CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.6 D ATA C OLLECTION M ETHODS
In this section the data collection methods are discussed. I explain how semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from participants, using life history and photovoice methods. I used two data collection methods in this study to obtain rich data from participants. The qualitative approach to data collection is fact-finding in nature, with information-rich cases and in-depth analyses (Patton, 2015). Qualitative data collection methods are primarily concerned with gaining deeper insights, thoughts, and inspirations in research.
Interviews are among the most commonly used qualitative data collection methods employed in qualitative studies. Interviews can be conducted individually or in groups, and can be semi- structured or structured in nature. An interview is a conversation between two or more
people, aiming at obtaining in-depth information about the subject and through which the meanings behind the content are analysed (Patton, 2002). Interviews give researchers a
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chance to discover information that might not be easy to obtain using other techniques such as questionnaires (Alshenqeeti, 2014).
4.6.1 Semi-structured Interviews
Semi-structured interviews, with the use of open-ended questions were used to facilitate the interaction which allowed respondents to talk about their experiences in relation to the Inhlanyelo Fund. Semi-structured interviews are normally exploratory while structured interviews are more likely to be quantitative and confirmatory. This means that structured interviews have fixed responses resulting from the conceptual models with a clear hypothesis to be tested (Patton, 2015). In structured interviews, participants are asked the same question in the same order and provided with the same set of responses which does not allow one to probe further into the responses (Creswell, 2013). Semi-structured interviews with open ended questions were used to explore the participants experiences. Semi-structured
interviews allow the flexibility of qualitative data collection methods while at the same time providing more modification than in naturalistic or unstructured interviews (Alshenqeeti, 2014).
Each interview took twenty to thirty-five minutes since there were two interviews to be conducted for each participant on different days using life history and photovoice data
collecting methods. Semi-structured interviews consist of several key questions that cover the areas to be explored. The interview questions were flexible in that the interviewer could add further questions to probe an idea or response (Britten, 1999). Semi-structured interview questions allow the participants to answer using their own views and opinions which may not be possible in structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews enable the interviewer to trace the meaning behind the responses and the open-ended questions and allow the
participants to say anything in relation to the questions. The use of semi-structured interviews in this study required women to voice their experiences and their views of the Inhlanyelo Fund. A semi-structured interview guide allowed me to pose questions that probed information from the participant in order to gain a greater understanding of their learning experiences. Semi-structured interviews fit well in an interpretative paradigm, qualitative approach, case study style, and purposive sampling.
4.6.2 Life History Method of Data Collection
A life history is a story of the entire life experiences of a person. Anthropologists engage in life history research as a methodology to learn about an individual’s life within the context of
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a culture-sharing group (Mohajan, 2018); but life history can be used as an interview method for the purposes of data collection. The focus often includes opinions or significant events in the life of an individual (Angrosino, 1989). A narrative study of an individual’s personal experiences can be found in single or multiple episodes, private situations, or in common traditional stories (Denzin, 1989). In my life story interviews the participants were requested to draw a picture of their journey of life, followed by semi-structured interviews that allowed me to probe for more information about the drawing. Each woman was asked to draw her life story in the form of a journey. This approach allowed the women to use their own images as a basis for discussing their encounters within the microfinance context and their broader lives.
Semi-structured interviews were then conducted, recorded and transcribed verbatim.
4.6.2.1 Semi-structured Interviews in Life History Methods
Participants were chosen based on their knowledge and articulateness in order to allow opportunities for them to fully express themselves because they had prior experience with the fund. The interviews in my study were about the stories of participants’ lives and experiences as beneficiaries of the fund. These interviews were prefaced by a paragraph explaining to the participants the reason for the research and why the interviews were being conducted. An example of such a text is presented here:
The purpose of this research is to collect information concerning your experiences with the fund. I am requesting you to play the role of a storyteller of your own life experience both before and after you got money from this fund. My request is that you start by drawing a picture showing the journey of your life from birth or as far back as you can remember, to now, and things that are significant and have made you who you are. In the journey, which you might draw as a road or a river, please show me where you had hard times, and where you had good times, and please include when you first became involved in the fund, and what happened after that. When you have finished drawing your life journey, I will ask you to tell me what the drawing shows. I hope you will enjoy the interview. Most people do. The type of questions in the interview guide assisted me to probe for more information as the participants were interviewed in their natural setting.
An example of two of the women’s drawings of their life journey is provided in Appendix 6.
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Photovoice provides the opportunity to express oneself in new and imaginative ways. It has been recognized that photovoice is an effective way of gaining knowledge of human
behaviour and societal exercise (Jacobs & Harley, 2008). Taking a picture is worth a thousand words, and it can be a powerful way to help the researcher to understand
unexpressed experiences; but the key data that emerges from this method is the discussion about the photographs, rather then the photographs themselves. The stories they told about the photographs indicated the significance of their concerns in relation to and of the fund; the photographs themselves did allow me to further connect the participants’ stories with the fund, but it was the interviews about the photographs that constitute the key data.
In this study, photovoice was used as a data collection method. This was allowed by the fact that using cell phones now include a camera, so that traditional or stand-alone cameras are not required. Taking pictures can be easily taught. I trained the participants on how to take pictures that are related to this research process. This method took place in phases: the first phase was training the participants on how to take pictures using their cell phones. This was conducted individually as the women could not come together at the same time to attend the training. The training did not take more than thirty minutes depending on the participants’
abilities to use a cell phone. After the training the participants were requested to take pictures that were related to their experiences with the fund. If some participants did not have cell phones with which to take pictures, I asked them to borrow a family member's cell phone with camera capabilities. Participants were given two weeks to take photographs, and I left my cell phone number with the expectation that they would send the photographs to me. I purchased 15MB of data for each participant, which was sufficient to send more than one image for use in the interview. I then downloaded and printed the images and locked them in a cabinet, and gave them back to the participants during the interviews so that they could narrate their stories using the images as prompts.
4.6.3.1 Photovoice Semi-structured Interviews
Interview questions in the photovoice method are personalised using the word “you” and are open-ended so that they cannot be answered by “yes” or “no”. This was to gain insight into the unexpected experiences affecting women’s lives while they were beneficiaries of the Inhlanyelo Fund. The power of a photograph is that it can bring back many memories. Open questions allowed the participant to voice their own opinions and views about the
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photograph. The interview questions were structured in a way that gave the women an opportunity for dialogu, while narrating their stories, and I gained access to their knowledge about different situations, while reflecting on the photographs during the interview process as suggested by Wang and Burris (1994). By going to the women’s homes and conducting direct interviews in their everyday setting, I was able to see what the women were expressing through their body language, as well as explore their experiences with the fund in depth and from their point of view. My instructions were: “I would like you to take a photograph related to the Inhlanyelo Fund using your cell phone. Please try and save it in your phone so that we can discuss it. I would like you to take a picture of anything that you feel is important to you relating to your experience”.
During the interviews the women were told that no name would be attached to their pictures and that it was solely for academic purposes. This explanation helped participants feel free to voice their encounters in relation to the fund or other issues arose during this time. The interviews lased for 35-60 minutes depending on how the participants narrated their
experiences. They were recorded and then transcribed verbatim and later used for analysis. I assumed that this time would allow the women to narrate their stories, recall their learning experiences and give meaning to the social context. The context and their explanations of what is a good life, empowerment and ubuntu emerged during the interviews. Wang and Burris (1994) note that the primary objectives of using photovoice is that firstly, the
participants can record and reveal the strength of their concerns (in this case, about the fund);
secondly, it creates dialogue and knowledge about issues through discussion about the photographs; and lastly, it can inform policy makers. In this study, the photovoice method contributed to explaining the women’s life experiences regarding their participation in the fund. The two data collection methods complemented each as other because they gave me an understanding of the women’s experiences, even if some information was omitted in the other interview. I was able to interpret the meaning of the photovoice data and the life history data that described the phenomenon of interest.
The interview questions were written in English and were administered in Siswati during the interviews. The responses were recorded using a cell phone and later transcribed from Siswati into English. All recordings were downloaded into a computer, saved in a flash drive and locked in a cabinet. I took the recorder out only when I was transcribing and later placed it in a safe place until I finished the transcription process.
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