4.3. Research Design and Methodology
4.3.3 Selecting Research Participants
In this study, I used purposive sampling to select the participants who I thought were likely to yield the richest information for the questions under study (Cohen &Manion, 1994; Cohen, Manion&
Morrison, 2000). First, in this study, I wanted to examine learners’ experiences of the HIV and AIDS messages in the classroom. These included their understanding of HIV and AIDS and the meaning they attach to the HIV and AIDS messages which they receive from the HIV and AIDS education programmes. Informed by the qualitative design that I adopted in this study, I requested the teachers to help me to recruit a small sample of learners from Grades 8, 9, and 10. For this purpose, the principal and teachers organized a meeting with all the learners in Grades 8, 9 and 10 in the school.
The meeting took place in the school hall. In the meeting, I described the research design to the learners as well as what they would be expected to do. I made it clear that if they were willing to participate in the study, they would have to do so after school hours or on weekends because I could not disrupt their learning and the teaching processes. I explained all the envisaged activities to them in their home language (Sesotho). I assured them that participation was voluntary – they were free to withdraw at any time or at any stage during the course of the research. I gave them time to ask questions to clarify what we discussed. In response to some of their concerns, I assured them that their withdrawal would not be held against them. I explained that there were no direct financial benefits to them as participants but when necessary they would be reimbursed for any transportation costs incurred. Furthermore, I assured them that when we met on Saturdays and/or Sundays I would provide meals. I hoped that this information would help them to make informed decisions before agreeing or rejecting to participate.
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In each class, I first introduced the purpose of the study (its focus and aims) to the various classes.
After the presentation in each grade, I asked for five volunteers who would participate in the research study. To each of those (15) students who volunteered to participate I gave a copy of the informed consent form (Appendix C) to take home for parents or guardians to grant permission for them to participate. The letters were written in Sesotho (the local language) to ensure that the parents understood the contents. These letters gave a full description of the nature and purpose of the research study. They also assured the learners of confidentiality and anonymity during their participation in the study and the dissemination of the findings in the thesis and subsequent publications. The letters clearly stated that I would treat data with strict confidentiality and use it for research purposes only.
Moreover, I gave them the assurance that the school, the principal, the learners and teachers would be given pseudonyms. I did that to encourage participants to give rich data. They were given a week to return the signed letters to their teachers. I relied on parents’ willingness to allow their children to participate in the study because many of the learners were under eighteen (18) years of age and therefore regarded as minors (in Lesotho, 18 years is regarded as the age at which a person does not need parental consent in decision-making). The school principal collected the signed consent letters and called me to let me know that a handful of signed consent letters were available. In addition, the learners received informed assent forms (Appendix D) to sign provided their parents gave them permission to participate in the study. Of the 15 learners who had initially volunteered, 12 returned both the signed informed consent forms from parents and their own assent forms. Thus, only the 12 who returned the signed forms participated in the study. Table 4.1 shows the profile of the 12 learners, seven girls and five boys, who participated in the study:
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Table 4.1: Profile of learners who participated in the study
NO PARTICIPANT SEX AGE GRADE
1 Thandiwe F 16 10
2 Lerato F 16 10
3 Palesa F 15 8
4 Nthabiseng F 15 8
5 Teboho M 16 9
6 Mpho F 16 9
7 Ts’eliso M 16 9
8 Thabo M 15 8
9 Lebohang F 17 10
10 Thato F 15 8
11 Thabang M 16 9
12 Thabiso M 17 10
I also asked research participants not to discuss the details of our meetings/activities or any part of the study with anyone who was not a participant in order to ensure confidentiality and anonymity. I informed the participants that although they had agreed to participate, they had the right to withdraw at any point during the data collection process. A clear description of what the participants would actually be doing was given to them. I had also attended some of their special HIV and AIDS days and talked to other learners who were not research participants so that the participants could not be easily identified by the school community. To safeguard the interests of the research participants, I was mindful of the fact that getting people to participate in research is both intrusive and obtrusive, involving personal interactions and requiring cooperation of the researcher and participants (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). Thus, I did the fieldwork during the times which were agreed on and suitable for the participants to still pursue their daily duties. I tried to respect their private and public spaces.
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The study also sought to understand how teachers were trained to integrate and to teach about HIV and AIDS in their classrooms, as well as how they understood and performed their everyday teaching the content of the subject. All the 12 teachers from the school signed their letters of consent (Appendix E), agreeing to participate in the study. I presented the aims of the research to the teachers in a staff meeting. I outlined the nature of the study, the data generation process and how the data would be used. Table 4.2 shows the profiles of the 12 teachers, eight women and four men.
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NO TEACHER SEX AGE QUALIFICATIONS GRADE TAUGHT
1 Phetheho F 45 M.ED 10
2 Letsatsi F 35 B. ED 10
3 Ts’epe F 32 B. ED 10
4 Keletso F 36 B. ED 10
5 Khare M 30 B. ED 9
6 Mampho F 31 Dip, Secondary Education 9
7 Seboko M 37 B. ED 9
8 Lebopo M 35 Dip. Secondary Education 9
9 Moru M 30 Dip. Secondary Education 8
10 Mants’ebo F 33 Dip. Secondary Education 8
11 Mabatho F 34 Dip. Secondary Education 8
12 Matoka F 33 Dip. Secondary Education 8
As will be discussed in Chapter Five, all the teachers had received some form of training in either Life Skills Education or Sexuality and HIV and AIDS during their pre-service either at the Lesotho College of Education or at the National University of Lesotho.