Methodological paradigm

I propose a descriptive study of the experiences of postgraduate students from Lesotho studying at Stellenbosch University, thus, this study employs a qualitative approach. Qualitative research “uses a naturalistic approach that seeks to understand phenomena in context-specific settings” (Golafshani 2003:600), and as Denzin and Lincoln (2011) put it, it is the context- specific nature of qualitative research that leads to the full understanding of the subject matter. According to Denzin and Lincoln (2011), “qualitative research is a multimethod focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter (p4).

Qualitative research is concerned with authenticity of human experience and subjectivity (Silverman 2013), and Maykut and Morehouse (1994) express that the qualitative researcher considers the human-as-instrument the best way to collect and analyse data. This implies that humans are flexible and emotional beings have the ability to do research that can probe their research subjects or interviewees in order to access and understand the complexity of human intent and behaviour. As Jensen and Laurie (2016:172) states, “qualitative research prioritises personal interpretations and meaning over such ideals such as objectivity and standardisation.”

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Qualitative research is a human-focused methodology, and the aim of this kind of methodology is to dig deeper into the experiences of the participants, perceptions, their behaviours and beliefs. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials such as case studies, personal experience, introspective life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional and visual texts that describe routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals’ lives. This approach explores the attitudes, behaviours and experiences through methods such as interviews and focus groups, and it is the right methodology to use in understanding and exploring the navigational strategies of Lesotho postgraduate students from their own explanations and stories.

Creswell (2007:42) states that qualitative research is conducted with the aim of addressing a problem or an issue. He further states that a researcher uses qualitative research to obtain a complex, detailed understanding of the issue, and to empower their participants to tell their stories. The role of the researcher is to listen to the voices of the participants, and allow them to share their stories without expectation to have the stories match the literature. As a qualitative researcher, it was my responsibility to understand the context or setting in which participants address their problem, which is what I hope to achieve with my study.

The intention in a qualitative research study is to approach the world ‘out there’, and to understand, describe and explain social phenomena from the inside in several ways, which include:

• analysing experiences of individuals and/or groups

• analysing interactions and communications in the making • analysing documents. (Barbour 2007).

Morgan, Krueger and King (1998:12) assert, “qualitative researches are useful for exploration and discovery”. What this means is that qualitative research methods are the best methods for interpretation, because they give an understanding of why things are the way they are and how

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they came to be that way. This study will dig deep into students’ educational background regarding their previous study at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), how they perceive themselves as Lesotho citizens (introspect), and how they experience, navigate and pull of their educational success at Stellenbosch University (describe routine and problematic moments). According to Denzin and Lincoln (2011:19), a paradigm is “the net that contains the researcher’s epistemological, ontological and methodological premises”. This research will be conducted in the interpretive paradigm, and Connole (1993) states that in the interpretive paradigm, the task of the researcher becomes that of understanding what is going on, definition

of the situation, at least in the first instance. This paradigm is concerned with meaning and

experiential knowledge. As a researcher in the interpretive paradigm, my responsibility is to understand participants and the world around them, and understand the way they narrate their stories. The interpretive paradigm is characterised by a concern for the individuals. The central concern of this paradigm “is to understand the subjective world of human existence” (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2002: 17). For this study, what this means is that as a researcher, I need to identify patterns of meaning which may emerge as participants relate their experiences of Stellenbosch University, and use these stories as a basis for developing understanding about the focus of my research.

As Creswell (2007:21) states “the researcher’s intent, then, is to make sense of (or interpret) the meanings others have about the world. Therefore, qualitative research is often called ‘interpretive’ research”. In the interpretive paradigm, meaning is the basis of data: meaning precedes logic and facts of information obtained. Observation is done through the social, linguistic and cognitive skills of the researcher. With interpretive research, the researcher makes sense of feelings, experiences, social situations or incidences on the real world, because meanings are the crux of findings. The researchers’ task is to determine and report the senses individuals make of their social world, and to report what lies behind the ways they act. The task of the researcher is to capture the behaviour of the interviewee, and in doing so, “the phenomenologist attempts to see things from that person’s point of view” (Bogdan and Taylor, 1975:13-14). In doing this, the researcher should attempt to become more than just a

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participant observer in the natural setting that is being investigated. They should also make a deliberate attempt to put themselves in the shoes of people they are observing and studying, and try to understand their actions, decisions, behaviour and practices from their perspectives. Scott and Usher (1996) state that knowledge is not only concerned with generalization and prediction but with interpretation, meaning and illumination. Gubrium and Holstein (2002:488) state that interpretive research engages both the ‘how’s’ and the ‘what’s’ of social reality; it is centred both in how people methodologically construct their experiences and their worlds and in the configuration of meaning. With this research, the aim is to explore how each participant experiences the university, without generalisation and predicting based on literature that has been explored. The objective is to allow every participant to share their story in the interviews and unconstrained by what I expect to find based on the literature.

Information about students’ experiences makes up the study and the meanings and utterances that students attach to their experiences are central to this research, and it is through qualitative research methods that such issues are adequately addressed.