LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DELPHI STUDY
3.3 Primary sources
3.3.1 Delphi study
The Delphi study involved the selection and contacting of a sample of experts, designing and delivering a questionnaire (see Appendix 1), to respondents.
Furthermore, this included preliminary analysis of the data, any rectification, if necessary, and an analysis of the final data collected. The main purpose of a Delphi type survey was to analyse whether professionals and practitioners have an adequate understanding of what communities at the ground level really need and to determine whether they could relate to the needs of potential beneficiaries for whom they are planning. The Delphi study wanted to determine if those involved in the planning and design of neighbourhoods understand beneficiaries' needs and expectations.
In view of the objectives mentioned above, a questionnaire was sent to professionals and experts linked to the Incremental and Social Housing field: government officials at central, regional and local authority level, NGO's, professionals, academics and consultants. There are approximately fifteen registered firms within the province of KwaZulu-Natal that are involved in housing and infrastructure projects and a further four municipalities and three institutions of higher learning as well as a Provincial Government Department that oversees and facilitates housing delivery within the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. A total of 49 questionnaires were sent out to various individuals as it was assumed that not all the questionnaires would be returned. A response from 20 of the respondents was received which represented 40% of the sample providing fair and reasonable data for assessment and evaluation.
Housing attributes were identified and grouped into 13 components, which had been identified through further research. The selected experts were asked to rank the order of the components according to their experience and knowledge. For this they were asked to distribute 13 points among the different components and rank them in priority with 1 being the highest priority and 13 being the lowest priority. The next step was for them to rank the attributes between a set of subcomponents. The questionnaire allowed for a two step distribution of the points. The questionnaire had a set of empty boxes on the left hand side of the component, where the corresponding points would first be assigned and another set on the right hand side of the sub-component, where a value within a scale of one (1) to five (5) would be allocated to each corresponding attribute reflecting the importance. This being one (1) representative of not important, two (2) being fairly important, three (3) being important, four (4) being fairly essential and five (5) being essential.
The results allowed for the construction of the prioritised opinion of the attributes defining an urban housing unit, and what is considered a minimum acceptable level for each, as defined by the experts in the field and the inhabitants (See Figure 9.1).
3.3.2
Focus groupsThe focus groups involved the preparation of the interviews, selection and contacting of the sample population, as well as carrying out in-depth group interviews for the completion of the research questionnaire (See Appendix 1) and finally the analysis of the data.
The sample was selected from the following settlements viz.
• Inhabitants of settlements from the Savannah Park, Greenfield Housing Project that was developed prior to South Africa's democratic elections.
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Inhabitants of Waterloo Greenfield Housing Projects that were developed after South Africa's democratic elections.
Inhabitants of the KwaMashu Unit C Housing Project developed in terms of the Government Slums Relocation Programme after the 1994 democratic elections.
• Inhabitants of the Shallcross and Lotus Park Social Housing Projects that were
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developed by government prior to the 1994 democratic elections.
Inhabitants of the Shayamoya Social Housing Project that was developed after the 1994 democratic elections.
Housing attributes were identified and grouped into 13 components to represent the main deciding attributes for the development of human settlements. The focus groups were conducted with the appropriate technical support of a researcher, and the individuals were asked to rank the order of the components. For this they had to distribute 13 points among the different components and rank them according to priority with one being the highest priority and 13 being the lowest priority. The next step was to rank the attributes between a set of subcomponents, where a value within a scale of one to five would be allocated to each corresponding attribute reflecting the importance thereof.
The analysis was carried out by grouping themes and counting the number of times each attribute was mentioned. Thereafter, with the results of these interviews, a ranked list of housing attributes per housing situation was formulated.
3.3.3 Analysis of the Delphi study
Due to the type of data obtained for this study it was necessary to use a statistical methodology that allowed for the comparison of medians, as the results obtained from the Delphi study presented three different categories of data. Therefore, the analysis of the data obtained needed the use of appropriate methods that would allow for the comparison of scores, at their appropriate levels.
The following three categories of data were produced:
• the comparison of scores involving three, four or five attributes;
• the comparison of scores involving two attributes;
• and the comparison of scores involving one attribute.
On examining the data, it was decided that the following three tests would have to be applied in analysing the raw data. The Friedman's test was used in comparing the scores that involved three or more attributes, the Mann-Whitney test was used for the scores that involved two attributes and similarly, the Kruska/-Wallis test was used to analyse the score involving one attribute. These non-parametric tests will be further explained in the following paragraphs.
The Friedman's test is a non-parametric test (distribution-free) used in studies to analyse data, so as to compare observations or scores that are repeated or have scores that involve three, four or five attributes. Like many non-parametric tests, the Friedman's test uses the ranks of the data rather than their raw values to calculate the statistic or end result. As the test is used to determine the null hypothesis, the assumption is made that the test calculates the probability of observing a result at the least extreme as the one that occurs in the data at hand.
As mentioned above, the Mann-Whitney test is used for assessing whether two independent scores of observations come from the same distribution. Furthermore, this test allows for the possibility of obtaining greater observations in one population versus the other that is being tested or measured. In terms of the Delphi study that was conducted and the various population groups and areas from which data was collected, this test was a suitable choice in obtaining rich and specific data for analysis that would concentrate on one selected population group. The null hypothesis in the Mann- Whitney test is that the two scores are drawn from a single population, and therefore their probability distributions will be equal. The Mann-Whitney test is one of the most popular non-parametric significance tests.
Lastly, the Kruska/-Wallis test is used for data that produces a score of one attribute.
The test is used to examine the equality of population medians among the groups used in the study. It is identical to what is known as a one-way analysis of variance, as the data is replaced by specified ranks. However, as it is a non-parametric method, the Kruska/-Wallis test does not assume a normal population, like the one-way analysis of variance does. The null hypothesis in the Kruska/-Wallis test assumes that the samples are from identical populations, and therefore was fitting in terms of the data collected from the Delphi study.
3.3.3.1 Kendall's coefficient of concordance
Kendall's coefficient of concordance is a non-parametric statistic that is used for measuring the agreement (concordance) among several raters who are assessing a given set of attributes. As the Delphi study conducted resulted in answers, whereby some of the interviewee's expressed agreement in their rating of the most important to the least important factors in terms of housing attributes, this test was necessary.
This method, used to assess the degree to which the interviewees agreed with the overall ranking, helped to strengthen the study and allowed for clear and useful results in determining what factors the various populations feel are most important, in terms of being provided with a good standard of housing. Kendall's test's main focus on the raters themselves, as the null hypothesis of Kendall's coefficient of concordance is that the raters will produce rankings that are independent of one another. Even though, the responses from the raters may be in concordance, the responses are ultimately independently chosen.