PART III The Influence of the Pilot Study on the Main Study
In this part an account is given of how the Pilot Study operated as a learning experience that contributed substantially to the formation of some features of the Main Study. The points that are raised here aim to illustrate
• how the Pilot Study confirmed that tutorials are a rich source of evidence for an investigation of mathematical cognition,
• how the Pilot Study drew attention to potentially interesting foci of analysis for the Main Study and,
• how in the Pilot study it became evident that the note-taking observation technique did not guarantee as detailed as necessary an access to the students' thought processes.
I note here that some technical features of the Main Study (such as the amount of data to be collected; or the adherence to collecting data from a diversity of mathematical topics) that were determined partly on the basis of the Pilot experience, will be accounted for in Chapter 4.
IIIa. Confirming that tutorials are a rich source of evidence on mathematical cognition
IIIb. The emergence of potentially interesting foci for the Main Study
IIIc. The insufficiency of note-making; the need to obtain a detailed record of the tutorials