DEDICATION
3.3 Selection of participants
59 When interviewing and interacting with participants, especially the learners, I became acutely aware that the lives of these young participants were being exposed, in that some were from oppressed or poor backgrounds, while my life remained protected and not implicated in the text. This kind of disclosure and exposure is very often one-sided, and Fine (1994) defines it as a form of imperialism. As a result of this one-sidedness, I endeavoured each time to disclose my background, my standpoint as a researcher and the purpose of the research, fully cognizant that who I am affected the participants’
responses.
There are many viewpoints in the literature concerning the disclosure and anonymity of research participants’ identities. Yin (1994), on the one hand, is of the view that using individuals’ real names allows for cross-checking by the reader, unless the issues are controversial in which case anonymity becomes necessary. On the other hand Ely, Anzul, Friedman, Garner and Steinmetz (1991) argue that even when research participants agree to have their names used, researchers should guard against this because participants in their naïve willingness need to be protected. Williams (1996) is of the opinion that omitting to refer to actual research participants reduces the opportunity for public acknowledgement or praise. Other researchers, such as Carter and McCarthy (1997), prefer to use pseudonyms when interpreting participants’
comments, because when doing so the researcher is changing or appropriating something of that individual, but resort to using their real names for oral or written quotes, as is the case where participants speaks for themselves. In this study all of the learners as well as the schools they attended have been allocated pseudonyms to ensure anonymity.
60 In order to ensure that the learners selected for the study fulfilled the required criteria, that is, that they were from differing and diverse backgrounds, the first cohort of participants selected was the provincial coaches from the different codes of sport played most often at schools in KZN. According to research by Morar (2000), the most popular codes of sports played at school level are soccer, cricket, rugby, hockey, athletics, swimming, volleyball and netball. These eight codes together with gymnastics were selected for study; their diversity allowed for exploration of the dynamics of these various codes, which comprise team or individual, male or female, traditional or non- traditional, ball or non-ball and contact or non-contact sports.
The map in Figure 3: p 60 provides the context from which the participants in this study were selected, and insight into the overall racial population of KZN.
Figure 3: Demographic representation of the racial population of the 10 district councils of KZN (Brooks, 2004, p. 16)
61 Most of the participants were from the Ethekwini Council District, except for the swimming coach (DC22, Umgungundlovu Council District); three of the learners:
Theola, a netball player (DC21, Ugu Council District), Samiya, a volleyball player (DC28, uThungulu Council District) and Tojan, an athlete (DC26, Ulundi Council District); and two of the significant others, Theola’s school coach (DC21, Ugu Council District) and Trojan’s mother (DC26, Ulundi Council District), (see Appendix 17).
The provincial coaches set the scene for their specific code of sport as it is organised in the province, providing first-hand information about all aspects of it. The provincial coaches identified three learners in their provincial team who excelled in their code of sport, providing the researcher with a total of 27 learners, three from each of the nine codes of sport. Table 2: p 61 provides a profile of the provincial coaches including the site where the interview took place.
SPORT TYPE GENDER RACE35 SITE OF INTERVIEW
Cricket Team Male Indian School
Swimming Individual Male White School
Rugby Team Male White School
Volleyball Team Male Black University
Soccer Team Male Indian School
Netball Team Female Black School
Athletics Individual Male Indian Coffee shop Gymnastics Individual Female White Gymnasium
Hockey Team Female White Coffee shop
Table 2: Profile of provincial coaches
35 Racial categories are used in this study as it is essential for the understanding of the South African society.
According to Desai (2010, p. 12),race designations have no scientific validity. The categories white, coloured, Indian and African are used with an understanding that these are apartheid designations which, while not having any legislative basis that would permit apartheid-style discrimination in the post - 1994 era, have been carried over into post-apartheid South Africa in many social and policy contexts. Similarly, while there are no more racially defined
“group areas”, apartheid geographies continue to define much of South Africa’s urban landscape.
62 The second and main cohort of participants, the learners, was selected using purposive sampling.36 From the 27 learners identified by the provincial coaches, the final 15 were selected based on their differing and diverse backgrounds. In the education system, learners who excel in sport at schools progress from representing their school to representing their district, then their province and ultimately their country. Common to all learners in this study is that they are all products of the past decade and a half of the new schooling system, and would have experienced C2005 implemented by the Government. Learners selected for this study were in the FET phase of the school system (Grade 10-12). Table 3: p 63, show details of the 15 learners selected to take part in this study.
36 In purposive sampling, researchers handpick the cases to be included in the sample on the basis of their judgment of their typicality or possession of the particular characteristic being sought. In this way, they build up a sample that is satisfactory to their specific needs. (Cohen, et al., 2007, p. 114)
63 Table 3: Profile of learners selected in the study
Finally, the learners provided the third cohort of participants - the significant others.
Based on interviews with the learners, each had to identify the most significant person (a coach, parents, mentor or team mate) who was most influential and played an important role in them achieving excellence. The differing relationships between the three cohorts of participants ensured three independent and different perspectives about the learners and about sporting excellence in a transforming society.
37 The South African school and education system is very much still bound to its apartheid legacy. In the apartheid years, there was a separate government education department for whites, The House of Assembly (HoA), Indians, The House of Delegates (HoD), Coloureds, The House of Representatives (HoR) and Blacks, The Department of Education and Training (DET) schools. The four departments had different funding available, different resources at their disposal and issued different exams. To this day the ex-HoA schools or more commonly known as the ex-Model C schools still typically have the best facilities, best teachers and provided the best educational opportunities for children. The ex-HoR and ex-HoD schools, although not quite as side lined as the ex-DET schools, still have really poor infrastructure and facilities. Former DET schools are by far the worst off even today. Although the government spends almost 20% of its budget on education these days, there is a long way to go before the inequalities of the past will be fully redressed with regards to education. All schools receive government funding; however the ex-Model C schools are permitted to top up the funding with fees payable by the parents of the schools. Thus different ex-Model C schools can have different budgets, different teacher to learner ratio, and varying quality of facilities, all based on what the parents can afford. Over and above the government funded schools are the private or independent schools which receive no funding from the government and are funded entirely by fees paid by the parents.
NO SPORT TYPE OF
SCHOOL37
GENDER RACE SOCIO-EC STATUS
SITE
1 Netball 1 Private Female White Middle School
2 Netball 2 Ex-Model C Female Black Lower School
3 Netball 3 Rural Female Black Lower School
4 Volleyball Ex-Model C Female Indian Middle Home
5 Hockey Ex-Model C Female Indian Middle Home
6 Soccer 1 Private Male White Upper Soccer field
7 Soccer 2 Ex-Model C Male Black Middle Soccer field
8 Soccer 3 Ex-HoD Male Black Middle Soccer field
9 Cricket 1 Private Male White Upper School
10 Cricket 2 Private Male White Upper School
11 Rugby Ex-Model C Male Black Middle Coffee shop
12 Gymnastics Ex-Model C Female Black Lower Home 13 Athletics 1 Private Female Coloured Middle Home 14 Athletics 2 Ex-Model C Male Black Middle School
15 Swimming Ex-Model C Male Indian Middle Home
64 This also ensured that thick description and triangulation were attained. According to Cohen et al. (2007, p. 141), “triangular techniques in the social sciences attempt to map out, or explain fully, the richness and complexity of human behaviour by studying it from more than one standpoint”. Triangulation is a powerful way of demonstrating concurrent validity in qualitative research.
Emerging themes from the learners’ stories, which are narrated in Chapter Four, are expanded on using data generated from learners in Chapter Five, and data generated from the provincial coaches and significant others in Chapter Six. In this way a three- way tabulation of data brings into focus the validity of triangulation used in this study.
The significant others selected by the learners are shown in Table 4 below. The words in italics and bold, indicates the nine out of the fifteen significant others interviewed for the study.
SPORT GENDER RACE SIGNIFICANT OTHER SITE OF INTERVIEW
Cricket 1 Male White Mentor Coffee shop
Cricket 2 Male White Private coach Swimming Male Indian Mother Rugby Male White School coach Volleyball Female Indian Mother and father
Soccer 1 Female White Mother Coffee shop
Soccer 2 Male Black Club coach School
Soccer 3 Male Black Father Office
Netball 1 Female White Father
Netball 2 Female Black School coach School
Netball 3 Female Black Club coach School
Athletics 1 Female Coloured Mother Home
Athletics 2 Male Black Father
Gymnastics Female Black Grandmother Home
Hockey Female Indian Mother Home
Table 4: Profile of significant others
65