4. Design & Methodology
4.2. Methodology
This is a descriptive study of an exploratory nature. Creswell (2003, p.30) suggests that exploratory studies are most advantageous when "not much has been written about the topic or the population being studied". The target population in this study is secondary school educators in the Ethekwini Region of KZN. The list of educators is based on the Deparment of Education's, Education Management and Information Systems (EMIS) list, which is maintained and updated on an annual basis by the Provincial Education Management and Information Systems Department of Education. The total number of secondary schools in the Ethekwini Region on the Department of Education's EMIS list is 403, as of the 30 March 2004. Of these schools, 382 have staff ranging from 2 to 60,
and the balance of 21 schools show 0 staff members. The researcher chose, at random, every alternate school and has a sample of 191 schools. The Ethekwini region is made up of three districts viz. Ilembe, Pinetown and Umlazi. Once the sample has been chosen, the number of schools per district is as follows:
DISTRICT NUMBER OF SCHOOLS
Ilembe 57
Pinetown 68
Umlazi 66
TOTAL 191
Table 3: Distribution of Schools
Gay and Airasian (as cited in Leedy & Ormrod , 2005) have offered the following guidelines when selecting a sample size:
For small populations (with fewer than 100 people), there is little point sampling, therefore, one should survey the entire population.
If the population size is around 500, one should sample at least 50% of the population.
If the population size is around 1500, then one should sample at least 20%
of the population.
Beyond a certain point (at about 5000 or more), one should sample at least 400 of the population.
The researcher holds that the sample is a truly representative sample, because every alternate school in a district has been chosen and this represents 50% of the secondary schools in the Ethekweni region. Secondary schools have been chosen because the White Paper on E-Education (DOE 2003) has made access to ICT infrastructure a priority in secondary schools: "Every educator and learner in General and Further Education and Training (FET) must have access to ICT infrastructure" (p. 22). Computer related
subjects namely: Computer Studies and Compu-Typing are offered in the FET phase as specializations and one felt that this would be a good place to start.
Questionnaires were distributed to the above 191 schools. A letter of recruitment (Appendix B) and a letter (Appendix C) indicating that permission had been granted by the Department of Education (KZN) accompanied the questionnaires (Appendix A) to schools. Letters (Appendices D & E) to the Directors of the different districts, and to the Circuit Managers of the different circuits, were issued before the process of accessing schools and educators. The average number of staff in schools in the Ilembe and Umlazi districts is 15 and the average number of staff in schools in the Pinetown district is 20.
Therefore, 15 questionnaires were sent to each school in Ilembe and Umlazi and 20 questionnaires were sent to each school in Pinetown. Some schools received their questionnaires via the circuit office and others received them via post. Most Circuit Managers were cooperative in assisting in the distribution and collection of these questionnaires. However, there were a few who emphatically did not want to assist with this study and this made collection of questionnaires from these schools very difficult.
It is interesting to note that in the Ethelcwini region, 135 (33%) of the 403 secondary schools have computer rooms with 10 or more computers. Of the 191 schools there are 18 schools that indicate that they did not receive the questionnaires, 2 indicate that they had misplaced them and another 3 refuse to participate in the study. Returns from 93 schools were received. This gives a 55.4% rate of return. In total, 1237 questionnaires were received from schools. There are 15 questionnaires that were considered to be spoilt because they were partially completed, were illegible, or had contradictory entries. Data from 1222 questionnaires has been used. This sample size adequately satisfies Leedy &
Ormrod's (2005) requirements (as stated above) as the total number of secondary educators in the Ethekwini region stood at 8026 as per EMIS database. The 1222 responses that were used will represent a total of 15.23% of our sampling frame.
Table 4 gives a frequency analysis of respondents according to gender, Table 5 gives a frequency analysis of respondents according to age and Table 6 gives a frequency analysis of respondents according to race.
Frequency Percent Cummulative Percent
Female 704 57.6 57.6
Male 512 41.9 99.5
NoEntry 6 .5 100.0
Total 1222 100.0
Table 4: Gender Distribution
Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
21&under 7 0.6 0.6
22-30 210 17.2 17.8
31-40 494 4004 58.2
41-50 395 32.3 90.5
51-60 96 7.9 9804
61&Older 7 0.6 98.9
NoEntry 13 1.1 100.0
Total 1222 100.0
Table 5: Age Distribution
Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
African 486 39.8 39.8
Coloured 23 1.9 41.7
Indian 573 46.9 88.5
White 123 10.1 98.6
No Entry 17 lA 100.0
Total 1222 100.0
Table 6: Race Distribution
Of the schools that responded, 44 (47%) of the 93 had computer rooms for teaching and learning. However, results will show that a very small percentage of educators in these schools are using technology in their teaching. In order to understand why educators do, or do not, use technology, perceptual control theory will be used. Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) provides a comprehensive model for understanding technology infusion (Zhao & Cziko 2001). This is elaborated on in Chapter 8. According to PCT (McClelland 1998 and Powers 1973), the activation of purposeful agents (such as human beings) towards the success of their objectives occurs when a discrepancy is detected between what is perceived, and what is internally established as a standard of reference. Discrepancies could emerge either as a result of changing perceptions about conditions of the external environment, or as an alteration of an internal reference condition. As a result, the individual begins to vary hislher behaviour, trying to minimize the discrepancy and its consequences.