Area of Study

The study was conducted in KwaNobuhle Township, Uitenhage, involving five principals from five schools as well as two educators from each school. The interviews were done individually and in groups, and questionnaires were completed individually.

KwaNobuhle Township is a component of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality in the western region of the Eastern Cape. The schools therein fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education, Uitenhage District. The area has more schools and a greater number of learners and teachers than either the northern or western areas of Uitenhage.

3.4 Participants

As mentioned above, participants in this study are educators and principals at five senior secondary schools of KwaNobuhle Township. The educators that were interviewed each have an average of 15 years teaching experience. The principals interviewed each have an average of five years as principals. During the interviews,

they displayed much experience and familiarity about circumstances surrounding education in their schools and in education generally. Over and above experience, the participants exuded enormous commitment, profound passion and adoration for education, especially, of African children and their future. The researcher could not only perceive and discern this but could also feel their emotions about topics raised in the interview.

During the interviews, other questions developed spontaneously in the course of action between the interviewer and interviewees. The love of education amongst the participants was conspicuously manifested as phenomenal, exciting and inspiring.

3.5 Sampling

A sample is a set of subjects selected from a population. The goal of sampling is to select a sample where the sampling error is minimized. That way, the sample best represents the population of interest, and generalisability, a hallmark of science, and particularly, inferential statistics are maximised as well (Miller & Salkind 2002:51). Non–probability sampling was used in this study. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between an independent variable (ill-discipline) and a dependent variable (performance of students) and the impact of the former on the latter. In this regard, Seale (2012: 144) suggests that non-probability samples are often used to access groups whose activities are normally ‘hidden’ from public or official view, so that a sampling frame may not exist. In some circumstances, a representative sample may not be desirable, because the study is aiming at something different. Typically, this is where not much is known about the subject and the investigation, therefore, has an exploratory feel to it, or is devoted to the development of novel theories or other types of insight. Because exploration and theory development are often also characteristics of qualitative research, it is sometimes assumed that non-probability sampling is only used in qualitative studies. As was seen at the outset of the chapter, though, there is no logical reason why a particular type of data (quantitative or qualitative) has to be inextricably linked to a particular method of sampling (Seale 2012:144).

3.5.1 Purposive sampling

The researcher decided to use the purposive sampling technique. The researcher used purposive sampling techniques, relying on his expert judgment of the five schools in the study. As Singleton, Royce, Straits, Bruce, Straits & Miller (1993:160) assert, in purposive sampling, the investigator relies on his or her expert judgment to select units that are ‘representative’ or ‘typical’ of the population.

Purposive samplings are comprised of people based on a particular attribute, and are designed to arbitrarily include equal representation of groups that may not be equally represented in society. For example, a purposeful sample could be designed to represent one-third Latinos, one-third African-Americans, and one-third Asian- Americans despite the fact that these groups are not represented in equal numbers in United States’ demographics (Vanderstoep & Johnston 2009:187).

Out of the nine schools in KwaNobuhle, five senior secondary schools were used in this study: Molly Blackburn, Thanduxolo, Phaphani, Sisonke, Nkululeko and V.M. Kwinana. Although it is believed that there is no exact or fixed number to draw a sample from, these five schools represent approximately 60 per cent of the high schools in Kwa- Nobuhle.

3.5.2 Schools in KwaNobuhle sampled in the research

SCHOOL EMIS NUMBER

Mlungisi Perfector Senior Secondary 200100521 Molly Blackburn Senior Secondary 200100525 Nkululeko Senior Secondary 200100572 Phaphani Senior Secondary 200100627 Sisonke Senior Secondary 200100702 Solomon Mahlangu Senior Secondary 200100713 V.M. Kwinana Senior Secondary 200100810 Thanduxolo Senior Secondary 200100772 Tinarha Senior Secondary 200100789

3.5.3 Sample population

According to Msweli (2011:63), data can be drawn from people, objects, textual materials and audiovisual and electronic records. All these aforementioned entities are known as units of analysis. These particular entities from which the data is selected comprise a sample. In designing the research project, one needs to ensure that the entities one selects maximise the chances of representing the true population. Msweli (2011:63) further describes a population as a group of individuals or entities about whom the researcher wishes to generate the results of his or her study. She contends that it is only when the results from the sample can be generalised to the larger population that the results will have meaning beyond the researcher’s limited sample.

The quality of the research will be judged by the extent to which the sample accurately reflects the characteristics of the true population.

3.5.4 Research sample

How big should the sample be? To answer this question, Msweli (2011:64) asserts that the research design and the corresponding analytical procedure dictate the minimum sample size the researcher should have. This study visited teachers and principals from five high schools at KwaNobuhle out of a total of nine high schools.

In this study, the research sample comprises of 15 participants, five principals from the mentioned five high schools (one principal from each high school) and ten educators (two educators from each high school). The researcher provided questionnaires individually and collectively to the aforementioned participants. Equilibrium of gender was deliberately considered and the final sample was seven women and eight men. Nevertheless, at the end, there was unanimous uniformity of responses about what seems to cause indiscipline and the consequences of indiscipline in schools.