According to Boyatzis (1998) sampling decisions play an important role in determining the consistency and the reliability of the findings. Boyatzis (1998) contends that "[T]he adequacy and appropriateness of the sample as regards the larger population, whether of individuals, organizations, cultures, or events, is in the hands, heart, and mind of the researcher before collecting information" (p.55). It is therefore essential that careful consideration is taken to ensure that the sample is as representative of the population under study as possible. In order to ensure that this objective was achieved, four newspapers, namely the Business Day, Sunday Times, Mail and Guardian, as well as all those newspapers that fall under the company title Independent Newspapers were selected. It should be noted that these newspapers were selected through the use of a purposive sampling method (Van Vuuren & Maree, 1999). By this it is meant that the sample was not selected randomly, but rather the newspapers were specifically selected with the aim of ensuring that the readership of the newspapers was, as much as possible, reflective of the South African population.
For the purpose of this study, this selection is appropriate as the selected newspaper groups cover a wide span of sectors, with specific sections designated to business and workplace affairs. Table 1, below, reflects the readership figures of the Business Day, Sunday Times, Mail and Guardian, and all those newspapers that fall under the title of the Independent Newspapers. The figures were obtained from readership surveys conducted by the relevant newspaper groups (Mail and Guardian, 2002; Sunday Times, 2004; Business Day, 2004; Independent Newspapers, 2004).
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GENDER Men Women AGE
16-24 25-34 35-49 50+
RACE Blacks Coloureds Indians Whites
Bus Day
%
75.4 24.6 8.7 30.1 44.1 17.1 35
10.3 3.5 51.2
Sunday Times
%
60 40 18 31 30 22 52 8 9 31
Mail &
Guardian
%
54.24 47.26 12.23 33.93 39.45 17.55 43.2 7.1 3.35 45.36
Independent Newspaper Group The
Mercury
%
62 38 13 26 33 28 24 4 30 42
Daily News
%
56 44 21 26 25 28 22 6 48 24
Ind on Sat
%
57 43 18 27 28 27 19 6 40 35
Sunday Tribune
%
50 50 18 23 31 28 24 5 44 27
Post
%
47 53 18 25 31 26 14 1 80 5
Table 1: Readership of newspaper groups with regard to gender, age and race
When examining Table 1, it therefore becomes apparent that with regard to gender, in most cases there tends to be an equal percentage of males and females reading the newspapers.. The age group that tends to hold the highest readership across all the newspaper groups is between 35-49, except for the Daily News, which attracts the 50- year-and-above age group. Finally, in relation to race, it was found that in the case of the Business Day, Sunday Times, and Mail and Guardian, that both the black and white race groups constituted the largest portion of the overall readership. The coloured race group on the other hand, constituted the smallest percentage of readers for all the newspaper groups. With regard to all those newspapers that fall under the Independent Newspaper Group title, the Indian race group comprised the highest percentage of readers. In light of these findings, one could argue that the newspaper groups selected for this research cover
a broad range of race groups, and thus can be argued to be relatively representative of the South African population.
However, it should be noted that even though the readership of the above four newspapers is indicated to be reflective of the general South African population, the aim of this research is not to examine the way in which organisational stress is represented with specific regard to each newspaper. Therefore, the degree to which the newspapers are representative of the South African population is not essential. Rather, on a more general and encompassing level, the objective of this research is to explore the manner in which organisational stress is represented in the print media, and how this representation has changed over time.
According to Miles and Huberman, (1994) sampling in qualitative research involves two steps. The first involves the establishment of boundaries with the aim of defining "aspects of your case(s) that you can study within the limits of your time and means, that connect directly with your research questions, and that probably will include examples of what you want to study" (Miles & Huberman, 1994:27). Thus, in order to focus the sample, only articles found between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 2004 were collected. This specific timeframe was chosen, bearing in mind the third objective of this research project, that is to examine the way in which the construction of stress has changed with changes in South Africa's socio-political context. Robyn-Leigh, not sure what you were trying to get across in this last sentence - please clarify
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Secondly, sampling in qualitative research involves the creation of a frame to assist the researcher in exploring, confirming or qualifying the basic constructs or processes that underpin one's study (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In such a way, to ensure the most appropriate newspaper articles were accessed, as well as to ensure consistency in the search criteria, the following search terms were utilised:
• "occupational stress"
• "organisational stress"
• "stress + work"
• "stress + workplace"
By utilising these search terms a sample of 267 newspaper articles was gathered.
However, when commencing the analysis stage of the project, it became apparent that only 139 articles were relevant for the objective of this research.