40
naturally progressed to using a mixture of English and IsiZulu. However, IsiZulu was the dominant language used overall.
3.8.2. Individual interview
The researcher conducted a total of six individual interviews for the study. Two interviews were conducted in September 2016 and the rest of the interviews were conducted in March and April 2017. As discussed above (see Section 3.6), the interviews were conducted in various areas within the PMB campus. These areas included a university seminar room, student residences, and outside on a bench on the lawn. In all these areas, the researcher ensured that they were secluded and that the participants were free and comfortable before the interviews proceeded. The majority of the participants who were interviewed were recruited using snowball sampling. A semi-structured interview guide (see Appendix 14) guided the interview sessions.
The interview sessions were anticipated to take 45 – 60 minutes each. In the interview session, the researcher began by introducing herself and the study briefly. The researcher then proceeded to hand over the information sheet and consent form to the participants. The researcher went through the information sheet page by page with the participants. The researcher ensured that the participants understood what was expected of them as research participants and made it clear that they could discontinue their participation in the study at any point without facing any adverse consequences. The participants were then asked to consent to participate in the study and also to consent to be audio recorded. The participants were given the information sheet to keep with the contact details of the researcher, the study supervisor and the ethics board contact person should the participants have questions or queries about the study. The participants were then asked to give themselves a pseudonym to be used throughout the interview session. The interviews were started off in English but as the interview process continued the participants were comfortable to answer questions mixing English and IsiZulu.
41
The researcher used a combination of framework analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994) and analysis of narratives (Polkinghorne, 2003) to analyse the data. The interviews and focus group discussions were audio-recorded; the recorded data was then transcribed, translated and later analysed by the researcher. The larger proportion of the language used in the interviews and focus group discussions was IsiZulu, the participants’ and researcher’s preferred and home language of communication. The audio-recordings were transcribed and translated into English paying close attention to the translation (See Appendix 15 for example of translation from IsiZulu and English transcript); this was done to not alter what the participants said. The transcripts were then translated into English, and the transcribing and translation of the audio- recordings was conceptualised as the beginning of the data analysis phase of the study.
Framework analysis was employed to analyse the interview data and the second part of the focus group discussion data. Framework analysis is a process of data analysis where data is sifted, charted and sorted according to the main issues or objectives of the study (Ritchie &
Spencer, 1994; Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). Framework analysis allows for the inclusion of a priori issues or themes and emergent issues or themes to be included in the process of data analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994; Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). Framework analysis is mostly used in research that has specific questions, has a constricted time period, has a specific sample and has a priori issues that need answers (Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). The researcher followed the five-step process of data analysis of the framework analysis. The steps are familiarisation, identifying a thematic framework, indexing, charting, and mapping and interpretation (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994; Srivastava & Thomson, 2009).
3.9.1. Step 1: Familiarisation
In this stage the researcher becomes familiarised with the data; this is done through reading transcripts, listening to audios and other field notes to be better acquainted with the data (Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). To familiarise oneself with the data, the researcher was involved in the transcribing and translation process of the data. After the transcribing and translation phase, the researcher read and re-read the transcripts to improve the quality of the transcripts and to be further immersed in the data set.
42
3.9.2. Step 2: Identifying a thematic framework
After the familiarisation stage, the researcher became well aware of the data and moved to developing the thematic or coding framework for the data (Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). In the study, the researcher developed the coding framework based on the a priori themes and themes that were emerging through the stage of familiarisation. The a priori themes emerged from the interview and focus group discussion guides.
3.9.3. Step 3: Indexing
Indexing is defined as a process where the researcher identifies portions of text in the data that relate to the different themes developed in the coding framework (Srivastava &
Thomson, 2009). In the study, the researcher first coded manually and later made use of NVIVO, a qualitative data analysis software to code the data. In the manual coding efforts, the researcher went through each transcript with highlighters marking different texts that related to the different themes. The researcher then used NVIVO to code the transcripts again, and this was done to strengthen the quality and thoroughness of the data and data analysis.
3.9.4. Step 4: Charting
In this stage, the portions of text or data that were indexed in the previous stage are arranged in charts relating to the different themes (Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). This is done so to create a summary of the participants’ different views and experiences relating to the themes;
this facilitates in creating an easy read of the dataset according to the themes (Ritchie &
Spencer, 1994). In the study, the researcher made use of Microsoft Excel to develop a table to summarise the data from the indexing stage. The researcher summarised each participant’s views and experiences for each theme and summarised all the participants’ experiences and views for the different themes.
3.9.5. Step 5: Mapping and interpretation
43
Mapping and interpretation is technically the final stage of analysis, however, in reality, qualitative data analysis is likely to continue into the preparation of the study report/dissertation. However, in the mapping and interpretation stage, the researcher revisits all the themes and summaries them for further analysis to better understand the unfolding of the data in order to facilitate interpretation of the data (Srivastava & Thomson, 2009). In this study, the researcher rearranged the themes to understand the story that was unfolding in the data for each participant.
3.9.5.1. Analysis of career narratives or stories
The stories that the participants told in the focus group discussions were analysed using the analysis of narratives technique. The analysis of narratives technique is defined as a process where the researcher analyses different stories to discover which themes or notions appear across the stories. The researcher searches for commonalities and differences in the stories (Polkinghorne, 2003). In the study, the researcher analysed the stories in accordance with the themes developed in the framework analysis. The researcher also looked for commonalities and differences in the stories. The data in the findings chapter was presented according to the key objectives of the study.