Informed consent

The researcher was obliged to provide prospective participants with sufficient information to make an informed decision to participate in the study (Brink & Wood 2007:231). According to Polit and Beck (2010:231), informed consent involves an agreement made by the participant to participate in the study after they have been informed about the purpose, benefits, risks and the process of data collection and confidentiality. Polit and Beck (2010:321) assert that informed consent is part of

autonomy as the participants are supposed to make informed choice without being coerced to participate in the study. In this study the purpose was explained in detail to the participants and an information leaflet was given to them a day prior to data collection. Those who agreed to participate signed the consent form (Annexure 4).

3.7.2.1 Freedom to with draw from the study

Based on the ethical principles of respect for persons; people should be treated as autonomous agent who have the freedom to make choices without any coercion. To be autonomous one must first be informed about the proposed study and be given time and space to choose to participate or decline. Participants have the right to withdraw from a study without penalty (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber 2005:273). In this study, participants were informed that they were free to with draw from the study any time without prejudice.

3.7.2.2 Confidentiality or anonymity of the participants

LoBiondo-Wood and Haber (2005:273) state that based on the principle of respect for people’s anonymity exists when the participants’ identity cannot be linked, even by the researcher to the participant’s individual responses. Confidentiality means that individual identities of participants will not be publicly divulged. With regard to this study, respondents did not write their names on the questionnaire, participants’ names were not used when reporting findings and data was analysed as group data so that individuals could not be identified by their responses.

3.7.2.3 Deception

When presenting information it is essential for participants to understand that the research has no personal benefit to them but that their participation will add to information that might assist others in future. In this study participants were told that the study would not have any direct benefit to them but might assist other adolescents in future.

3.8 TRUSTWORTHINESS

Lincoln and Guba (1985:300) describe trustworthiness as the value, applicability, neutrality and consistency of an inquiry. It is essential for the study to have trustworthiness established so as to be considered methodologically appropriate and worthy to attention.

Trustworthiness is achieved through strategies that demonstrate credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba 1985:300).

3.8.1 Credibility

Credibility was ensured by investing time during data collection through visitation of the two high schools to establish rapport with school going adolescents. The researcher’s experience as a public health specialist and their academic grounding assisted in conceptualising this study. The researcher conducted FGDs to ensure that all topics regarding risky sexual behaviors were covered. Field notes and audio-taped responses were used to enable the researcher to understand the complexity of risky sexual behaviours. The researcher used member check during data analysis by giving transcripts to an independent researcher and supervisors to check the authenticity of data (Creswell & Clark 2007:91).

3.8.2 Confirmability

Confirmability was ensured through audit trail. The researcher kept records such as field notes and interview transcripts from participating individuals (Lincoln & Guba 1985:300). The same authors describe confirmability as the degree to which the research findings can be depicted from the study and not from the researcher’s biases. The researcher used relevant literature in order to ensure that the reader could conceptualise the researcher’s background for take up in this study. Confirmability was also addressed by using an independent reviewer of the audio-tape recording of themes. The member checking helped the researcher to discover any omissions and to verify correct placement of phrases into categories.

3.8.3 Transferability

Sandelowski (2000:300) describes transferability as the extent to which other people can see similarities in the findings of a study. In this study, the research design ensured transferability because mixed methods have previously been used in similar studies. The researcher provided adequate information on the study process such as the study purpose, objectives and sampling strategies data collection procedures and data analysis to ensure replication. The research also used member checking by supervisors and also code-recode procedure during analysis of the interview transcripts.

3.8.4 Dependability

Dependability is described by Sandelowski (2000:300) as a criterion used to judge the accuracy, completeness and accessibility of the research process. The supervisors also reviewed transcripts for analysis and an independent qualitative researcher was also used to review the transcripts, to ensure dependability

3.9 CONCLUSION

This chapter provided a description of the study design and methods used to achieve the study purpose and respond to the research questions put forward. The study used mixed methods of data collection, collating, analysis and interpretation of findings.

Qualitative data was generated through focus groups interviews conducted with 72 school going adolescents in both rural and urban high schools. Quantitative data was gathered through structured questionnaire interviews with school going adolescents. The data collected provided insight into the risky sexual behaviors of adolescents.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

This chapter presents the analysis and the results of both quantitative and qualitative data. The chapter also presents narrative descriptions of issues of concern to adolescents and suggestions made for improving adolescent health among the studied group.

4.2 QUANTITATIVE RESULT

The study recruited 449 students and all participated in the study giving 100% response rate. The results of the qualitative data are analysed and presented based on the question sequences in the questionnaire under the different sub-headings: socio- demographic data; knowledge and attitude toward reproductive and sexual health; sexual history and risky sexual practices and the perception for risk behaviours by adolescents.