CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.3 Research design
4.3.1 Research approach
Since the study is qualitative in nature, a qualitative research approach is appropriate. Pope et.al maintain that,
Qualitative research is usually associated with a social constructivist paradigm which emphasises the socially constructed nature of reality. She believes that a qualitative approach gives freedom to the researcher to identify a prototype on the basis of information that has been collected. It is about recording, analysing and attempting to uncover the deeper meaning and significance of human behaviour and experience, including contradictory beliefs, behaviours and emotions” (Pope, 2000:116).
In the case of this study, through qualitative research approach, the reseacher will analyse characters in the selected literary texts that resemble, in most cases, what happens in the real world. “A qualitative approach further enables the researcher to acquire in-depth understanding of people’s experiences rather than information which can be generalised to other larger groups”. According to Kirsch, cited in Zuma qualitative researchers characteristically position their work in the appropriate historical and cultural background. They also concede that there are complexities and multiplicities of human experience. It is through this type of research that a substantial amount of data about the lives of women is gathered. Furthermore, results based on a qualitative type of enquiry show that there are different ways of representing women's realities which can influence societal structures and policy making (Zuma, 2009: 76).
In this study qualitative data are collected to investigate the representation of women images by male authors in the selected Zulu literary texts. This study does not merely employ qualitative enquiry but is influenced by the feminist principles whose deliberate focus is on gender. The emphasis is on examining whether there have
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been changes in Zulu literary texts reflecting the recent gains brought about by democracy in South Africa. Cresswell (2007) summarises the distinctive aspects of qualitative research approach as explorative, descriptive and contextual. Since these characteristics are present in this study, it is fitting to clarify their relevance.
4.3.1.1 Explorative research
Qualitative research is explorative in nature. Creswell (2007) posits that, it is the type of approach that is used when there are few earlier studies to which reference can be made for information. In this specific field of research, there are a few earlier studies that have been conducted some of which were discussed in Chapter 2.
Furthermore, there can be no exhaustive qualitative or quantitative analysis completed on both the lived experiences of women as well as the multiplicity of engendering perspectives the male writer adopts in the process of constructing the female character. In exploratory research a variety of sources might be used to provide insights and information. Researchers doing exploratory research have to adopt a flexible attitude towards collecting information in this type of research and be constantly asking themselves what lies beneath the surface of what they are learning or seeing. “A researcher or decision maker requires exploratory research if she/he has the following objectives in mind namely: to define more precisely an unclear or ambiguous problem and to increase her/his ability to grasp meaning or to gain a better understanding of a subject in that way deepening his/her insight” notes Clow and Stevens (2009:50-51).
Sebunje (2015) concurs with Clow and Stevens (2009) that, “the aim is to look for patterns, ideas or hypotheses rather than testing or confirming a hypothesis. The focus is on gaining insight. It involves researching issues in more depth, so as to provide a deeper understanding” (research-techniques.com). The representation of women images in selected Zulu literary texts written by male authors, orientates the study towards the exploration and interpretation of some aspects of gender inequality that exists in Zulu society and which filters through literature written by its people. Society’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and fears are evident when one explores the underlying messages in the works of Zulu male authors as far as women are represented in the selected texts. To achieve the aims and objectives of
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the study as outlined in Chapter 1, feminist literary criticism will be employed to qualitatively analyse the female characters as portrayed in Zulu literary texts selected for this study.
4.3.1.2 Descriptive research
Qualitative research also has descriptive features. It seeks to describe phenomena as they exist. It is used to identify and obtain information on the characteristics of a particular issue. Descriptive research goes further than exploratory research in examining the problem since it describes the characteristics of the issue. It is designed to depict the participants in an accurate way. A research investigation may include descriptive research, but it is likely that it will also include explanatory or predictive information. According to Flick (2007:7) “descriptive research involves in- depth depictions of the participants’ experiences that goes beyond a report of what is observable on the surface. It also seeks to uncover their feelings, and interpret meanings of their actions”. This intense description develops from the data and the context. The task of the researcher involves describing the location, by giving a visual picture of setting as well the events and the situation. He/ she also has to describe the people that live in this location by giving verbatim narratives of their perceptions in context. This study will analyse the selected texts using the approach mentioned above namely that of describing the location and giving a picture of the setting and the situation. The methodology centres on the way in which human beings make sense of their subjective reality and attach meaning to it. Social scientists approach people not as individual entities who exist in a vacuum, but explore their world within the whole of their life context.
4.3.1.3 Contextual research
Within the current study, the qualitative research method is found to be appropriate since it is concerned with understanding people and the social cultural contexts within which they live. This is because, as it was mentioned earlier, literature serves as a mirror of society. In Zulu Oral Traditions (1996) Canonici points out that the study of setting is essential for a proper understanding of a text, be it oral or written.
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He further explains that setting or milieu consists of the physical place, the historical period, which is the period of the events and that of the writer as well as the cultural background of a work. This is pertinent in literary analysis as it is essential to keep in mind these parameters of the narrative, especially its historical period. This means that a description of both the period during which the fictional events are supposed to have happened, and the period during which the author is writing are indispensable in research that focuses on literary texts. This background should assist in identifying the social problems and the social circumstances literature brings to the fore. Hence, for this study, the texts that have been selected reflect different periods in the history of South Africa.