Negotiating Access

The settings in which this study focused on are the kind that Bryman (2008) refers to as closed or non-public and as a researcher playing an overt role, access to these social settings had to be officially sought. ‘Gaining access to most organisations is not a matter to be taken lightly but one that involves some combination of strategic planning, hard work and dumb luck’ (Bryman, 2008). The nature of my study required that I get authorisation from the Ministry of Education where I did not anticipate encountering major problems. I also assumed that once I got authorisation from the government, I did not need to seek any other form of authorisation to gain access to any setting. I was wrong.

When I went to the Ministry’s headquarters, I was referred to another building which houses the National Council for Science and Technology which is under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. There I was referred to their website where I was to download the application form. The form had three sections that posed a lot of difficulties for me. The most challenging one was that it required me to state the location of fieldwork which I had not identified at the time. I then decided to get approval by the schools before I handed in the application form but no head of any school would listen to me without the official authorisation from the Ministry. So I selected the locations without prior consultation with the schools I had in mind. After approximately one month and a lot of persistence, I managed to get the authorisation letter which was accompanied by a permit with my identification on it.

The letter of authorisation that I received from the Ministry stated that I had to report to the District Education Officers (DEOs) of the respective districts where I was going to conduct my research. In the two rural districts that I had selected, I got another letter of local research authorisation on the same day which I was to take to the schools but the case was different at the Education Office at the City Council. I had to write an application letter seeking authorisation and pay another fee to be allowed to visit any school within the jurisdiction of the Council. This took another two weeks to be processed. Armed with four different copies of authorisation letters, I was able to access the schools without having to seek any further formal permission from the head teachers although I discussed the nature of my research with them. The education system in

Kenya is hierarchical where authority follows a top-down system giving head teachers less autonomy than that exercised by head teachers in other countries such as the UK (Alexander, 2008).

However, after being in the field for two months, the need to narrow down my focus arose which necessitated me to include special units in the rural areas as cases for my study. The two rural districts previously selected only had special schools but had no special units. This brought about the need to move to another location warranting me to seek approval to access the schools there. I had to start from the National Council again but this time it took only a few days.

My efforts to reach deaf teachers required me to visit some schools that were not within the areas stated in my research authorisation. In one of the schools, the head teacher insisted that I had to get authorisation from the Municipal Education Officer in charge of the area in order to interview one of his deaf teachers. At first I did not think it was possible to get the letter but one of the hearing teachers in the school, whom I knew since college days, encouraged me ‘to try my luck’. To my surprise, the letter from the National Council which I thought would have a negative impact since it did not mention the particular district, made it easy for me to get the authority to access the school. When I went back to the school the following day, I was allowed to interview the two deaf teachers working there.

Since I had learned my lesson, I applied one of the ‘tactics’ suggested by Bryman (2008: 407): ‘Use friends, contacts, colleagues, academics to help you gain access: provided the organisation is relevant to your research question, the route should not matter’. Through one of the teachers with whom I had made acquaintance, I got to know that there were three deaf teachers at Upendo school. Due to the cordial relationship between her and the deputy Head teacher, it turned out that this was the school where we got the best reception. Since there was more than one deaf teacher, we visited the school on two occasions and we were even allowed to observe a lesson taught by one of the deaf teachers. At Imani school, the deaf teacher herself had informed the head teacher about our planned visit and she made sure that she took us to his office for introductions before the interview. We also observed her teach a Standard 8 Social Studies lesson.

As Bryman (2008: 408) states, ‘securing access is in many ways an on-going activity’. Having gained access to the setting leads one to seek access to the people involved in the study. In my case, I had to reach the teachers and the learners. Some teachers would deny me access into their classrooms even after gaining access into the schools. This happened once when I was introduced by a school administrator to the teachers where two of them seemed to have viewed me as acting on behalf of the administrator to check up on them and would not allow me to observe their lessons. After explaining my objective, they consented but not without informing me that I needed not to go through the school administration but rather go straight to their classes and request them directly.

Adults tend to play the role of ‘experts’ who know what is best for children and therefore make decisions about their lives without consulting them (Barnes & Sheldon, 2007). The pupils’ opinion on whether I should stay in the classrooms or not was not sought due to hierarchical power relations. Since the teachers gave their approval, they did not see the need to ask the pupils for the same. Every time after a teacher allowed me to sit in his or her class, I would inform him or her that the pupils needed to know who I was and why I was there. Some would explain to them while others would ask me to do it (which I preferred to do). The situation was the same when it came to conducting interviews with the learners.

Examination related issues are treated with a certain level of confidentiality and so accessing the KNEC with the purpose of doing research required authorisation from the Council Secretary/Chief Executive Officer. I therefore had to write, explaining exactly what my research was all about and request to be allowed to speak to an employee. Depending on the focus of the study, he decides the most appropriate officer and then communicates the researcher’s intentions to him or her. After a week, I was given the go ahead and was directed where to find the participant who turned out to be quite interested in the study. With the authorisation, I managed to get an appointment for an interview immediately.

The main lesson I learnt in this whole process of seeking and negotiating access is the level of confidence, openness and transparency that it creates for both the researcher and the participants once one has official authorisation to conduct research.