Data collection methods

Semi-structured interviews

Semi-structured interviews with the CHH

I used semi-structured interviews as one of the main methods to collect information from the research participants. Semi-structured interviews were appropriate for this study as this gave me room to pursue leads and also provided room to improvise some questions based on the direction the interview took. This enabled me to gather in-depth information that disclosed more of the richness of the participants’ experiences.

I went into the schools in the company of an educational psychologist from the Ministry of Education, SPS. This was a requirement from the Provincial Education Offices. This arrangement worked well for the study in the sense that there was someone trained in counselling and available on site to provide counselling to the children in case the study evoked memories and emotions that would negatively affect the children. The educational psychologist introduced me to the headmasters of the respective schools we visited. I explained the purpose of my study to the headmasters, outlining the objectives and what I hoped to achieve. The headmasters consulted with their deputy headmasters and TICs who went through their records of orphaned

children and those living in CHH. I mentioned that I particularly wanted to recruit those they deemed to be managing well by their standards, taking the communty’s perceptions on resilience into consideration. The headmasters allocated a class to me for purposes of the study. In all the schools they had to ask one class to temporarily move out of their classroom with their teacher and engage in some outdoor activity. I did not feel very good about having to ask a class to go outside to create room for me and the children in my study, but that was the only workable solution given the conditions at the schools. I needed a safe space to talk to the children confidentially and without interruptions.

As the selected orphaned children living in CHH came into the classroom, I noticed their expectant eyes. I could sense that they were expecting me to present them with some gifts in the form of food humpers, books, clothes etc. I also noticed the torn conditions of their uniforms. At one school, an eleven year old girl was wearing a uniform so torn that one could see the equally torn undergarments. I was alarmed by this condition and the fact that both the school authorities and teachers could not see anything out of the ordinary with this situation. I felt tears welling up in my eyes and had to take a short break. I returned to the classroom a few minutes later after having gained my composure. After the interviews with the children for that day, I asked the headmaster if I could buy a school uniform for the young girl. The headmaster accepted my offer and when I got back home I bought the school uniform for the young girl. Qualitative research is unique in the fact that it has the power to transform the researcher (Creswell, 2003) As I talked to the CHH getting a deeper understanding of the challenges they face on a daily basis and how they manage to resolve them, I could sense my perspective on life slowly shifting and that what I perceived as problems paled in comparison to the stories I was hearing from the young children.

Again and again the question of benefits that would accrue to the CHH out of my study kept flashing back and forth in my mind. (Please refer to sections on personal reflections on methodological aspects of the study and comments on methodological limitations).

The interviews took place at the schools and continued on to the CHH’s homes. Issues of informed consent were dealt with and are detailed in the ethical considerations section. Visits to the CHH’s homes were done to place context to their experiences and what they were saying. The TOL activities, the problem solving activities and the administration of the RS were all done at the schools because it was easier to have all the children at one place in the school environment. (Some problem solving activities however continued into the homes of the CHH). Details of the interviews are provided in the sample of transcribed interviews included in the appendix section. I explained to the children the purpose of the interviews and how I was going to make use of their submissions. I discussed issues of informed consent and asked the children to name a trusted adult who could consent on their behalf. Most of them named their class teachers. I also asked the children to assent to taking part in the study. I noticed that the heads of the households were used to making decisions from the way they confidently named their trusted adults and their mature attitude in assenting to the research. I asked for their permission to tape record and they agreed. Their child like nature would come up when some of them asked me to play back parts of the tape. They listened with childhood interest and giggled on hearing their voices. I asked the children to tell me their stories, reasons leading to them living as CHH, the challenges they faced, what contributed to their resilience and how they managed to cope in spite of the challenges.

Participant observations

I carried out participant observations on the CHH in conjunction with other data collection methods such as the series of informal interviews that I carried out to establish trust and rapport with the CHH. This method gave me a richer and deeper level of understanding on the lives of CHH. The disadvantage of this approach is that the line between the researcher and participant might become blurred resulting in role confusion. This could explain why the CHH that I stayed with for a short time began to see me as the mother figure. Another limitation was that my presence could either bias the observation or the behaviour of the CHH. Reactivity describes the problem of participants changing their behaviours as a result of the researcher observing them (Greenstein, 2006). In this study, I controlled reactivity by spending a lot of time with the CHH which was necessitated by the numerous activities I carried out with them, so that they could become comfortable with my observations.

Focus group discussions

FGD with Child service professionals

I carried out two FGDs with 25 child service professionals. One group was composed of twelve participants and the other had thirteen. The FGDs with the child service professionals took place at Africa University and at Ranche House College where they have their lectures. I talked to the students enrolled in the Masters in Child and Family studies programme about my study explaining the objectives and rationale behind the study. The group consists of social welfare officers, programme managers and officers, field officers, pastors, teachers, nurses, and NGO workers who work with vulnerable children. After going through issues of informed consent 25 students agreed to take part in the study which involved answering some questions on a prepared

interview guide. The process was enlightening and generated lively discussions from people who work with vulnerable children on a daily basis. Some indicated that participating in the study provided an opportunity for them to learn how academic research at higher levels is undertaken. I however explained that participation in the study was completely voluntary and that no one would be prejudiced or disadvantaged for not participating. My hope was that issues of power dynamics between lecturer and student would not come into play making some students obliged to take part in the study when they did not want to.

FGDs with Community members

A total of four FGDs were carried out with community members including the community leaders. There were twelve participants in three FGDs while the last group had ten participants. Three FGDs took place at the schools and one FGD was conducted at a community center. The community leaders who formed part of the group were mainly the SDA chairpersons. This was because I particularly wanted to talk to community leaders who interacted frequently with the CHH. The headmasters I interviewed had indicated that community leaders like the chiefs who are high in the leadership hierarchy may not have frequent opportunities to interact with the orphaned children on a daily basis and hence may not be fully aware of their resilience characteristics. The other community members were recruited by the SDA leadership.

The community FGDs combined both males and females. The males sat on one side on chairs and benches. The females spread their wrappers on the ground and sat on them. The discussions were mainly dominated by the males, even when I tried to probe the women. The females responded only to confirm and support what would have been said by the males. The discussion

themes centred on the reasons for the emergence of CHH, the challenges they face, factors that made the CHH resilient and the meaning and manifestations of resilience in Mutasa district. I was particularly interested in how communities can create resilience enabling environments for the CHH.

I provided refreshments for the FGDs and I decided to join the women who were cleaning up after the refreshments. It was during this time that I decided to informally continue with the discussions. The women opened up and said that it is not easy for them to provide some answers in the presence of males as they feared being labelled in a negative way and that even if their husbands are not in the meeting, the men who will be present will report to the husband that his wife was talkative at the meeting, which would bring about trouble for them. They said that most of the CHH were from their relations because the husbands refused to take in orphaned children from their side of the family. The women said this was a contributing factor to the emergence of CHH in their communities.

After this experience I decided to change the structure of the other FGDs and wanted to have two separate discussions with one group comprising of only males and the other comprising of only females. I however noticed that both the males and the females were uneasy about this arrangement. One elderly female lady confided in me indicating that if I went ahead with this arrangement, the females would not be given permission by their husbands to attend the FGDs. The males would suspect that I would be talking about ‘gender’ issues which they suspect would make their wives rebellious and disobedient. I therefore mixed both sexes on all the remaining community FGDs and continued with my strategy of joining the women when they were

cleaning up to informally continue with the discussions. I obtained more unbiased information from the women during this time.

FGDs with Teachers

Two FDGs with teachers including the headmasters were carried out. Each FGD had twelve participants. The duration of each FGD was about one hour. The FGDs with the teachers were carried out at the schools and included teachers in charge of the guidance and counselling programmes in the schools. I carried out the discussions in the afternoon because in most schools, formal lessons end at 1pm. The discussion themes centred on the role of the schools and teachers in enhancing the resilience of children in CHH, and the manifestations of resilience in CHH. The teachers lamented the fact that most guidance and couselling programmes were not given much priority because guidance and counselling is not an examinable subject. They added that their performance as teachers is rated on the pass rates achieved in their subject areas. Hence, although they appreciated the need for the programme, they could not prioritise it over the examinable subjects meaning that although a programme existed to cater for the emotional needs of the vulnerable children in the schools, there was no tangible evidence and benefits of the programme on the ground. Most of the programmes seemed to exist on paper. I noted a resigned attitude on the teachers as they explained that the magnitude of the problems faced by the CHH was beyond them as the challenges faced by the CHH were of a financial and material nature. Details on the FGDs with the teachers are provided in the results section.

FGD with the Advisory Panel

I enquired from some local headmasters on who to include on the AP. An AP consists of a group of local people within a community who are knowledgeable in the culture, customs and values of a particular community (Theron et al., 2013). After going through the characteristics I was looking for in prospective members of the AP, I came up with a list of people whom I approached. The characteristics I was looking for in the AP were; someone born and raised in the Mutasa community and knowledgeable in the customs and way of life in the community. AP members also had to be professionals who interacted with vulnerable children in Mutasa district and would have an idea on resilience factors and how they manifest in the CHH. Having been born and raised for part of my life in Mutasa District helped me in understanding some of the resilience characteristics. The AP consisted of 10 people. Since the members did not live in close proximity, I had one FGD with six members and had one on one interviews with the remaining four.