89 of the event or phenomenon under exploration was another reason for choosing case study research.
Yin (200b3) opines that case studies are preferable when contemporary issues are being investigated and when behaviour cannot be changed or controlled. Since teenage motherhood and experiences are things which cannot be easily controlled, case study was chosen to investigate them. Yin (2003) and Thomas (2011b) add that case studies present the complete study of a phenomenon. Since an in- depth, rich and detailed exploration of teen mothers’ experiences was what this study was after case study research was the only way of getting it.
90 problems or a hypothesis or the back-and-forth of relationships in variables. Though relationships might finally find its way in the research later on the study, it is not a priority.
Fourthly, the determining factor verifying the results are set out at the beginning of the research and rigour is ensured or practiced when the finding of the study is being written. Fifthly authenticity or trustworthiness is needed to ensure that the readers identify with the problem situation or become part of the case. Sixthly, the data generated is analysed in diverse groupings and these groupings are multifaceted. Lastly qualitative approach to research engages the reader and is often replete of astonishing perceptions, while ensuring that validity and trustworthiness is maintained.
Neill (2007) postulates that researching within the qualitative approach offers the researcher an opportunity of gaining rich insights about the phenomenon being investigated through the unravelling of meaning by increasing comprehension. This approach to research explores the depth, richness and difficulty of issues and is often tied to the interpretivist paradigms (Lowe, 2007), in which meaning is primarily obtainable from content (Henning, 2004). Lichtman (2006) adding to this postulates that qualitative research aims principally at describing and understanding the experiences and relationships of human life accumulated through life’s journey. This study is therefore justifiably qualitative in its approach since it is dealing with the experiences teen mothers of psycho-social support services provided in a secondary school. The experiences of teen mothers will be explored to generate rich in-depth data as they voice out their perceptions or experiences (Henning, 2004). The experiences teen mothers have of the psycho-social support services provided in a secondary school helps the researcher comprehend the kind of support offered to them and how such support can be improved to ensure that they successfully complete school (Settlage, Southerland, Smith & Ceglie, 2009).
91 Cohen et al. (2007) argued that since qualitative research focuses on generating detailed information about the phenomenon, the method of data generation mostly favours participant observation, interviews and document analyses because a lot of information is available and the data generated is in the form of words. Henning (2004) concurs with this by pointing out that the qualitative approach to research demands that the researcher understands and explains, using arguments or descriptions from the evidence generated from data and literature. Fraenkel and Wallen (2008) also posit that participant observation and interviews are designs which aid in providing in sequential order, rich, detailed and in-depth information generated through communications and observation. Gonzales, Brown and Slate (2008) argue that the qualitative approach to research gives delicate and complicated details and unique understandings of issues and meaning in both non-observable as well as observable situations, phenomena, intentions, attitudes, and behaviours. Through the qualitative approach the participants of the study get the voice to communicate issues, behaviours, actions, beliefs and perceptions which most often than not are buried deep down within them. Therefore, teen mother’s experiences of psycho-social support services provided in a secondary school can best be studied and understood as a qualitative study using interviews and participant observation as data generation tools.
According to Maxwell (2005), the qualitative research approach should be able to intellectually explain particular concepts or situations, produced specific desired outcomes, meet a need, and contain practical realized goals which can be achieved. He further divides the goals as follows; the practical goals should gear towards generating theories and knowledge which is trustworthy and can be understood by anybody whether intellectual or not who reads it. Secondly, it should gear towards evaluating formatively so as to improve both practice and performance. Furthermore, it should engage in cooperative or collaborative action research with different parties. To add to this the intellectual goal aims at comprehending the meanings attributed to issues, situations or phenomenon
92 by the participants. It also gears towards comprehending the specific context wherein the participants are based. The intellectual goals also focus on recognizing unexpected events, situations or problems and generating theories which will address such issues or solve such problems. To achieve this, a thorough understanding of the processes and guiding principles that contribute to actions, situations or problems is needed. Finally, the intellectual goals aim at constructing simple explanations for complex situations which were previously not understood. The qualitative approach was therefore chosen in this study since it aims at understanding the support teen mothers receive and how such support can be improved to ensure that not one of them drop out of school but all of them successfully complete school. To achieve this data, have to be generated through a variety of ways which is discussed in the next section of this study.