my main task in a self-access centre is to interact with the learners and their learning
processes. I understand this interaction in three different ways: counselling, teaching and
leading discussions. Now, I have got an answer to the question posed at the beginning of
this paragraph. These three modes of interaction with learners are my insider tools and
through them I can collect the data I need for my further understanding of the learning
phenomena I am studying. Fig 5.5 shows the place I give to the resources I used for my
research. Because of the interconnection between roles, these resources were not
exclusive to one single role but were used and referred to in the three of them. It also
shows that there is a relationship between insider roles and resources and that the former
are the only factors that determine the latter.

Fig. 5.5 Relationship of insider roles and research resources.

In the next chapter I will delve into the nature of counselling for self-directed
learning. Considering, however, that there are a number of references that describe
counselling as a type of interviewing, I think that I have to elaborate on this issue now.
Above all, I want to be clear about two things. Firstly, for me, counselling and
interviewing are two different things. Secondly, I am not against interviewing as a
research technique. I have used it and I know how useful it can result in certain research
situations. What I am saying here, then, is that I do not think that it is the appropriate tool
for the present research.

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