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2, 3 and Level 4 and Construction Planning Level 2 and Level 3. He has a National Diploma in Civil Engineering S4, and a PGCE qualification.
Alex is a 25-year-old male, originally from Empangeni, King Cetshwayo District Municipality area, KZN. His home language is isiZulu. He registered for NCV- engineering in 2018. He obtained financial assistance through the National Student Funding Scheme (NSFAS) from 2018 to completion. He stays at an off-campus residence and commutes by bus to campus.
Penny is a 21-year-old female, originally from Mtubatuba, located in uMkhanyakude District Municipal area, Northern KZN. Her home language is isiZulu. She registered for the NCV- Engineering related design department in 2018. She was a member of students’
representative council (SRC). She funded by NSFAS and stays at a campus residence.
Shaun is a 23-year-old male, originally from Esikhawini, King Cetshwayo District Municipality area, KZN. Her home language is isiZulu. He registered for the NCV-Civil engineering in 2018. The NSFAS funded his studies to completion. He stays at an off- campus residence and commutes by bus to campus.
Judy is a 25-year-old female, originally from Hluhluwe, located in the uMkhanyakude District Municipal area, KZN. Her home language is isiZulu. She registered for the NCV- Engineering (Process Plant and Operation) in 2018. She was a member of students’
representative council (SRC). Judy stays at a campus residence and obtained financial assistance through the National Student Funding Scheme (NSFAS) from 2018 to completion.
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and regulations, avoiding close contact with the participants; the focus group discussion was conducted through Zoom meetings.
3.5.1 Semi-structured interviews
This study adopted semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions. According to Koshy (2005), semi-structured interviews are conducted with an open-ended questions that allows for focus, conversational, and two-way communication. Similarly, Whiting (2008, p.35), an interview is a method of data collection in which one person asks questions to another, face-to-face or telephonically. Usually, interviews are conducted telephonically, by e-mail or skype. Likewise, Cohen et al. (2011) state that a semi- structured interview is a verbal face-to-face or telephonic interchange where an interviewer has a prepared set of open-ended questions and allows new views to emerge from the discussion. Thus, questions in a semi-structured interview are formulated to allow explanations for clarity.
Maree (2007) states that the aim of qualitative interviews is for the researcher to see the world through the participants' eyes; interviews can be a valuable source of information, provided they are used appropriately. In the current study, rich, in-depth information was collected through telephonic semi-structured interviews with Engineering lecturers and students from a TVET college using open-ended questions. Semi-structured interviews are flexible and allows the researcher to ask other questions for clarification. Opdenakker (2006) supports that telephonic interviews are conducted over the telephone. Similarly, Johnson and Christensen (2006) agree that a qualitative interview consists of open-ended questions that a researcher will personally pose to participants in a study.
Christiansen et al. (2010) and Creswell and Poth’s (2017) parallel views echo that a researcher must explore the participants' experience, perceptions, feelings, emotions, and ideas in the study rather than imposing their own understanding about the phenomenon.
Thus, the researcher made appointments with the current study participants according to their busy schedules before collecting data. Participants were provided ample time to narrate their experiences while the researcher listened to their accounts (Bryman, 2015;
Ritchie et al., 2013). Pre-planned open-ended questions did not confine participants’
responses but gave them a sense of flexibility. The participants were also provided with a copy of the guiding interview questions.
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Individual telephone interviews were conducted with each participant to ensure their confidentiality. The duration of each interview was a maximum of forty-five minutes for a one-off session. The interviews were scheduled according to each participant’s availability. Cohen et al. (2011) explain that semi-structured interviews are “standardised open-ended interviews” where all participants are given the “same basic questions in the same order” (p.353). In support of this, the current study’s participants were given the same questions in the same sequence to compare their responses and generate themes from the data.
While conducting the interviews, the researcher probed the participants with follow-up questions to further elaborate their explanations where necessary to gather more data for the study. Wahyuni (2012) emphasises that the critical aspect of an interview is to help the interviewees to tell their stories, experiences, and perspectives regarding a particular social occurrence being witnessed by the interviewer. All interviews were audio-recorded using a smartphone and laptop with permission from the participants, as Yin (2011) suggested. Diary notes were used as additional tools to ensure that all the data is captured and thereafter transcribed.Similarly, McMillan and Schumacher (2006) state that audio- recording ensures completeness of the verbal interaction and provides material for reliability checks. However, De Vos et al. (2011) argues that a tape recorder allows a much fuller recording than notes taken during interviews.
3.5.2 Focus group discussion
Krueger (2014) define a focus group as a special type of group for data generation in terms of purpose, size, composition, and procedure. According to Cohen et al.
(2011), a focus group discussion is created around a set of predetermined questions.
In this study, the discussion was rooted in the specified individual semi-structured interview questions. Meanwhile, Padgett (2016) states that participants in the focus group share similar feelings and backgrounds yet are usually unaware of each other. Thus, focus groups allow participants to interact with each other freely. In the current study, to gain understanding, in-depth information was collected through focus group discussions with Engineering lecturers and students from a TVET college using open-ended questions. According to Ayrton (2019), focus groups are useful in generating a rich understanding of participants’ experiences and beliefs.
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The researcher contacted participants to confirm their availability and schedule a zoom meeting. Each participant received a Zoom link via emails or WhatsApp for easy access, followed by a telephone call reminding them about the emails. The link indicated the date and time the Zoom meeting was scheduled, and participants were informed that the meeting would be recorded. The recording function on a laptop was used to record the interviews. The students focus group discussion was conducted separately from the lecturers focus group discussions.
The participants engaged in a focus group discussion and shared their experiences, views, and beliefs of performance in mathematics. According to Bell (2010), a focus group discussion is another powerful qualitative data collection method that is undoubtedly effective when in-depth information is needed about peoples’
experiences and perceptions. Thus, through their expressions and emotions, it was evident how participants incorporated the viewpoints of others in structuring and understanding their explanations.