According to Kombo and Tromp, 2006:77) sampling is regarded as “the procedure a researcher uses to gather people, places or things to study”. Sampling involves the process of indicating how the target population was selected for analysis andobservation. The present research followed a well defined process in choosing participants and schools for study. From this choice of participants a sample is then used for the study. A sample is basically those units/elements that are incorporated into the study (Blansh, Durrheim and Painter, 2006).
Sampling as a principle in of qualitative data gathering, is a flexible exercise done in accordance with the principles of data saturation which points to the recurrence of previously collected data and information (Flyvberg, 2007; Kelly, 2006; Holliday, 2010; Gobo, 2007 in Mamvura 2014).Webster (1985) says that a sample is a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information about the whole. The main idea behind sampling is the selection of units from a population with the intention of generalising results from the analysis of the sample back to the population from which they were chosen. A population is a totality or aggregate from which samples are drawn for analysis. Morgan, (1998) defines population as all the cases and a sample as a selection from the population.
Judgements and inferences about the whole population can be made on the basis of analysing the sample.
The sample for this study was comprised of a number of individuals and schools selected from a population holding the characteristics of the entire group (Maree, 2006 in Mamvura, 2014).In selecting the sample for this study, the researcher considered issues to do with accessibility, diversity and representativeness. The chosen sample was found to be accessible to the researcher. In the present study, the researcher chose primary schools which were established in the 1970s which probably provided the researcher with naming trends of the pre- independence period and there secondary schools which were established in the 1980s. The three secondary schools furnished the researcher with naming patterns of the post- independence period in Zimbabwe. Parents of pupils who reside near the chosen schools will
116 also constitute the sample for the study. The choice of schools which were built during two different historical periods will bring diversity to the study with regard to personal naming as it relates to gender. The researcher also ensured that the sample is representative of the total population of schools.
In sampling the population, the researcher considered both qualitative and quantitative methods procedures. It then means that sampling methods were selected from both the probability (quantitative) and non- probability (qualitative) designs. Kombo& Tromp (2006) says in literature the stage of sampling is often known as sampling design. Sampling designs are divided into two categories, namely; probability designs and non- probability designs. Of the two designs the probability sampling design is guided by the principle of random selection where each unit in the population has an equal chance of being selected. There are four strategies of probability sampling namely simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling and cluster sampling. These methods of sampling are not going to be used in this study hence they are not going to be discussed further in this study. Qualitative research design which informs the present study uses non- probability sampling designs. By using the non- probability sampling design, the researcher will be mainly interested on the repetitiveness of the concepts in varying degrees. The researcher opted to select samples deliberately because he new the nature of participates who will provide him with the information which he wanted.
Non- probability sampling uses four sampling procedures, namely; purposive sampling, quota sampling, the emblematic case and the snowball sampling (Gobo, 2007 in Mamvura, 2014).Of the four non- probability sampling procedures, this study used non-probability sampling strategy because the researcher will be searching for people with Zezuru gendered personal names. As the name purposive sampling implies, this sampling method is used in special situations where the sampling is done with a specific purpose in mind in order to satisfy specific needs in a study (Marie &Pietersen; 2007) Purposive sampling was used in this study since the researcher was looking for Zezuru people with gendered names. Thus, the sampling is done with a specific purpose in mind that of selecting Shona people with gendered personal names.
The main idea behind purposive sampling is that of selecting a sample thought to be typical and representative of the population. According to Gobo, (2007) typical samples are usually information –rich cases whose analysis can reveal all possible situations of the total population.
The major guiding principle was to get the richest possible source of information which was generalised to represent the entire population. Sampling for the present study was done in such a manner that the information that was drawn from the sample provided answers to the research
117 questions and in turn achieved the research objectives. In support to this idea, Patton (2002:169) says, “logic and power of purposive sampling lies in selecting information- rich sources for study in depth. Information-rich sources are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research, thus the term purposive sampling”.
When carrying out purposive sampling of schools which were used for this study, the researcher was guided by some of the strategies proposed by Patton (2002) for selecting information-rich samples which are as follows: extreme/ deviant case sampling, intensity sampling, maximum variation sampling, homogenous samples, typical case samples, stratified purposive sampling, critical case sampling, chain sampling, criterion sampling, theory-based or operational construct sampling, confirming or disconfirming cases, opportunistic sampling, purposive random sampling, sampling politically important cases, and convenience sampling.
In all the fifteen strategies given by Patton (2002) the major silver lining common amongst them is the ultimate goal of selecting information-rich cases that purposively fit the present study. Patton is of the opinion that all sampling techniques in qualitative research may fit under the broader term of “purposive sampling” because “qualitative inquiry typically focuses in depth on relatively small samples, even single cases, selected purposively” (Patton, 1990 in Mamvura 2014).
In the field of onomastics purposive sampling has been used of late. Pfukwa (2007) in his study on war names used purposive sampling to choose participants for his study. Mamvura (2014) in his study on colonial names of schools used the same sampling technique to choose the schools with colonial names. Laskowki (2010) while doing a study on how identity is symbolically communicated through women’s post-marital name retention, collected data through interviewing 23 women who had retained their maiden names after marriage. The participants for the study were identified through purposive sampling.Gorter (2007 in Mamvura 2014) used a sample comprising 4 different neighbourhoods with a total of 12 different streets which is not a random sample but a purposive sample where those neighbourhoods were selected based on their characteristics in order to reflect a certain degree of variation and diversity.
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