LIST OF ACRONYMS
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
4.4 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH APPROACH
The study employs a qualitative research approach which comes from the ISS paradigm.
Denzin and Lincoln (2005), as cited in Sakarombe (2014:76), provide the following definition of qualitative research:
Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that makes the world visible. These practices transform
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the world. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. (Denzin and Lincoln 2005: 3).
Qualitative research explores a subject in the real world, context-specific settings (Golafshani, 2003). This method provides a deeper and richer understanding of social processes that would not be obtainable from methods employed in quantitative research (Punch, 2013). In addition, qualitative research acknowledges the existence of numerous realities in which knowledge varies amongst individuals and according to various contexts (Guba & Lincoln, 2005 as cited in Mbewe, 2017). “While quantitative research studies the quantity (e.g. how many people behave in a certain way), qualitative research studies how and why people behave in a certain way” (Hancock, Ockleford & Windridge, 2009 as cited in Mbewe 2017: 73). Qualitative method assisted the researcher to gather depth of understanding on the perceptions of correctional official’s concerning the eventuation of sexual assaults amongst inmates in the Westville Correctional Centre. According to Punch (2011), qualitative research concentrates on the study of social life in natural settings. The aim of this study is to explore correctional official’s views towards male sexual assaults, and a qualitative research method is thus particularly relevant for studying the lived, everyday realities of correctional officers’ beliefs and perceptions of male sexual assault, particularly in Westville Correctional Centre.
Qualitative research allows the researcher to see the phenomena being studied through the eyes and experiences of the participants, and thus provides an opportunity for the individual meanings ascribed by interviewees to emerge (Neuman, 2013). In other words, qualitative research allowed the researcher to understand the perceptions of the correctional officials regarding male sexual assault from their own perspective and in their natural work and lived environment. The use of a qualitative method was geared toward exploring the perceptions correctional officials on male sexual assault among inmate in Westville Correctional Centre.
According to Wolcott (1994:9), the importance of this research method is that it allows the researcher time, space and the tools to “describe, analyse, interpret and clarify experience as it is lived and constituted in awareness as well as to assist researchers to understand participants’
perspectives, complex and under - researched areas.” The task of assessing knowledge and perceptions of correctional officers on male sexual assault, for example, seems to demand such
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inductive, flexible and open-ended methods that give the researcher time, space and tools to interact with participants.
As proposed by qualitative research, the researcher in this study highlights the idea of understanding participant’s views to male sexual assault in correctional centre. According to Bouma and Atkinson (1987) as cited in Nota (2015:73), “the importance of qualitative research is to view situations or events from the perspective of the people being studied: how do they view the world and what do they think?” In this case, correctional officials from Westville Correctional Centre are studied in order to gain a deeper understanding of what their perception are towards male sexual assault in correctional settings. Moreover, studies by authors such as Graham (2006); Pretorius and Hull (2005); Eigenberg (2000); Booyens (2008) and Cook and Lane (2017) have mainly used a quantitative method in investigating the perceptions of male sexual assault in a correctional setting. Thus, the qualitative method was deemed suitable for this study.
The following discussion pertains to the limitations of using the qualitative research approach employed by this study
4.4.1 Limitations of Qualitative Research Approach
The main disadvantage of qualitative approaches to corpus analysis is that their findings cannot be extended to wider populations with the same degree of certainty that quantitative analyses can. This is because the findings of the research are not tested to discover whether they are statistically significant or due to chance (Cohen & Crabtree, 2006). It should be noted that research methods in the social sciences are characterised by two basic philosophical traditions, that is phenomenological and positivist, which find expression in qualitative and quantitative methods. However, a qualitative approach reflects a historical, intuitive or observational approach that attempts to seek a deeper understanding of complex situations. It is often exploratory in nature, more holistic and 'emergent', with a specific focus, design, measurement instruments, and interpretations developing and possibly changing along the way. Qualitative researchers operate under the assumption that reality is not easily divided into discrete, measurable variables. Researchers are often described as the research instrument because the bulk of the data collection is dependent on their personal involvement (interviews and observation) in the natural setting (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
For this study, the researcher still maintains that the usage of the qualitative research approach was appropriate irrespective of its limitation, because it brought an understanding of the
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research topic and solved the research problem by drawing from the participants’ responses, to bring about a less complex and detailed understanding of the male sexual assault in Westville Correctional Centre.