CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.3. Sampling
46 3.2.5. Explorative research
According to Pellerin (2012), the Afrocentric paradigm provides a methodological framework for explorative research into African phenomena, where such phenomena are investigated “for the purpose of developing a culturally accurate understanding of Africana reality” (p. 153). This study can be defined as explorative because there is insufficient documented research on the subject under investigation (lived experience of Ubuntu) and it aims to gain a unique understanding regarding this phenomenon (Creswell, 2003; Durrheim, 2006). It is a preliminary investigation into the lived experience of Ubuntu so that this facet of African reality may be better and more holistically understood. According to Durrheim (2006), explorative research warrants qualitative methodology as it offers a more fluid and less restricting approach than quantitative methodologies.
It is subsequently evident that an Afrocentric, qualitative, interpretive phenomenological methodological approach, tailored to the aims of the study, was appropriate given the explorative nature of the research (Starks & Brown Trinidad, 2007; Terre Blanche & Durrheim, 2006). In essence, the Afrocentric phenomenon of Ubuntu was studied from an Afrocentric standpoint through the employment of an exploratory research design which necessarily utilised qualitative methodology.
47 geographic area and population group, participants had to be over eighteen years of age for consensual reasons, while both genders were targeted to gain a more holistic perspective.
3.3.2. Sampling method and size
Purposive, homogenous sampling was used to gain a sample for this study. Such sampling is appropriate within the interpretive phenomenological approach where data needs to be collected with participants who have had personal experience of the phenomenon under study (Smith &
Osborn, 2008; Starks & Brown Trinidad, 2007). This form of nonprobability sampling is systematic rather than random and therefore allows the researcher to choose suitable participants (De Jongh, 1990). In this particular study, participants needed to be proficient regarding the experience being explored (Ubuntu), as well as available and willing to participate (Durrheim & Painter, 2006; Reid et al., 2005). Sampling was therefore used to recruit participants who, 1) are Zulu and living in one of the two geographic areas under study, 2) understood and have experience of Ubuntu, 3) were available and willing to talk about their perceptions, ideas and experiences of Ubuntu as they personally understood them.
Potential participants were engaged through the use of an ethically approved recruitment and informational letter as shown in appendix 1. Recruitment and information letters (appendix 1) were given to available potential participants in each of the target populations. Contact with other known potential participants was requested from such persons thus recruiting further participants through snowballing. The aim was to recruit a sample of about six to twelve participants overall, evenly distributed over both geographic areas. According to Starks and Brown Trinidad (2007), a typical sample size for phenomenological inquiry ranges from one to ten participants. An actual sample size of eight participants was achieved. This smaller sample size encouraged depth of analysis, with the overall goal to produce comprehensive, situated and detailed information (Creswell, 2003;
Marshall & Rossman, 1999; Smith & Osborn, 2008). Generating this type of in-depth information would not have been possible or feasible with a large, heterogeneous sample.
3.3.3. Appropriateness of sample size and method
A small sample size is theoretically appropriate according to the idiographic focus inherent to an interpretive phenomenological approach (Reid et al., 2005; Smith & Osborn, 2008). From this perspective, it was important to understand that “an individual person can generate hundreds of thousands of concepts [and therefore] large samples are not necessarily needed to generate rich data sets” (Starks & Brown Trinidad, 2007, p. 1374). The high level of commitment to each individual participant‟s account, the comprehensive analysis of each these accounts, and the limited time available in which to produce the research, necessitated a small sample size (Smith & Osborn,
48 2008). In addition, Afrocentric methodological principles guide the researcher to do justice to the African phenomenon under study and to do so by giving full agency to participants in the study (Asante, 2007; Pellerin, 2012). This was perceived to be more possible with a small sample size where each participant could be given adequate time, attention and autonomy in expression.
Moreover, according to Kelly (2006), a small sample size of six to eight participants is sufficient for an explorative study.
As this was an explorative study that made use of a nonrandomised sampling procedure and engaged a relatively small number of participants, it is evident that the results from this study are not generalizable. However, the results gathered and the interpretive phenomenological analysis of these results, aimed to produce in-depth insights into the lived experience of Ubuntu, idiosyncratic to the participants themselves (Durrheim, 2006; Smith & Osborn, 2003). In this way, the information gained from this study should provide the reader with a preliminary understanding of how Ubuntu may be experienced and perceived by Zulu persons in two differing geographic areas.
These preliminary insights should be valuable, transferable and able to provide an adequate foundation for future, more specifically based research, conducted with large randomised samples (Henry, 1990; Kelly, 2006). In conclusion, the sampling method described and utilised in this study is theoretically appropriate for an explorative, Afrocentric, qualitative interpretive phenomenological enquiry.
3.3.4. Participants
This study recruited eight Black, isiZulu-speaking participants – four suburban participants from suburban areas surrounding the city of Durban, and four participants from the informal settlement, Hlalakahle, near Pietermaritzburg. Access to Hlalakahle was gained through a letter, (refer to appendix 3), which requested permission from the appropriate gatekeeper, the Hlalahakle counsellor.
All participants were between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, and males and females were equally represented in both geographical subgroups. Suburban participants had spent most of their lives residing in suburban areas and were living in formal settlements and homes at the time of data collection. Participants residing in Halakahle were either from this location or from similar informal settlements and had relocated to Hlalakahle. These two subsets of participants represented two contrasting geographical, social and economic contexts within the same cultural group and province.
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