Data collection and sampling

4.2.2 Data collection and sampling

Patton (2002:5) Babbie and Mouton (2002:74) described three data collection methods as in-depth, open-ended interviews (see Annexure A at the end of this dissertation for detailed reference), direct observations and the analysis of written documents. Thus, the study used document review and semi-structured interviewing as primary methods of data collection. Below is an outline of the data collection methods used in the study:

4.2.1.1Document review  

The document review method used by the researcher was meant to substantiate the responses of the interviews and provided information that contributed to the realisation of the objectives of the study. The reviewing of documents further guided the collection of qualitative data through interviews. The documents reviewed were credible, audited (Thomas 2004:189) and already reported province-wide, accessible to the public domain with the commitments made by the department to the public.

Some documents reviewed were not accessible to the public domain and used for internal reporting and administration:

 GDOH M&E Policy Framework, 2010

 GDOH Strategic plan (2009-2014)

 Annual Performance Plan and reports 2010/2011; 2011/2012; 2012/2013

 Gauteng Health Turnaround Strategy: “Towards Effective Service Delivery, Strengthening Primary Health Care and a Clean Audit in 2014.”

 ECD Terms of Reference 2012

 ECD M&E tools 2012; 2014

 Auditor general report 2009/2010/; 2010/2011

 District Health Management Information System, National Department of Health, 2011

The government documents reviewed provided a government perspective, guidelines and expectations of an M&E system in terms of a government-wide

monitoring and evaluation system. The documents reviewed from GDOH provided the department’s viewpoint on M&E systems and provided clarity on what is supposed to occur and the current situation with regards to M&E system in GDOH.

The ECD programme specific documents were reviewed to get in-depth understanding of the ECD programme in Gauteng and in GDOH in terms of overall goal of the programme, state of policy environment, M&E system used in the implementation of ECD, the current state of the ECD programme. However some soft copies of the documents reviewed were accessed from the World Wide Web i.e visiting relevant Government websites.

4.2.1.2 Interviews 

The researcher started by formulating the semi-structured interview guide (see Appendix A). The questions (both open- and close-ended) were grouped to suit the objectives of the study. The researcher expanded each objective to come up with key issues and drafted the questions so that the issues are analysed. Themes were then established as organisational M&E; M&E of ECD processes and ECD reporting.

Care was taken to avoid lengthy questions and a very long questionnaire – rather limiting questions to the most important to allow completion of the interview within approximately 30 minutes. Effort was made to ensure the questions are easily understood, however the M&E terminology used had to be explained to some respondents to avoid inaccurate responses.

An interview is a data collection method designed to allow the researcher to probe more deeply. Brynard and Hanekom (2006:35) argue it denotes the meeting of two minds, of the interviewer and the interviewee and access the interviewee’s point of view. This method is suitable to achieve the key objective of the study which is to analyse the M&E systems and the reporting processes currently in place. The interviews enabled the researcher to interrogate further on interesting responses that emerged. The interviewees were flexible enough in qualifying their responses further. The questionnaire contained both closed and open ended questions so that they complement each other. However the disadvantage with these types of questions is that closed-ended questions may overlook some other important

responses with a limited choice. The researcher overcame this by having an ‘other’

option as an additional choice. The closed-ended question on the other side may produce irrelevant or useless details (Neuman, 2010:287).

The respondents selected to be interviewed were requested in writing via an email and others were contacted via a telephone in December 2014. However due to time constraints on the part of the researcher and that the researcher had moved to another province (Kwazulu Natal), the interviews were only conducted in February 2015. The researcher made appointments with the officials and scheduled a visit to Gauteng for a face to face interview. The questionnaires were sent to all respondents by email prior to the scheduled visit. The questionnaire was accompanied by a covering letter stating who the researcher was, background and objectives of the study, consent, confidentiality and the signed letter granting permission to conduct the study. More than half of the respondents out of twenty two preferred to self-administer the questionnaires and the researcher only scheduled a visit to collect completed questionnaires. The rest were interviewed by the researcher in suitable places.

4.2.1.3 Sampling 

Purposive sampling was used for the study which allowed the researcher to select key informants who were most suitable to give the required information for the study.

Authors views purposive sampling method as a technique that is used with a specific purpose in mind (Neuman 2010:219; Morra Imas & Rist 2009:272).The participants were chosen on the basis of their experience related to the ECD programme The selected key informants were made up of programme managers at head office, programme managers at district who are directly or indirectly responsible for the ECD programme and their supervisors. The administrative officials interviewed were those that conducted ECD site M&E and provided reports to programme managers;

they have been involved with ECD activities since the programme started and possess reasonable knowledge and experience on how the GDOH M&E system operates. The sample size was 20 respondents. In this study 20 respondents were selected based on their involvement in ECD programme, experience in terms of

number of years working in ECD programme. However, methodologically with 20 respondents this researcher should reach theoretical saturation. There is no widely accepted figure for the sample size, nonetheless the size of the sample in qualitative research should not be too small to achieve data saturation or too big to make it complicated (Onwuegbuzie and Collins, 2007:289).