4.3. Engaging in qualitative research methods
4.3.2. Observation
Hammersley and Atkinson also explain that observation or participant observation which the researcher undertakes covertly or overtly, and asking questions is key to ethnography. An ethnographer therefore needs to spend long periods of everyday time in the field in order to understand the research focus and produce the type of ‘thick description’ so central to ethnographies. Henning (2004) also maintains that in order to capture a way of life, it is important to get to know the “people and their practices as these occur as everyday actions”
(p. 42). Observation notes were gathered during observation of the learners and girls’ in the mornings and lunch breaks, in the class room, when I was called on to do relief teaching in any one of the grade seven classes and during fund raising activities such as Civvies Day [a quick fundraiser when learners were charged R5 ($US. 33) to wear ‘colour clothes’, Market Day and Pool Fun Day. It was during this time that I made notes pertaining to the girls’
behavior, their talk, their social groups and their body language. I found this method of data collection to be most useful during focus group discussions as I was able to refer to certain incidents which I had observed.
Vaus (2001, p. 211) explains and I agree that the benefits of combining focus group discussions and individual interviews are abundant. I used both methods because the research question required both breadth and depth (Morgan, 1996, p. 134). Focus group
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discussions was an ideal choice because it created an atmosphere which fostered talk, debate and argument. It provided the most suitable tool for me to provide a setting that would be conducive to foster interaction and engagement and which as I had hoped, generated rich, thick data. I used individual interviews as a follow up to focus group discussions (Vaus, 2001, p.211). The individual interviews provided a different experience for me and the individual girls. I had to engage in active talk, I had to probe and I had to listen without being judgmental. There were occasions when my maternal instinct came to the fore and I had to caution myself not to be judgmental. Whilst the groups allowed for a greater range of
responses in a shorter period of time, I found that the in-depth individual interviews provided greater depth and afforded some of the individual girls’ the privacy they had requested. I had no specific interview guide for the individual interviews. I also wanted to engage the girls in drawings where I wanted to the girls to illustrate their understandings of gender and sexual harassment. Many of the drawings were stereotypical, depicting girls engaging in
transactional sex, falling pregnant and their views on boyfriends, HIV and AIDS. I searched the drawings for clues/relevance to the research questions, eventually I choose to include one drawing only (Chapter 6) of one respondents experiences as evidence to support the data. I agree with Anning and Ring (2004) in that the great challenge of qualitative research is to find ways of analyzing the evidence collected and then to be able to manage the evidence collected. They are both right in that qualitative researchers collect far too much of data without any thought through how to make sense of it.
Vaus (2001: 212) argues that research participant samples should comprise people who can best shed light on the topic through their personal thoughts and life experiences. Morgan (2002: 149) and Seidman (2013) advise that is vital to recruit people who are deeply interested in the subject matter and who are personally invested in the topic under study.
Patton, too, is a proponent of purposeful sampling: “the logic and power of purposeful
sampling lies in selecting information rich cases for study… from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research” (1990:169).
Following these examples, I initially used purposeful sampling techniques in order to find respondents who could provide the richest and most detailed data to help address my research questions. Thus I began my observation of the girls.
87 4.4. Observing the girls
Whilst I was located in the school for the past 10 years, my contact with the older learners was sporadic since I am located in the FP. However, I was familiar with some of the learners who started school in grade R and in grade 1 [FP]. In the initial stages of my study, I spent a lot of time walking around the school, observing the learners (especially the grade seven learners) and visiting their classes. Being an educator in the research site afforded me the privilege of engaging in what Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2006) call ‘naturalistic observations’
of the learners as they went about their daily lives. I was an insider, and this allowed me privileges such as being able to sit in the staffroom and observe teachers too. I was especially drawn to the grade seven A class as I listen to some teachers complain about the learners and especially the girls. Words such as ‘too fast’, ‘fighting’ and ‘boyfriends’ drew my attention. I also sat in at management meetings and therefore had a good knowledge of how the school functioned and if there were any problems or major concerns. I was also privy to how the school handled problems and challenging situations. I do, however, recognise that the concept of insider and outsider is subjective. I was an insider because of my location within the school and because I lived in Westhills, but I was nevertheless still an outsider to my respondents’ lived experiences of gender and sexual violence.
I elected to spend everyday time during the breaks in areas where the girls carried out their daily tasks, routines, and conservations, in order to observe and generate what ethnographers call a ‘thick description’ of my observations (Geertz, 1973). Since the learners were familiar with my presence (all educators are tasked with ground duty), I was able to walk around the school during the breaks and observe without being obtrusive. I was a familiar sight. During this time, I observed the girls, noting details such as clothing, expressive movements, facial expressions, eye movements, body movements. I carefully noted their preferred physical spaces and, when possible, their language and behaviour. Sometimes I discreetly noted their conversations, too, but I was wary that the girls might behave differently if they became aware that I was observing them and making notes. I was hardly ever able to hear what the girls were saying as they would wander away, seeking their privacy, and also because they mostly spoke in isiZulu which was their home language.
In order to get a richer and fuller understanding of the girls’ interactions with their peers – both boys and girls – it was necessary to observe these interactions, particularly because their
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behaviour was influenced by the boys. Hence I would often walk to the tuck-shop area where they met. However, observations during break times did not yield the kind of data I was hoping to find. I observed a lot of teasing, but I noticed that the girls did not seem to mind because they laughed and responded in heightened voices. Sometimes, the boys would chase them, and then they would stop running and continue talking to each other. There were times when I asked the girls what was happening and they would respond laughingly: “nothing, Mam” and sometimes the boys would respond “Ow, Mam, nothing, we are just playing”. I note one such incident during my observation below:
A grade five learner came to me and told me mam, there’s a boy that was busy with Akhona’s uniform, pulling it up, trying to see what’s underneath the uniform’. I walked to where Akhona was and asked her what had happened. She laughingly replied ‘no mam they didn’t really pull it up, they tried to pull it up, but nothing
happened’.
[Field notes: Date: 16 October 2012 Time: 11h10 Place: Near the school hall]
Frequently I would find the older girls in the FP area. I was later informed that this was a strategy that afforded the girls to see the educators on duty. Boys and girls would meet during the breaks whilst their friends acted as look outs for them. However, some of the girls told me that they preferred these spaces because they felt safe, able to roam freely without the fear of being accosted by boys.
Time was one of the greatest challenges in conducting these sorts of observations as the duration of breaks was only 30 minutes. During this time, I often had to attend to management issues or to matters relating to the FP, and my observation time was thus curtailed.
One thing I was able to observe was that some of the older girls did not eat lunch. Upon chatting with them, they said that they were too ‘shy’ to bring lunch to school. However, I later discovered that there was often no bread at home for lunch and the girls were ‘shy’ to place their names on the ‘indigent list’ in order to receive sponsored lunches. I decided then that I would bring some of the sponsored sandwiched to my classroom and offer them to the girls there. I did this in an effort to dispel some of the awkwardness of eating and I was glad when some of the girls accepted the sponsored sandwiches.
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I decided that I would focus on girls only. I wanted respondents who would feel comfortable and not shy or scared to participate, and who would be likely to trust me and willing to engage with each other and share their experiences. Following Vaus (2001), I also decided that a small homogenous group would be best as the group dynamic is integral to the
development of the narrative and homogeneity has significant advantages (see Morgan, 1995 in Vaus, 2001:212). I decided then that I would focus on one grade seven (7A) class that had 17 girls.
I continued my observation after I had chosen my sample. This time however, I paid more attention to the girls that I had chosen to participate in the study. I found that my observations were particularly useful during focus group discussions as I was able to refer to certain incidents which I had seen. This was generally met with surprise and laughter as the girls were unaware that I had noticed certain things. For example, for our term end fundraiser, The Beach Walk, all the learners were asked to come to school in shorts, t-shirts and sandals.
However, one of my respondents, Kuhle, chose to wear a body hugging dress, long boots, big hoop earrings, and had her hair all brushed out. I observed her walking to the tuck-shop many times and noticed that there were three boys from grade seven following her about. I
observed her suggestive walk, the swaying of her hips, and the sexual aura and confidence that she emanated. During one of our interviews, I asked her about this incident and she replied: “when you see the boys, something happens … you go like this [she demonstrates a very suggestive walk and actions]… show your booty”.
Another afternoon I heard a noise coming from the grade seven A classroom as I walked past.
I walked back and peered into the room. The teacher was seated at his table and he was asking the learners to settle down. Some of the girls had their heads down and appeared to be sleeping. I noticed that one of my respondents, Thiele, had a shawl wrapped around her head like a turban. She also had a small blanket wrapped around her waist. Seeing me, the teacher got up from his chair and came to the door. I asked him what was going on. He said that he had asked the girls to remove their blankets but they had refused, saying that they were feeling cold. Clearly, there was a power issue at play.
Another time I found Thiele crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she had got into trouble because she was involved in a fight. I discovered that Thiele had slapped
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a boy because he had grabbed her breast. Thiele did not divulge this information on the day of the incident because she was too upset. My field notes thus provided me with important information that drew attention to sexual violence and sexual harassment within the school. It provided me with data which might not have been forthcoming in the interviews.
Sometimes, some girls approached me during the breaks to talk to me about a younger sibling or to ask if they could help me in class. I believe they felt that I was an ally, in the sense that I was interested in them and they were free to talk to me. This resonates with Pattman’s
experience where his respondents positioned him as a fellow male, an ally to whom they could express grievances about girls (Frosh, Phoenix and Pattman, 2001). However, I could never be the girls’ friend in the school setting, and I also agree with Campbell et al. (2010), who argue that friendship is essentially a relationship between equals, and the structure of qualitative research generally militates against equality. There are certain invisible
boundaries that cannot be transgressed. Nonetheless, by engaging in observation, I felt a deep sense of familiarity with the girls.
I first met with the girls from the grade 7A class, explained the study and requested their participation in the study. Nine indicated their willing participation. At more or less the same time, there was an uproar at the school which changed my sampling strategy: The grade seven educators discovered that some of the grade seven learners were involved in
heterosexual relationships at school and were engaging in ‘sexualised behaviour’, especially during breaks. Five of the girls were from the grade seven A class. I then decided to ask the other girls in other grade seven class if they would be interested in participating in the study.
Six girls accepted. My last respondent, Azande, was referred to me by her teacher, who was aware that she had a boyfriend and thought that she might be both interested and a suitable participant in the study. I now had 16 respondents. However, 4 girls later declined to participate in the study. Thus, by observing the girls and listening to the teachers talk about the girls, and through purposeful and opportunistic sampling methods I found 12 respondents aged 12-14 years old. Having finalised my sample, I embarked on a most important phase in the study: ensuring that ethical considerations were in place.
91 Table 1: Respondents’ Background Information.
No Name Age Had/have a boyfriend
Residence Mode of travel to school/home
Lives with
1 Azande 13 Yes Informal
Settlement
On foot Mother/
Grandmother
2 Lettie 13 Yes Clermont Public transport
(bus)
Mother and aunt
3 Mandisa 13 Yes Informal
settlement
Public transport (bus)
Mother
4 Thiele 13 Yes Clermont School taxi Grand
Mother
5 Buhle 13 Yes Clermont School taxi Mother and
grandmother
6 JJ 12 Yes Clermont School taxi Mother
7 Sne 12 Yes Informal
Settlement
On foot Mother
8 Paleesa 13 No Clermont Public transport
(bus)
Mother and grandmother
9 Mbali 14 Yes Clermont School taxi Mother
10 Kuhle 14 Yes Clermont School taxi Mother
11 Loanda 12 No Clermont Public transport
(bus)
Mother
12 Mpho 12 Yes Informal
Settlement
Taxi Mother
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