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held by the researcher. Although Holloway and Wheeler (2002) explain that pilot studies are rarely incorporated into qualitative research, they however agree that it may be of help where the researcher is a novice on the subject matter. In the case of this study, and although the pilot study was entirely accidental, it helped the researcher build a base towards developing the study from its interdisciplinary dimensions: environmental, ecological, to the political. It therefore provided an understanding of the important dimensions that needed to be captured in the review of literature.
The pilot study investigation was carried out to determine cases where potentials for clearly distinctive researchable linkages could be drawn, cases among these in which the security of the investigator as well as the reliability of a deeper study can be most assured and hence terrain where there was adequate facility for communication and access. As such, the pilot study took place in two locations, namely Ekiti and Oyo states. The researcher explored the opportunity of working in the areas, and observations related to the past incidence of the phenomenon in eliciting information from actual participants across all principal groups involved in the study. However, time and facilities did not allow full documentation at the pilot study stage. Information gathered at this state enabled the researcher specifically, to:
1. Establish incidence of the linkages between climate change, migration and violent conflicts in host communities.
2. Get insights from primary and secondary vulnerable groups.
3. Understand the best approach to elicit the right information from participants.
4. Understand the varied interpretations ascribed to these vulnerabilities and the need to maintain neutrality in studying the phenomenon.
5. Plan for a more structured study and understand potential limitations to the various approaches that may be adopted in conducting the study.
6. Develop local trust across groups involved as well as develop a utility list of critical requirements for a comprehensive research.
5.5.2 Content Analyses and Literature Review
The pilot study was followed by a preliminary engagement with relevant literature on the linkage as well as on relevant interdisciplinary concepts and theoretical constructs that provide analytical frame for the research. This phase helped the researcher in the formulation of research problems, objectives and questions that are crucial to unravelling the hypothetical linkages in relation to the position of existing literature on the subject matter. As such the
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preliminary review provided an avenue for the researcher to familiarize himself with important concepts, existing state of knowledge, as well as developing a frame of vacuum that needs to be filled in the new study. This corroborates the position by Polit et al.
(2001:121) that “a literature review provides a background for understanding current knowledge on the topic”. The review focused specifically on the linkage between climate change and human vulnerability in the context of the developing world, links between vulnerability and migration, the degree of such incidence in poor regions, the nexus between migratory adaptation and contestation for resources in host communities, as well as the implication of these dynamics for international migration, gender problems and wider national security issues such as urban crime etc.
The second phase of the literature review focused on the debate on climate change-conflict linkages. This phase explored three dominant narratives in the discourse, namely: climate change-conflict rebuttal, climate change-conflict association, and climate change-conflict affirmation. It also examined existing meta-theoretical critiques of the subject in recent literature. The later more contextually robust review provided the basis for cross-narrative interpretation, correlation, and validation of findings derived from the study.
5.5.3 Participant Interviews
Shneiderman and Plaisant (2005) describe an interview as a tool used by researchers in gathering information by engaging the subject in oral quiz with a pre-planned set of pertinent questions. It enables the researcher who is the interviewer to focus on specific areas of concern thereby guiding discussions in a constructive and productive manner. Scholars have identified a number of advantages in the use of interview method as tool for data collection (Shneiderman and Plaisant, 2005; Genise, 2002). Some notable advantages include: (1) enabling direct one-on-one information between investigator and the respondents thereby allowing control of information flow; (b) making the generation of detailed account possible;
(c) providing a more robust data from fewer number of participants.
There are three types of interview the choice of which are often informed by the nature and design of the study as well as the attribute of its targeted respondents. These include the structured, unstructured, and semi-structured interview forms. Optimal interview structures are determined by the nature of engagement required to elicit adequate response from respondents, as well as the most effective style of fielding questions that best guarantees this.
The semi-structured interview was used in this study. A semi-structured interview is one
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which combines features from both the structured and the unstructured forms of interview by combining elements of closed and open ended questions in line with the nature of specific questions and the optimal method that helps filter necessary details. The focus is on consistency in question set administered to all clusters of respondents. The researcher develops a preset number of core questions that are applied to all common respondents in such a way that the same set of questions are put to all member of the cluster while the interviewer maintains flexibility by shedding light on specific areas to ensure that respondents have equal understanding of the questions as the interview progresses. The interview schedule in this study targeted 120 respondents (see sample size below).
5.5.4 Sample Size
Sampling, according to Burns and Grove (2003:31), is the “process of selecting a group of people, events or behaviour with which to conduct a study”. Polit et al (2001:234) similarly describe a sample as the portion used to represent the whole population chosen for a study.
The aim of sampling is to arrive at findings that can be generalised by examining the selected case(s). The sampling method used in this study is non-probabilistic, combining purposive for official/institutional subjects and farmers, as well as snowball sampling for herdsmen and youths. Parahoo (1997:223) describes the non-probability sampling technique as one in which the researcher relies on personal knowledge and judgment in selecting subjects that serve as a source of data. This applies to the study since the researcher knew beforehand, the specific characteristics of institutional respondents, herdsmen, and youths who are most suitably positioned to supply the needed information. The peripatetic nature of the herdsmen on the other hand made snowball sampling inevitable.
Sample population, according to Parahoo (1997:218), refers to “the total number of units from which data can be collected”. In the same vein, population according to Burns and Grove (2003) refers to all elements identified as satisfying the criteria used for inclusion as illustrative case in a study. It is the identified number selected by the researcher as fulfilling the requisite conditions in “a list of characteristics that are required for the membership in the target population”. The size of the sample for the study is specific at interview stage, with 120 total interview respondents. The population of FGDs were however open to as many as where available at the optimal location of the scheduled sessions.
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Specifically, in order to elicit adequate response to these questions, the sample size in the research design consisted of 120 respondents across the four case study areas with 30 informants engaged per study area. These respondents were distributed as follows:
1. 10 farmers in each location making 40 in all.
2. 5 migrant pastoralists
3. 5 native youths (non-migrants)
4. 2 community leaders (1 native, and 1 pastoralist from each location making 8 in all) 5. 1 traditional head (Emir or Oba)
6. 1 top local Police personnel 7. 1 top Local Government official
8. 5 urban/suburban dwelling youths (4 natives and 1 migrant) in proximate towns (Efon Alaaye township, Oke-Ero township, Nasarawa township, and Saki township) making 20 in all.
Of the 120 proposed, a total of 117 interviews were successfully conducted. Informants successfully interviewed included:
1. 40 farmers.
2. 20 pastoral farmers.
3. 20 native farming community youths.
4. 4 native farmers’ community leaders.
5. 4 pastoral community leaders.
6. 3 out of 4 proposed traditional rulers (or their designated representatives) as one declined based on alleged tension between traditional authority and state government mediation on the subject.
7. 3 out 4 proposed interviews with top personnel from corresponding offices of the Nigeria Police.
8. 4 Local Government Authority Chairmen or their designated representatives were interviewed.
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9. 16 indigenous youths in the contiguous urban or sub-urban area engaged in alternative/irregular jobs were interviewed.
10. 3 out of 4 proposed with migrant (former herder) non-indigenous migrant youths in contiguous urban or sub-urban area engaged in alternative/irregular jobs were also interviewed. Attempt at identifying a migrant youth in Nasarawa study area was unsuccessful.