Research Setting

National TB management guidelines by the PHC facility managers in accordance with the National TB management guidelines (Holloway & Galvin, 2017:05-6). The participants, who are the PHC facility managers who implemented the national TB management guidelines in their respective PHC facilities, were purposely selected to provide contextually rich data about the phenomenon under study as they have experienced it.

The findings are therefore contextually bound and can only be transferable to a setting and a context similar to those in this study (Polit & Beck, 2018:296, 304).

2.2.5. Research Setting

Research setting refers to the specific physical contextual location and the conditions under which the study data is collected (Polit & Beck, 2018:42, 418). Qualitative data is usually collected in a natural setting that the researcher needs to identify (Polit & Beck, 2018:54, 184). Natural setting refers to the uncontrolled setting, where the researcher does not manipulate the environment for the purpose of collecting data (Brink, et al., 2014:132; Gray, et al., 2017:353). The decision about the research setting is based on the nature of the research question and the type of data to be collected for the purpose of the study (Brink, et al., 2014:132).

In this study, data was collected in the natural setting of the respective PHC facility in the Ekurhuleni northern region from the participants, who are PHC facility managers, responsible and accountable for implementing the National TB management guidelines.

The Ekurhuleni northern region is situated north of the three Ekurhuleni regions and has 28 PHC facilities, the south has 35 PHC facilities and the east has 31 PHC facilities (CoE, 2019:2; EMM, 2002:1-14). The researcher focused on the Ekurhuleni northern region as the context of this study, because there was evidence of poor performance concerning the implementation of the National TB management guidelines, as described in Chapter 1,1.2.

The PHC facilities setting from which data was collected, are located in different geographical areas in the Ekurhuleni northern region, each serving a community with different socio-economic statuses (see MAP attached as Figure 2.1. Attached below is the map showing the different suburbs of the Ekurhuleni northern region, in which the PHC facilities are located. It is also the geographical setting for this study (CoE, 2019:2;

EMM, 2002:1-14).

23 Figure 2.1: Map of Ekurhuleni …

The Ekurhuleni region is geographically divided into three sub-regions being the East, the North and the South. The Ekurhuleni northern sub-region consists of the Benoni-Boksburg area, the Kempton Park-Tembisa area, including Bedford view, and the Edenvale area.

2.3 RESEARCH METHOD

Research method refers to the procedure that the researcher uses to structure a study in order to gather and analyse relevant information (Polit & Beck, 2018:8; Brink, et al., 2014:199). This study is conducted in two phases.

Phase 1: In the first phase of this study, the researcher focused on exploring and describing the experiences of PHC facility managers regarding the implementation of the National TB management guidelines in the Ekurhuleni northern region. In order to achieve the first phase of this study, the researcher focused on describing the population, sampling and sampling techniques, the data collection process as well as data analysis (Brink, et al., 2014:200). The researcher also described the data interpretation and presented the PHC facility managers’ experiences regarding the implementation of the National TB management guidelines in the Ekurhuleni northern region (Creswell, 2014:184).

24 2.3.1 Population

Population refers to the entire group of people who experienced the phenomenon, which is the focus of the study (Brink, et al., 2014:131; Gray, et al., 2017:53, 330; Polit & Beck, 2018:162). The population for this study consisted of 94 PHC facility managers in the Ekurhuleni region who are accountable and responsible for the implementation of the National TB management guidelines. In this study, the population will be further described in terms of the target population and the accessible population (Brink, et al., 2014:131 and Polit & Beck, 2018:162).

Target population

Target population refers to individuals who meet the sampling criteria (Brink, et al., 2014:131; Gray, et al., 2017:330; Polit & Beck, 2018:162). The target population in this study consisted of 28 PHC facility managers who have experience in the implementation of the National TB management guidelines in their respective PHC facilities in the context of the Ekurhuleni northern region. According to Houser (2015:180), once the population is identified, the recruitment plan must follow.

Recruitment plan

The recruitment plan refers to the process of identifying, approaching and communicating with possible participants who were identified from the target population (Gray, et al., 2017:354; Houser, 2015:180). Gray, et al. (2017:354) state that during recruitment, the researcher’s communication has the potential to influence the subjects’ decision to participate in the study or not. Therefore, the researcher must explain the importance of the study to possible participants, clarify the role of the participants and provide the timeframe of the study, including the time required from each participant (Gray, et al., 2017:354). The researcher may also be creative in recruiting the participants, such as using email (Gray, et al., 2017:354; Houser, 2015:180).

In this study, an invitation to participate was distributed to all the PHC facility managers in the Ekurhuleni northern region by email. The email included the signed regional clearance letter from the Ekurhuleni Health District Research Ethics Committee, an information letter, a consent form and the invitation to participate in the study. The information letter clearly stated the purpose of the study, the participant’s rights, the data collection process and the duration of the interview. Twenty-four participants who met the inclusion criteria indicated their willingness to voluntarily participate in the study.

25 Accessible population

The accessible population, which is also known as the study population, refers to the portion of the target population that is readily available to the researcher (Brink, et al., 2014:131; Gray, et al., 2017:330; Polit & Beck, 2018:162). Furthermore, Brink, et al.

(2014:131) state that the entire population may not be accessible to the researcher and for this reason, the study population must be clearly defined. In this study, the accessible population refers to the PHC facility managers who have experience in the implementation of the national TB management guidelines in the Ekurhuleni northern region. The accessible population consisted of 24 PHC facility managers. Houser (2015:158) asserts that the population accessible to the researcher is also referred to as a sample. The accessible population will be further described in terms of sampling, inclusion and exclusion criteria to limit the study’s setting.