'right case' to match those already enetered into SPSS datafile.

Overall, data screening was a very time-consuming process. I thank you so much Julie Pallant for guiding me in a step-by-step manner during the process of data screening and checking. I recommend others to use Julie Pallant book to learn the whole process of preparing, analysing, and reporting quantitative data for their research!