5. Research Methods and Methodologies
5.6 Data Collection Instruments
The study used the in-depth interview technique as a research method. In phenomenological qualitative research, in-depth interviews take form of in-depth conversations to gain insight and emic perspectives from the research participants (Kumar, 2005; Creswell, 2014).
Interviews are particularly useful to understand the lived experiences of the female-headed households in using the Cash transfers to improve their livelihoods. It allows the researcher attain deep thick descriptions on the use of cash transfers by Female-headed households in Zvishavane (Creswell, 2014). In-depth interviews were important as the researcher managed to get information from those female-heads of families who are part of the cash transfer program. The researcher conducted 10 in-depth interviews with the cash transfer beneficiaries until a point of data saturation.
With focus Group Discussions there was an extensive dialogue between the researcher and the participants that allowed for the understanding of the social phenomenon, which in this case is the Basic Agricultural Assistance Program (Creswell, 2014). Focus group discussions had an advantage over in-depth interviews in that the researcher managed to gather large amount of information from many participants. Focus groups discussions were less expensive and rich in information as the researcher got more information from participants taking part in these
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discussions. Through the use of in-depth interviews and semi structured key informant interviews, the researcher assessed the respondents’ feelings and perspectives in relation to the impacts of the Basic Agricultural Assistance Programme (Creswell, 2014) on female-headed household’s response to poverty. The interviews were conducted in either English or Shona depending on the respondent’s language of preference and the researcher later transcribed the data into English. Before the beginning of each and every interview the interviewees were informed about the confidentiality of the study, how the interview would not last more than an hour, nature and purpose of the study; they were also informed that they had a right to agree or disagree to be part of the study.
As a result, the researcher asked a few open-ended questions like what their views are on this program and what they think should be done on poverty reduction and this helped uncover participants’ views on cash transfers and strictly paying attention to the way the participants frame and structure their responses. Open-ended questions allowed the interviewees to expand appropriate responses to the researcher they also expedited faster interviews making them more easy to compare and analyse the outcomes in finding out if the project by ADRA-Zimbabwe is being implemented successfully.
The study utilised key informant interviews (KII) with research participants who had more experience therefore more insight of the administering and effectiveness of Cash transfers amongst female-headed households in Zvishavane (Creswell, 2014). The KII rationale is to collect data from a broad scope of knowledgeable people which includes community leaders, locals and professionals (Creswell, 2014; Kumar, 2005). The key informant interviews were loosely structured and they granted people who had the specialised knowledge about the cash transfer as well as the knowledge of the village and its inhabitants. The use of key informants helped the researcher to examine the subject in-depth and the personal perceived view of the key informants. Key informants in this study were the local chief, a government employee from the ministry of Agriculture and a member of ADRA- Zimbabwe team that was implementing the program who have expertise on the program. The rationale for interviewing the ADRA- Zimbabwe employee was to acquire in-depth information on cash transfers. This assisted the researcher to gain more in-depth insight in ascertaining if the cash card had a positive impact on the female-headed households’ livelihoods. More clarity was to be gained in the household dynamics, strategies used by ADRA-Zimbabwe to identify the female-headed households that needed assistance and ensuring that they contributed in attaining sustainable livelihoods. These
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3 key informants also assisted in getting in-depth information of the beneficiaries’ lives before receiving the cash transfer and the impact the transfer has had on these female-headed households hence finding out if the cash transfer was being implemented successfully in the village. The responses of the key informants also aided in presenting data on the challenges that ADRA- Zimbabwe faced in implementing the cash transfer to female-headed households.
Finally, the in-depth of key informants also helped in uncovering the weaknesses of ADRA- Zimbabwe’s Basic Agricultural Assistance Program and the respondents also advised on how best to improve the administration of the cash transfer so that it can be more responsive to reducing poverty in female-headed households’ farming activities.
5.6.2 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
The study conducted 3 focus group discussions (FGD) with 5 people in each group. The participants received information on the nature and purpose of the research under study at the beginning of each and every FGDs. Beneficiaries also received reassurance of confidentially to make them comfortable in sharing and explaining their subjective understanding (Creswell, 2014; Liamputtong, 2009). The FGD was conducted under voluntary participation to allow for free flow of information and participants were well informed that they can withdraw at any time (Cresswell, 2014; Denzin & Lincoln (eds.), 2000; Dudovskiy, 2016; Etikan et al., 2016).
Liamputtong (2009) writes that, “the primary aim of a focus group is to describe and understand meanings and interpretations of a specific issue from the perspective of the participants of the group”. Focus groups do not aim to reach consensus on the discussed issues they rather,
‘encourage a range of responses which provide a greater understanding of the attitudes, behaviour, opinions or perceptions of participants on the research issues’ (Hennink, 2007;
Dudovskiy, 2016; Etikan et al., 2016). According to Creswell (2014) FGDs allow for free discussion to take place even allowing the interviewer to take note of the body cues such as body language, change in voice projection as these can help in showing agreement or disagreement. In this study the focus group helped exploring on whether cash transfers are relevant in tackling female-headed poverty at communal level, and discuss how the cash transfer brought sustainability to the community’s livelihood especially, when the cash transfers were delivered to the right people at the right time. The focus group discussions also abetted in analysing the household expenditure to show the strength of the cash transfer in removing poverty in female-headed households.
The limitations of this FGD was that the cleaning of the hall took too long and other people became impatient and had to return home especially, the people who stayed far. However, the
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number did not affect the FGD as the researcher managed to probe the five participants in each group about the ADRA- Zimbabwe cash transfer policy thoroughly.
The information collected in the in-depth interviews and FGDs was stored on a Word document file on a private laptop with a password. All the notebooks used to record all information that came out of the study was kept in a sealed envelope and stored in a locked cabinet, which only the researcher will have access to.
5.6.3 Observation
This study used observation to offer an in-depth understanding of the informants as well the context in which they live in. Furthermore, Participant Observation helped the establishment of understanding of female-headed households, which proved useful for their active participation during the research. Observation was a continuous method until the data collection completed. Participant observation is a labour-intensive and time-consuming ethnographic technique incorporating an intense engagement with the community to understand the context of their everyday lives and experiences (Kumar, 2011). This research adopted a covert role as a ‘partial’ participant and observer (Cresswell, 2014).
As discussed in this section Participant Observation allowed a broader understanding of the community in which the female-headed households lived and their relationships within it (Hogendoorn et al., 2019). As a result, Participant Observation was conducted when the researcher conducted the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. This approach comprised of taking notes about events, activities and the interaction of the participants.
Participant Observation required just like any other research methods requires upfront planning ranging from negotiating of access and forming a relationship with the female-headed household respondents to gain trust in the community (Cresswell, 2014). The researcher noted down all the observations in the field note book including the informal conversations and these were used as important components of the methods.