Research methods are techniques used to conduct research from the sampling of participants, through data collection to the analysis. Creswell and Clark (2011, p.129) note that, “Research methods or refer to the techniques the researchers use in performing research operations.” This definition of research method means that all those techniques which the researcher uses during the progress of studying a research problem, are called research methods. Based on the research questions, the study utilised quantitative (number-based) method supplemented by qualitative (text- based) methods in order to provide a better understanding of the research problem. In this study on NFE, both quantitative and qualitative research methods allowed the researcher to focus on collecting graduates’ views, analysing and combining both quantitative and qualitative data in a single section of a chapter.
The study used mixed research methods in the form of triangulation by combining both qualitative and quantitative methods (Creswell, 2009, p.204). According to Creswell and Clark (2011, p.129), combining quantitative and qualitative techniques and concepts in a single study or series has an advantage of “relating studies to single or multiple phases within a pragmatic philosophical worldview (paradigm) and theoretical lenses that direct the plan”. In the context of the present study, both methods helped to obtain the evidence of the approaches of training delivery for skills acquisition, the mode of training assessment at the end of the training and the ability of learners to work without supervision after acquiring skills.
The characteristic of the conceptual framework (cf. Chapter Two), which is the systems approach to NFE teaching and learning, and the sources of the data required the use of quantitative and qualitative methods. As data came from three components of the NFE systems (inputs, transformative process and outputs and environment), there was a need for complementing data so they may support each other. Following the view of Ponce and Pagán-Maldonado (2015), the other reason for using the mixed method was the complexity of the research problem which could not be addressed from one approach. The argument is that the researcher intended to examine all internal
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delivery environments from human and material resources, teaching and learning approaches, skills acquisition to the learning assessment. In other words, the complexity of the training delivery environment for skills acquisition could not be fully examined using only a quantitative or qualitative approach.
The researcher used the quantitative method to provide numerical data that were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. According to Creswell (2009), the quantitative method is essentially about collecting numerical data to explain a particular phenomenon. The reason for utilising the quantitative method is based on its primary purpose which is to determine cause-and- effect relationships or comparability (Creswell, 2014). The quantitative research method was a survey questionnaire. In the context of the present study, there were three advantages of using quantitative method. Firstly, it helped produce the detailed description of respondents’ opinions and experiences; then the researcher interpreted the meanings of their responses (Rahman, 2017).
In terms of the effectiveness of training approach on the skills acquisition, the researcher sought the data providing deep information on the relationship between teaching techniques and the ability to work without supervision. Delport and Roestenburg (2011), too, note that qualitative methods are utilised to attain deeper insights of issues related to examining a process of an intervention.
Secondly, the qualitative method helped understand the connections and interdependence between four elements of NFE delivery for skills acquisition, which are inputs, transformation process, outputs and environment. Creswell (2014, p. 4) supports that qualitative research is descriptive allowing the researcher to examine the process, meaning, and to gain understanding through the words of the respondents. In the present study, a special emphasis of qualitative was on the interdependence between the transformation process and the outcomes of the NFE delivery approaches.
Thirdly, the qualitative data do not only explain the process of training delivery in NFE centres, but provide full descriptions of activities that occurred, including the real experiences of the adult learners. In this connection, Creswell (2014, p.15) supports that, “qualitative method emphasizes the human element; uses close first-hand knowledge of the research setting and avoids distancing the researcher from the people or event/situation being studied”. Therefore, semi-structured interview, observation and document analysis inadequately compensated the weaknesses of the closed-ended questions in the quantitative method by discovering complex issues the researcher could not obtain during the quantitative data collection process. The qualitative methods were able
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to deal with controversial issues. Respondents could provide precise answers to the question because they could easily remember the specific learning activities in their NFE courses.
3.4.1 Study population and sampling size
A study population is the people to whom the results of a quantitative and post-positivist study could be generalised (Creswell (2014). For the present study, the researcher selected topic-specific graduates from centres as participants, based on their experience and close involvement in NFE programmes. The population for the study was the adult graduates of NFE centres of KZN. The sample was drawn from the district of uMgungundlovu, selected because it has diversity in geographic areas (urban, rural and peri-urban). There is no document reporting the exact number of NFE centre in KZN, and most NFE centres managed by NGOs are not with registered either the provincial and national Department of Education (KZN, 2017). This is why it was impossible to obtain the population size of the centres and graduates.
The sample size of the study consisted of six NFE centres and their 200 of their graduates. In connection with the research purpose, the primary eligibility criteria for the NFE centres were that they should be not for profit and hence not require adult learners to pay tuition fees. In addition, a centre was selected if it provides technical and entrepreneurial skills to enable an adult to take up wage or self-employment in the field of agriculture, services and small business activities. This means that the researcher did not select an education adult cente that provides adult literacy only.
3.4.2 Sampling method for NFE centres and graduates
Sampling is defined as a process of selecting a sub-group of persons or things from a larger population. Nieuwenhuis (2012) point out that a sample is a set of elements selected in some way from a research population. In connection with the research purpose, correct sampling methods allowed the researcher to investigate relatively small groups of the target graduates from NFE centres, and yet obtain information that was representative of the entire number of graduates.
Therefore, the researcher used a mix of stratified and purposive sampling methods to select six NFE centres and 200 graduates. These sampling methods were suitable for the study using the mixed method approach because they enabled the researcher to select relevant participants holding diverse information to answer the research questions (Nieuwenhuis, 2012).
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Kumar (2011, p.203) defines stratified sampling as “a method of sampling that involves the division of a research population into smaller groups known as strata, and a sample is drawn from each stratum”. In this study, the purpose of using the stratified method was to obtain centre representatives from public and private centres within the population needed to be represented in the sample of graduates according to their areas (urban and rural). Furthermore, purposive sampling simply means, “participants are selected because of some defining characteristics that make the holders of the data needed for the study” (Nieuwenhuis, 2012, p.79). In a similar vein, Kumar (2011, p.207), asserts that, by using a purposive sampling of non-probability sampling, the researcher only selects participants who “are relevant to the topic, are best positioned to provide the needed information for the study and are willing to share it with the researcher.”
Stratified sampling was used to select six NFE centres, meaning that two centres were selected from each geographic setting (urban, rural and peri-urban areas). The selected NFE centres had to be not for profit and hence not require trainees to pay tuition fees. In order to select two centres in each geographic setting, the researcher used purposive sampling. The focus of the study was on examining the training delivery environments of NFE centres. The examination looked at the training approaches, mode of assessment and skills acquisition by the graduates. Using purposive sampling, the study considered NFE centres that provide technical and entrepreneurial skills to rural and urban adults. Because the purpose of the study was to assess graduates’ views on the effectiveness of training delivery environments for skills acquisition in adult NFE centres, the research only focused on the NFE centres that provide technical and vocational training programmes. This is why the researcher did not select NFE centres offering literacy programme.
In the context of purposive sampling, the following criteria helped to select two NFE centres from each of three geographic settings (urban, peri-urban and rural) in order to make six centres in total:
- Providing technical and vocational training programmes to the adult learners;
- The programmes should focus on preparing the learners for jobs at semi-skilled levels after graduating, not for further education at Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges;
- The type of technical and/or entrepreneurial training programmes should aim at enabling a learner to start an own small business;
- The technical and/or entrepreneurial training programmes should aim at contributing to the promotion of income-generating activities.
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In order to identify the target centres, in the first stage, the researcher visited each adult training centre within the district and examined its skills training activities. This process helped to determine the NFE centres focusing on technical training programmes and income-generating activities.
The reason for using a big sample size of 200 graduates for the quantitative study was to obtain a relevant comparability (Creswell, 2013:86). Comparability in the context of the current study refers to the inter-relationship of two variables or factors in a causal analysis, the cause X, and the outcome Y. In the context of purposive sampling, the following criteria were used to select 200 graduates within the NFE centres under investigation:
- Being a graduate (past learner) of the technical and/or entrepreneurial programmes from 2016 to 2017;
- Having completed the technical and/or entrepreneurial programme;
- Being unemployed, wage or self-employed;
- Spatial distribution in rural, peri-urban and urban settings.
Therefore, from the 200 graduates who filled in the survey questionnaire, the researcher selected five self-employed graduates for one-on-one interviews. The researcher considered self-employed graduates because they were very keen to acquire practical skills for immediate utilisation after graduation. Other graduates enrolled for the training courses to gain academic knowledge and certificate in order to secure their admission at technical colleges. The researcher followed the view of Zohribi (2013, p.256) who pointed out that, “In order to obtain more valid and reliable information, the interviewer should select the respondents more carefully”. Therefore, the selection criteria of the interviewees were according to the principles of purposive sampling and were as follows:
- Be selected according to gender and areas (urban and rural) of the NFE centre.
- He/she must have a minimum of one year after completion of NFE programme and be involved in self-employment;
- Currently being self-employed in micro-enterprise related to the training course;
- Being the sole owner of the micro-enterprise or jointly owning with others;
- The small businesses should be in existence for more than six months;
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- Be selected according to the type of skills training (technical and/or entrepreneurial) obtained on the one hand and the type of micro-enterprise activity on the other;