CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL OVERVIEW
1.6 THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.6.1 Paradigm and Approach
According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), the term “paradigm’ is used to describe a basic set of beliefs that guide actions. Healy and Perry (2000) and Antwi and Hamza (2015) describe a paradigm according to three elements, namely ontology, epistemology, and methodology. These three elements define the approach followed in a study. Bhattacherjee (2012) defines ontology as people’s assumptions of how they see the world. The ontological aspects constitute the science of how things are, theessential features of a phenomenon – and the epistemological aspects – which explain what can be known and how can it be known (Van Der Walt and Potgieter,
20 | P a g e
2012; Guba and Lincoln, 1994). To the definitions of the above three concepts, Mitchell (2001:125) added the metaphysical “theory of reality” as presumption for an ontology (“theory of what can be known”), epistemology (“theory of knowledge production”), ethics (“the theory of moral values”), and methodology (“the means of knowledge production”). Paradigms or worldviews can influence the practice of research, even though it may be submerged in the research approach.
Pragmatism is presented as the overarching ‘worldview’ of this study. According to Rossman and Wilson (1985), pragmatists focus on the research problem and questions rather than on the research method. Furthermore, to understand the problems, they use all the approaches available.
The philosophical assumptions and conceptual framework for the convergent mixed methods design, guided by a pragmatism paradigm, provide an umbrella worldview of the study (Creswell and Creswell, 2018; Creswell and Plano Clark, 2018; Morgan, 2017). This paradigm is usually used as an approach for employing mixed methods, as it is important for pragmatists to focus on the research problem in social science research and to follow it up by a pluralistic approach to gain knowledge. Additionally, the pragmatic paradigm opens doors to diverse paradigms, several methods, multiple forms of data collection, and many assumptions. Dalsgaard (2014) supports the view that pragmatism focuses on the truth of an idea or proposition of an observable consequence. Furthermore, pragmatism philosophy aims to uncover the practical knowledge of a case or situation (Biesenthal, 2014). Pragmatism also promotes inquiry focusing on the situation, experiences, or phenomenon to provide a better in-depth understanding of it (Stark, 2014).
The first paradigm that supports the pragmatic approach of the study is post-positivim.
The positivist paradigm dates back to the 20th century and the scientific realities of the time. Positivism promotes the use of an objective scientific method in doing research (Creswell and Creswell, 2018; McDougal III, 2011; Guba and Lincoln, 1994). The positivist paradigm epitomises the quantification of variables and the ‘scientific’
investigation of these in search of absolute knowledge and truths. Although classical positivism has been challenged (and somewhat ‘softened’ in its stance) by other opposing paradigms, certain basics of the scientific method have been retained –
21 | P a g e
leading to the post-positivist worldview. This post-positivist paradigm holds truth for quantitative research but challenges the notion of absolute knowledge when applied in the behavioural domain. This paradigm is relevant to the study in that it underlies the quantitative component of the multi-method tactic applied in this study.
A second paradigm that is relevant to the study is the transformative paradigm. The transformative paradigm includes groups of researchers that are critical theorists;
participatory action researchers; Marxists; feminists; specialists on racial and ethnic minorities; persons with disabilities; indigenous and postcolonial peoples; and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer communities (Creswell and Creswell, 2018). This study is partly founded on this paradigm, as it stresses the need that the politics and political change agenda be intertwined with research related to previous and current social oppression (Mertens, 2010). In this study, the transformative paradigm focuses on the post-apartheid development of previously disadvantaged communities living on traditional communal land.
The third leg on which the overarching pragmatic worldview of this study rests is phenomenology. The discussion of the phenomenological approach deserves more attention than the two paradigms above since it is at the centre of the interaction with the target population in this study. Walmsley and Lewis (1993) define phenomenology as the precise and accurate description and account of the phenomena we encounter in the world, without the distorting influence of a priori and unclarified assumptions.
Phenomenology focuses on “subjective experience” and on “people’s world awareness” (Banyard, 1996:482), as well as on the reasons for human actions (Layder, 1994). In studies with a phenomenological orientation, the inquirer constructs a rich, detailed experience of a central phenomenon. However, it should be noted that the perception of the central phenomenon is partial and objective (Willis, 2007).
According to Umanailo (2019), the phenomenological approach is used to dissect the human mind through observation and recognition, and to use it as an informant against the social reality that occurs in the community. Umanailo (2019) further explains that researchers take a phenomenological stance to deeply understand the structure of the consciousness of the people who are in a particular situation, and to understand the motives and meaning of their actions that are related to the purpose of survival.
22 | P a g e
According to Umanailo (2019), phenomenology as a method has four characteristics, namely, descriptive, reductive, essential, and intentional.
The aim of descriptive phenomenology is merely the description of the phenomenon;
it does not require that it be explained. It includes any emerging phenomenon, such as the emotions, thoughts, and actions of human beings, and so forth. Phenomenology entails describing the ‘thing itself’ and ‘as it happens’. Secondly, reduction is a process in which the assumptions and prejudices about the phenomenon are examined to ensure that biases do not taint the description of the observations, but that the form of the description is confined to the things themselves. Thirdly, essence is the core meaning of individual experiences in certain phenomena as they are. It is the search for the “essence of things” that cannot be revealed by ordinary observation (Moustakas, 1994; Sanders, 1982). Lastly, phenomenology uses two concepts, noesis and noema, to express intentionality and experience as realities. Noema is an objective statement of behaviour or experience as a reality, while noesis is a subjective reflection (consciousness) of the objective statement.
Hence, the phenomenological approach adopted in this study and in the collection of information relating to community decision-making provided the opportunity for members of the community to express their own feelings about the factors that they regard as important in land-use selection in their area. The study seeks to understand the opportunities, challenges, and risks of small-scale communal forest growers as garnered from the experiences and perceptions of households where these forest plantations occur.
According to Kreye et al. (2019), it is important to emphasise the social character of a representation, which evolves within social practices in a given time and space (Figure 4.6). Therefore, social representation is a dynamic concept, but it has a certain persistence that gives it long-term continuity (Frouws, 1998). In this thesis, social representations are expressed through a discourse which has been explained in the literature review section. The researcher believes that a discourse consists of a set of arguments which people might use to communicate their understanding and explanations about the meaning of certain phenomena in their everyday lives.
According to Kreye et al. (2019), to gain insight into local discourses on the usage and
23 | P a g e
experience of, and the values that local people attribute to the forests (in the case of this study, it is communal forest plantations) in their rural areas, a phenomenological approach should be used as basis for the interviews.
Figure 1.4: Phenomenological approach followed Source: Adapted from Kreye et al. (2019)