3.1 Introduction
4.11. Data sampling and collection techniques
A carefully chosen sample helps to facilitate the acquisition of data that is representative of
the whole population under study. As Priest (2010: 77) points out, the group of people who
actually respond to the survey must be as much like the population of interest as possible. In
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sampling technique which Priest describes as involving first choosing a representative sample
of cities or countries, for example and then choosing a sample of individuals who live in the
chosen geographic areas.
The researcher decided to have a total of 200 respondents to the telephone administered
questionnaire. Zimbabwe has ten provinces which comprise two major cities with provincial
statuses and eight provinces namely Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands.
Fig 1. The map shows the provinces of Zimbabwe
109 Table 1. Provinces of Zimbabwe
PROVINCE CAPITAL
1 Bulawayo City
2 Harare City
3 Manicaland Mutare
4 Mashonaland Central Bindura
5 Mashonaland East Marondera
6 Mashonaland West Chinhoyi
7 Masvingo Province Masvingo
8 Matabeleland North Lupane
9 Matabeleland South Gwanda
10 Midlands Province Gweru
The researcher divided Zimbabwe into provinces and calculated the percentage of population
110 Table 2. Population by province 2010
PROVINCE POPULATION PERCENTAGE SAMPLE
1 Bulawayo 655,675 5.5 11 2 Harare 2,098,199 16.17 32 3 Manicaland 1,755,000 13.5 27 4 Mashonaland Central 1,139,940 8.78 19 5 Mashonaland East 1,337,059 10.3 20 6 Mashonaland West 1,449,938 11.17 22 7 Masvingo 1,486,604 11.45 23 8 Matabeleland North 743,871 5.73 11 9 Matabeleland South 685,046 5.28 10 10 Midlands 1,622,476 12.5 25 Total 12,973,808 100 200
A random sample of the people in each province was captured. An attempt to get a mixture of
both men and women and respondents of different ages was made. Although it was difficult
to confirm the ages of the respondents an attempt was made to deceifer how old those
respondents were by asking indicative questions such as where they were in 1980. If someone
says they were completing O Levels, then it can be deduced that they were then about 17
years old. The researcher also trusted that the respondents told the truth about their
occupations. The random sample had to be as representative as possible. As Cohen and
Manion (200: 101) state, random sampling is a useful blend in research, as both
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sample group. The researcher embarked on distributing the respondents according to the
population percentage as is shown in the above table. The next task was to identify at least
one person in each province with the help of relatives and friends who live in the UK and
Zimbabwe. Using the snowball approach they were able to refer the researcher to other
people in their province, some of whom agreed to participate in the survey.
However, this approach had problems that had to be considered. There was a risk of having
responses from a circle of associates something which could render the research results
unrepresentative of the population. To go around this problem, the researcher embarked on
getting more contacts who did not know each other and limited referrals to a maximum of
three per person. Although not entirely possible as a result of the sampling technique used, an
attempt was made to try to capture a sample that was representative of the demographic
configuration of the country. This was done by filtering the respondents after getting an idea
of their age, sex, occupation and educational status.
Zimbabweans are also very mobile people due to their complex economic activities. A person
who the researcher expected to be in Harare could be in Masvingo the following week. A
person who is supposed to be living in Bulawayo can migrate to Gweru for better economic
prospects. The instability of the population composition has a potential to generate margins of
error in the sampling process. Getting telephone numbers from Zimbabwe is a complex
undertaking. The production of telephone directories was suspended around 1999. Most
people have also abandoned using landlines due to high costs involved. They have taken
advantage of the improved mobile network provision in Zimbabwe
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Mobile phone operators do not produce directories. Most customers are on a pay as you go in
order to manage their expenditure. With no contract phones, it becomes difficult to access a
database for mobile phone owners. Finding the location of the owner by just looking at his
number is impossible. The only way one can ever get to know where an individual lives is by
knowing him or by being referred by a person who knows them. Although not entirely
credible, there was no way a verification exercise activity could be taken to confirm that the
person who the researcher speaks to is where they say they are. The research relied on trust.
It is also difficult for a person to respond to a survey when they are not confident that they are
not talking to secret agents who are likely to get them arrested. The Central Intelligence
Organization (CIO) is believed to randomly bug phones to gather intelligence about what
people talk about and who they talk to. This results in some people refusing to respond or
insisting that they should not be identified. More than 400 hundred telephone calls were
made. Most people were not keen to participate in the research. Coming up with 200
respondents was very difficult. To protect the respondents, pseudonyms had to be used
throughout.
Having identified the sample the researcher then embarked on administering a questionnaire.
Question guidelines, coupled with the use of open-ended questions, were used as part of the
interview technique. As Williamson et al, (1982) advise, using open-ended-questions is important in that they provide respondents with an opportunity to elaborate, at the same time
allowing the researcher to probe them with further questions that will generate valuable
113 4.12. Conclusion
This chapter explains Constructivism as a suitable paradigm within which this research has to
be conducted. The chapter has also explained the research design that has been chosen to
generate both qualitative and quantitative data with which to create an understanding of the
role of diasporic media in facilitating citizen journalism and political awareness in
Zimbabwe. It has explained and problematised the sampling technique used with the aim of
understanding what attempts were made to reduce the margins of era that could have a
bearing on the validity of the research results. Case studies that represent radio, newspapers
and online publications have been identified and chosen for this research. What needs to be
done next is to provide more details about the case studies so as to have a broad
114 CHAPTER FIVE: THE ANALYSIS OF THE CASE STUDIES
“Any people with a certain conscious retention of their inalienable freedoms, including that to determine their own fate, will not sit by
idly watching the very future of society go to rot.” (Sunday Dare 2007)
5.1. Introduction
This chapter explores three case studies which will give us an insight into how the diasporic
media emerged, how they operate and how they impact on the democratic environment in
Zimbabwe. As has already been mentioned in the previous chapter, the case studies for this
thesis are Short Wave Radio Africa (SWRA) a Zimbabwean diasporic radio station domiciled
in the UK, New Zimbabwe.com, an online publication also domiciled in Cardiff, UK and The
Zimbabwean, a newspaper produced and edited by Wilf Mbanga in UK and printed in both
UK and South Africa for distribution in Zimbabwe and other parts of the world. Let it be
emphasized that these three case studies represent the diasporic radio stations, the diasporic
websites and the diasporic newspapers. This chapter examines the factors that led to the
establishment of each medium, how the medium operates and how it reaches the intended audience. Despite the Zimbabwean government’s control of the media, in particular radio
broadcasting, evidence shows the rise of an oppositional communicative space operated by a
small number of poorly resourced social players who are set on giving the masses an
alternative communicative space. Civilians are able to respond to disenfranchisement using a
few resources as part of democratic ideation in a restrictive environment. They are also taking
advantage of the affordable communication technological gadgets like mobile phones and
computers to link with the population, providing the people an alternative public sphere on which to articulate their views on the country’s political, social and economic situation. The
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their social world through thought processes and ideas as they establish social, political and
economic relations with one another to influence their circumstances.