Two semi-structured interview schedules (see appendix 4) were used to conduct the interviews: one with the Diocesan leadership, leadership of parishes and guilds, organisations or portfolios (see, appendix 4a), secondly, with outstation congregations (see, appendix 4b), and thirdly, with focus groups (see, appendix 4c). Marshall and Rossman observed that, through in-depth interviews, the “researcher explores a few general topics to help uncover the participants’ views” (2006: 101). Thus, the interviews enabled me to explore the participants’ understandings regarding outstation congregations.
The in-depth-interview method was based on the assumption that the participant’s perspective on the social phenomenon under study should unfold as the participant viewed it (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). In anthropological studies this has been
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described as an emic perspective of the social phenomenon (Terre Blanche, Durrheim and Painter, 2006). The interviews were conducted on the basis of some predetermined response categories covering six general direction and flow of the interviews (see appendix 4). These included the following six topics:
1. The significance of outstation congregations in a large parish 2. The role of outstation congregations in a large parish
3. Progressional development strategy and training to achieve competency of outstation congregations
4. Acknowledgement and appreciation of outstation congregations in a large parish
5. The challenges facing outstation congregation in a large parish 6. A vision for outstation congregations
These predetermined response categories were composed a priori and reflects my perspective as a researcher. This is described as the etic perspective in anthropological studies (Terre Blanche, Durrheim and Painter, 2006), calling for an understanding of the phenomenon from the point of view of the researcher. Thus, the in-depth interviews for this study combined the emic and etic perspectives. While following predetermined sets of questions the interviewees gave expression to their own understandings regarding the plight of outstation congregations, using their bounded perspectives (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). This situation could also be described as co-production of data between the researcher and research participants, the interviewer and the interviewees (Roulston, de Marrais, and Lewis, 2003).
I found the use of a semi-structured schedule appropriate because I wanted to get participants’ interpretations based on the issues selected. Although each interviewee gave the interpretation from their own perspective, the issues covered in the interviews were similar. By so doing, the interviews enabled me to generate data quickly in sufficient
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quantities. In addition the interviews provided me with the opportunity to understand the various meanings that outstation congregations had for the interviewees and why.
The interview guide provided the basis for that systematisation (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). It enabled me to explore the six general topics with the research participants while respecting how they framed and structured their responses. Kahn and Cannell describe this kind of interviewing as “a conversation with a purpose” (1957: 149).
To get the interviewees to describe their understandings, I explained and assisted them to understand that their views were valuable and useful for an understanding of outstation congregations in the Diocese of Natal. The participants were given the option of conducting the interviews in their local language, IsiZulu, or in English. All participants opted for conducting the interviews in IsiZulu. This preference for IsiZulu over English was mainly because everyone would understand.
The interviews took place on Saturdays and Sundays after church services, at either Church halls or in a vacant room at the Church, where there were no halls to accommodate research participants. The participants seemed excited to participate in the study and none of them asked to withdraw from participation. They even proposed that I should come again and have the same discussion on the topic of outstation congregations.
None declined to participate. I received several calls asking for my return to their parishes in order to have further or more in-depth discussions on the subject. On average, the interviews lasted for a period of between one and a half hours to two hours. I obtained written permission with informed consent to audio record all interviews.
Robson describes focus groups as, “an approach which [allows] people’s views and feeling to emerge, but which gives the interviewer some control” (1997: 241). The focus group interview enabled me to explore the research participants’ understandings regarding the plight of outstation congregations.
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Each focus group interviewed gave the interpretation from their own perspective and the issues covered by both groups in the interviews were similar. The focus group interviews enabled me to generate data qualitatively. In addition, they provided me with the opportunity to understand the meaning of the plight of outstation congregations from the perspective of selected groups.
The focus group interview was conducted with semi-structured interview schedules. An advantage of this technique is that “there is an opportunity for the whole group to explore the disagreement in detail, thereby producing a much deeper understanding of the problem” (Bless, Higson-Smith, Kagee, 2007: 123). I also recorded the debate between participants, which gave me deeper insight into the topic than would have been gained from interviewing all the participants individually.
The focus groups were made up of the Diocesan mothers union and rectors of parishes.
The Diocesan mothers union is a force in the black parishes, reflecting the interests of women in majority of parishes. This group is a purposive and representative sample of the black women in mothers union and was requested to participate in the semi-structured interview schedule. Their interest in outstation congregations was viewed as important for the research.
Several rectors were invited to the second focus group session because they were in charge of large parishes and as such had intimate knowledge of the plight of outstation congregations. Furthermore, they had interest in, and believed the research to contribute to “Growing the Church” in their respective regions (Pearce, 2008).
Like the in-depth individual interviews, the focus group interviews sought to bring to light the participants’ understandings regarding the following five general topics:
1. The significance of outstation congregations in a large parish 2. The role of outstation congregations in a large parish
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3. Progressional development strategy and training to achieve competency of outstation congregations.
4. Acknowledgement and appreciation of outstation congregations.
5. The challenges facing outstation congregations in a large parish.
Patton (1990) notes that through focus group sessions the researcher is able gather information from multiple participants, instead of only one. It provides quality control and facilitates data collection because participants tend to ‘weed out’ false or extreme views. Positions of power were taken into consideration when organising the clusters to participate in the focus groups, with the intent to make lay participants feel at ease to express themselves freely. Finally, Patton reminds us that “the focus of focus group is indeed, an interview. It is not a discussion, problem-solving, decision making, but an interview” (1990: 335).
Just as in the individual interviews, to get the interviewees to describe their understandings, I explained that their views were valuable for an understanding of the plight of outstation congregations in the Diocese of Natal. The participants were typically and relatively homogenous as a group of participants, and all spoke IsiZulu as a medium of communication. The focus group semi-interviews took place either at church halls or vacant rooms in the church, just as with the individual interviews. The mothers’ union focus group was also held on a Saturday, 9th of June 2012 at the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity in Pietermaritzburg. This was at their quarterly meeting, just before their meeting commenced. The clergy or rectors’ focus group was also conducted in Pietermaritzburg, at St. Martins Church-Edendale, during the same week. It was their monthly meeting and I was given a chance after the meeting. Permission to record the interviews was obtained according to protocols of informed consent from all participants.
Review of Documents
Document analysis of both primary and secondary sources was another method used to generate qualitative data. The documentary data was particularly valuable in answering the question about the historical and socio-political context regarding the position of
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outstation congregations. Marshall and Rossman observe that “for every qualitative study, data on the background and historical context are gathered” (2006: 107) to understand the social phenomenon within its context. Thus, the documentary data generated was used to construct an ecclesiastical and socio-political history of outstation congregations within which the research participants’ perspectives were to be understood.
Primary Sources
Some of the documents consulted as primary source of data include the constitution and canons of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) and Acts of the Diocese of Natal. These articulated the positions of bishops, archdeacons and rectors, as well as the expectations and limits of responsibilities of the various offices and councils. The Acts of the Diocese brought another dimension of the pastoral charges in relation to a large parish.
Regarding the change to the status of missions in the Diocese of Natal, I consulted the policy document (Acts of the Diocese of Natal); “All Mission Districts Acquired Parochial Status” (Diocese of Natal, 1964: 22-23, 26-27) because it had far-reaching repercussions for the organization of the church. I also consulted records of Special Provincial Synod (2006) related to matters of changing the name of the province, how the archbishop was to be elected, the canonical authority of Suffragan bishop of Cape Town, and the development in the Communion.
Significant Secondary Sources
A number of secondary source documents were reviewed for this study. These included, among others: (1) the Diocese of Natal archives, Synod of Bishops’ Document, Diakonia’s archive, South African Council of Churches, records of Provincial Synod; (2) The Southern Anglican Magazine (circa 2007) was a valuable source of information on the multiplication of parishes; (3) newspapers; (4) the 1958, 1968, 978 and 1988 Lambeth Conferences; (5) documents; (6) as well as published books and journal articles such as
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Africanisation of Christianity and Theology (Mashau 2003), The Place of the Past in Theological Construction, (Vidu: 2007); God’s Church: one but broken, (Tillard 1982).
One of the challenges of document analysis was that information relevant to the research topic and questions were few and not easily identified. This, therefore, required much time and effort to locate and discriminate among sources. Furthermore, access to
documents was, in some cases, difficult to procure. For example, at the Diocese of Natal archives, some of the documents catalogued were not available on the shelves. Despite all these limitations, I managed to get access to the sources described above.
The documentary evidence generated has been used in this research to construct a narrative about outstation congregations in the Diocese of Natal, South Africa. It also enabled me to frame the contested understandings regarding the plight of outstation congregations within a historical, ecclesiastical and socio-political context.