RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.6 Research strategies
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picked until 92 participants were completely selected thereby reducing biases as every prospective participants have equal chance of being picked.
This approach gives equal chance to every participant in the target population to be selected, which makes selection largely objective and reduces biases, increase reliability and produces a balanced subset that represents the entire target population (Wilson, 2010; Bryman & Bell, 2015).
It important to mention some of the difficulty associated with simple random, which are (a) time factor- it takes time to get a complete list of a target population- researcher travelled to the different locations in Mpumalanga before list of unemployed youths were made available.
(b) It is expensive – the associated cost is high. (c) Biases –although simple random sampling is supposed to be largely unbiased to give adequate inference of the entire population however, where selected sample is too small the outcome will not represent the entire population. This study used Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample population table to calculate sample size and selected the exact number from the population.
Table 5.3 Sample size population
After determining the study locations as stated above, and calculating the sample size of 355, simple random sampling was used to select the sample size per location, for Kriel of 260 populations, 1 in every 2 was used to select 155 respondents, and this applied to other locations too to minimise bias. Questionnaires were distributed to the selected respondents at designated location and at a predetermined date.
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plan progressively laid out in steps which gives direction to the execution of a systematic investigation of a problem and the provision of answers to such problems in an acceptable way. Sekaran and Bougie, (2013) posited that methodology is effected through different designs. Research design is the strategy used to investigate the root of a particular problem by employing techniques, instruments and tools to find answers to the identified problem (Maylor & Blackmon, 2005). In furtherance to the various designs mentioned under research choices, further explanation will be given on research strategies relevant to this study which include exploratory research, descriptive, survey and archival.
5.6.1 Exploratory research
Exploratory research is defined as the preliminary investigation into a hypothetical or notional idea. It is the initial groundwork upon which a more detailed research is built. It is a study embarked on to increase the body of knowledge on a phenomenon (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). Exploratory research helps the researcher to ‘explore’ or undertake to investigate a phenomenon especially where little is known of the case being investigated. It usually comes in two main forms; a new topic or a new angle, a new topic can be developed to create essence of investigating what is considered ‘cloudy’ or a new angle can be considered to gain further understanding of an initial topic. This research strategy requires introductory acquaintance with the main subject to access better understanding on the cause and effect of the problem before developing critical research questions and development of hypotheses (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). Therefore employing qualitative data collection approach is most suitable for exploratory research such as interviews or observations, which opens up matter of discourse that can be further investigated. It is on this premise that Sekaran & Bougie, (2013) suggested that exploratory research is the most suitable research strategy when knowledge about a phenomenon is rare and adequate understanding is essential. There are three main steps required in conducting an exploratory research, which includes literature review, interviewing relevant selected respondents and organising a focus group where issues identified can be discussed in detail (Saunders et al., 2009). Generally the researcher views the researched phenomenon holistically but this is pruned as further investigation is conducted to arrive at a desired result, which authenticates its contribution to body of knowledge. Some basics of exploratory research were employed by this study by reviewing literature relevant to the influence of psychological factors, political environment and information awareness on entrepreneurial behaviour among youths in Mpumalanga province.
124 5.6.2 Descriptive research
Descriptive research is a research strategy used to portray an event, phenomenon or situation in an accurate manner. It enables precise description of the characteristics of variables in the manifestation of interest (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). It can also be simply defined as vivid explanation of the features of the social actors in a study (study.com, 2014). Descriptive research provides essential information on the characters of a social group and explains in detail the phenomenon being investigated. Saunders et al., (2009) posited that it is a research design that builds on the findings of exploratory research to provide a robust basis of discussions. There are three effective ways descriptive research can be conducted, which includes observations, case study and surveys. This study built on the exploratory research conducted by Department of Trade and Industry South Africa, through Youths enterprise development strategy 2013-2023 (YEDS) to describe the influences of external factors (political environment and information awareness) and psychological factor influence on entrepreneurial behaviour among youths in South Africa. Holistic reviews of the factors identified in the policy documents were pruned to describe the influences of the investigated independent variables on entrepreneurial behaviour among Mpumalanga youths.
5.6.3 Survey research
This is a method of sampling individual units from a population by a quantitative approach to collect data using probability sampling procedures to select a suitable sample size from the population of the study to allow a numerical expression and description of inclinations or attitudes of participants (Creswell, 2017). Survey method uses large samples for the purpose of getting reliable largely unbiased results. Questionnaires are mostly used to collect data after proper determination of the appropriate sample size from the universal population. The feedbacks from the questionnaires are usually converted to codes (numeric data) which enable its subjection to statistical analysis using both descriptive and inferential statistics to provide proper interpretation of outcomes to draw conclusion and proffer recommendations.
Survey method was used to collect data by this study after proper calculation of sample size from the population using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size population table, and respondents selected using simple random sampling. Quantitative research approach was adopted as both open ended and closed ended questionnaire was administered which gives both structured pre-determined responses and deep open responses. This gives the researcher insights into the feelings of respondents (unemployed youths in Mpumalanga) as the
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influence of the factors on entrepreneurial behaviour among youths in the province was largely identified and discussed. It is important to mention survey method sub-divisions which are crosssectional and longitudinal studies as explained by Edmonds & Kennedy, (2012). While crosssectional studies involves collection of data from a location at a particular time, from a selected respondents to answer research questions as explained by Wilson, (2010) longitudinal involves collection of data more than once from same location at different times. A researcher may adopt cross-sectional approach due to various reasons ranging from cost factor, timeframe, or his intention to manipulate independent variables in the study which means there is no need to collect data in more than once. However, it is pertinent to mention here that crosssectional studies employ structured data collection instruments to produce numerical and non-numerical data concurrently using quantitative data collection technique (Hanson, Creswell, Clark, Petska, & Creswell, 2009, 2017).
Longitudinal studies- involves collection of data from location multiple times, it is considered more tedious and expensive as multiple data are collected from different groups to establish the level of variations between two or more variables in the study (Saunders, et al., 2009;
Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). crosssectional studies was employed by this research as respondents were drawn from the three major districts of Mpumalanga to give a proper coverage of the province, samples were drawn from Nkangala, Gert Sibande and Ehlanzeni and questionnaires were administered at different point in time and at different occasions.
5.6.4 Archival research
Archival research involves getting information from primary sources held in repository facilities; these might include hard or soft copy documents held in libraries museum or other archives which gives a researcher a rich source of relevant information that may assist in further investigation of phenomenon (Pearce-Moses, 2005). It facilitates access to records or documents of both private and public institutions which serves as sources of data collection in conducting researches (Saunders et al., 2009). Although these documents are primary but for a researcher utilising it for a further research it is considered as a secondary source of information used to answer research questions and to investigate how much changes has occurred to the investigated phenomenon over a period of time. In order to successfully adopt this strategy, it is pertinent to consider the availability and accessibility of such data. Maylor and Blackmon (2005) suggested four important things to be considered before adopting this strategy which are (a) Accessibility- is it free or requires some form of payments? (b) Availability-is the available data format processed or raw? (c) Relevance-is the data focused
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on the subject matter of the research? (d) Accuracy- how accurate is the sourced data? If these four critical questions are adequately answered then the strategy will be suitable for the study. Although, like other strategies mentioned earlier archival research has some of it shortcomings especially in relation to business research due to dynamism of business environments as some data may be have changed from present realities, which makes it irrelevant. Some strengths and weaknesses of archival research are listed below.
Table 5.4 Strength and weaknesses of archival research
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
Cost factor- it is cheaper than other sources of data collection.
Rich form of data availability within the confine of a source (e.g. manuscripts collection).
Comparison of different ideologies on the same subjects gives better evaluation, analysis and interpretation.
The cheapness is related as it might become expensive depending on the type of data sourced and payments required.
Ability to sieve irrelevant data from large volume of data might be time consuming.
Lack of control on reliability of the data to eliminate bias.
Source: Adopted from Maylor and Blackmon (2005).