Almost done with the questionnaires

We administered the questionnaire in the 6th school today. I don't have a total count at the moment, but we are getting very close to our goal of 300 participants. We would surely have reached 300+ if one of our schools hadn't cancelled our meeting today. Not a big deal. We are only half way through our time here, so we will be sure to get the data that we need.

The next phase of the study will be the focus groups and teacher interviews. We are so excited about that phase of the project because we will get qualitative data that just can't be gathered by a predesigned questionnaire. If the question and answer times are any indication of what the focus groups will be like, we are going to be in great shape. The openness of the students has been surprising and will translate to excellent data.

We also plan to start on the teacher interviews next week and we are really looking forward to that as well. All of the headmasters and teachers have been incredibly helpful and accommodating. It will be excellent to get a chance to sit down and talk to them one on one with specific questions to cover.

It has been a bit of a surreal experience to be here during this month. We knew that we would be coming here for this trip even before Senya was born. Now that everything is actually taking place, it has been even better than we could have dreamed. This is, by far, our best trip here. For one thing, we have a specific project that is going very well and will, hopefully, result in an intervention that will help literally thousands of people. Secondly, as I wrote about last time, it is just an incredibly special experience to be here, in this place that we love, with Senya. Finally, we feel like we have our life back. We have been so busy and stressed out over the past several months, it has been wonderful to spend all day every day this month working together on a shared goal and then hanging out together in the free time. This time has been perfect for our little family.