As indicated the aims of this research have informed the research methodologies used and the various data sources. Therefore questionnaires were used to obtain information from different sources about support groups for women as well as women’s experiences of and knowledge of the latter. The application of a triangulation methodology (Neuman (2011: 164) in the use of questionnaires was to obtain responses from interconnected sources on the subject of this research in order to ensure credible and reliable findings.
4.6.1 Questionnaires For The Public
Questionnaires (360 in total) designed to obtain information about public knowledge of support groups, were distributed to women using a simple stratified sampling technique (Walliman 2011: 186) whereby intended respondents fell into different categories such as academic status (students and non-students), race groups, geographical location and age groups. The period during which these questionnaires were distributed was April 2011- April 2012 (annexure 3). Questionnaires were first distributed amongst those I had immediate access to and interaction with, my students (at the local public FET College) both in full and part time classes, my colleagues and women I interacted with in routine contexts. Thereafter questionnaires were handed to some of these individuals (students, colleagues and acquaintances) to distribute to women that they knew and or interacted with. The aim of this questionnaire was to find out whether women chosen from the public sphere as described, were aware of the existence of support groups, whether they had used the services of the same, and their attitude and perception of the state’s stance towards support groups for women.
A further aim was to establish a link between the knowledge of the public about support groups with the services (and information) of the support groups in order to examine the reach of the latter. The targeted respondents intended representation of women from a broad cross-section of the city’s population including geographical location, race, age, academic status and economic status. That technique ensured the utilisation of a stratification sampling technique whereby attempts were made to elicit responses via the questionnaires from suitable numbers of subsets of the total population of women in order to ensure broad representation of respondents and their responses (Mouton 2006: 191).
The total of the 360 questionnaires were distributed as follows:
Female staff at two campuses for them to fill in 15 Part-time studies staff member for women in her community* to fill in: 10 Students in full-time classes for women in their communities* to fill in 150 Female students in part-time classes for them women in their communities to fill in
50
Neighbours for them and their colleagues to fill in 10 Domestic worker for women in her community to fill in 10 Friend to distribute to learners at school at which she teaches, to distribute to women in their communities
30 Sister to distribute to learners at school at which she teaches, to distribute to women in their communities
30 Worker at (my) home (for over 10 years) to distribute to women in his community and place of work
60 Staff at supermarket which I frequent for them and women in their community to fill in
10
*‘community / communities’ refer here to the places in which these people reside or came from at the time the questionnaires were distributed
4.6.2 Questionnaires for Support Groups/Centres
Neuger (2001: 85) contends that there are different ways to help the different groups of women who seek help. She goes on however to state: “Yet with a culture that is increasingly unwilling to provide listening ears, it is often difficult for a woman to find a context that helps to ‘hear her into speech” (ibid: 86). With the assumption that support groups provide a listening ear and more, I have sought to examine its veracity.
Eleven support groups, (as referred to in letters of consent in annexure 1.2 of this thesis) were identified in the city, some through my previous knowledge of them. I became aware of the other groups through referrals and the public media, including the electronic media/ internet. A questionnaire was handed to the manager or coordinator of each group soliciting details of the centre/group and its services (annexure 4). Nine of these groups were first visited in July 2011. Contact was made with the directors of the other two groups in December 2011 and June 2012 respectively (after becoming aware of the latter’s existence). Follow-up visits and contacts were made to all organisations ranging from one visit to four visits or telephone calls regarding my initial request.
Information was solicited from those directly linked to the subject of the research.
The aim of this part of the research was not to just identify support groups for women in the city, but to examine the services of each group, to establish the modus operandi of each, including strategies of advocacy, to understand the constraints facing the groups and finally to establish the link between the public’s knowledge and perception of support groups with the latter themselves. Consequently, a significant aim was to establish the articulation between the operations of these groups and the state and its related machinery in terms of its official responsibility and undertaking.
My contention that the dominant discourse of the state on gender issues impacts crucially at the level of local support groups, will be explored fully in the next chapter, hence the need to obtain information from these groups. Moreover, an examination of the support groups provides an opportunity to chart the evolution of support groups in the city as well as to interrogate the extent to which women (support groups) are agents of change.
4.6.3 Questionnaires for Clients from Support Groups
Questionnaires (annexure 5) requiring feedback from women /clients on the service/support they had received were handed to each of the centres referred to in 4.6 after initial interviews or explanations were conducted with personnel from the centres. Ten questionnaires each were left at each centre but after most of the latter indicated challenges with that number being filled in, a request was made for a minimum of two filled and returned questionnaires from each group/centre. The aim of this was to establish the correlation between the two parties’ (women/clients ) claims and the veracity of the centres’ claims about their services.