The researcher endeavoured to ensure that the research findings of the study were valid and reliable. Denscombe (2002:100) argues that “validity concerns the accuracy of the questions asked, the data collected and the explanations offered.” Generally, validity and reliability relate to the data and the analysis used in the research.
Bernard (2000:46) refers to validity as the accuracy and trustworthiness of instruments, data and findings in research. Validity is further described by Babbie and Mouton (2001:122) as “the extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration”. Black (1999:192) posits that validity aims at maximising the consistency between concept, construct and operational definition. Hall and Hall (1996:43) have found a common definition for validity as “the extent to which a test, questionnaire or other operationalisation is really measuring what the researcher intends to measure”.
According to Denscombe (2002:100) “reliability relates to the methods of data collection and the concern that they should be consistent and not distort the findings.” Generally, it entails an evaluation of the methods and techniques used to collect the data. Babbie and Mouton (2001:119) refer to reliability as whether a particular method, applied repeatedly to the same object, would produce the same results every time.
Reliability refers to the consistency of results obtained the same time even though applying different instruments (Flick, 1998:223). Bernard (2000:47) argues that reliability refers to “whether or not you get the same answers by using an instrument to measure something more than once”. In Black’s (1999:195) view “reliability is an indication of consistency between two measures of the same thing.” Hall and Hall (1996:44) have a common definition for reliability which is “the extent to which a test would give consistent results if applied by different researchers more than once to the same people under standard conditions”.
Reliability and validity were maintained in the study by ensuring that the data gathering instruments were of high quality and that they measured what they were intended to measure during the study. This was managed by piloting the questionnaire to a group of selected respondents to eliminate errors before finally administering it. The purpose of piloting the questionnaire was to determine the relevance of the questions included in the questionnaire and to ensure that the questions would provide answers that address the main questions of the study. The outcome of this exercise enabled the researcher to make final adjustments to the questionnaire before it was administered to the research participants for data-collection purposes. In order to validate the overall research results, the researcher based conclusions on a variety of sources (data triangulation). The researcher used results derived from the survey questionnaire and face-to-face interviews to compare with the findings of the literature review to validate or refute specific conclusions.
4.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Ethics in conducting the research were maintained throughout the study. Struwig and Stead (2003:66) maintain that research ethics provide a code of moral guidelines to researchers on how to conduct research and thus how to avoid scientific misconduct like distorting and inventing data, plagiarism, publishing others’ work as one’s own contribution without acknowledging the source, failing to maintain the anonymity and confidentiality of the respondents and falsely reporting results. Mouton (1996:42) is of the view that during research the rights of research participants, such as the right to privacy, informed consent and confidentiality, must be protected. He further states that in the absence of the researcher protecting the rights of respondents, it would be impossible to find research participants for a study to be undertaken. Mouton (1996:157) further argues that target participants are sometimes reluctant or unwilling to participate in a survey because they
regard the investigation as infringing on their privacy; to reduce the effects of such fears, it is necessary to guarantee the anonymity and confidentiality of participants.
The researcher attempted to obtain a high response rate from the respondents and achieved this by ensuring anonymity and confidentiality and assuring respondents that the information provided would not be made available to any other third party, but would merely be used for the purpose of this study.
4.7 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
According to Bak (2004:24) and Creswell (2003:148), delimitation is used to narrow the scope of a study and to only focus on specific target groups. In Section 1.10 it was stated that the study was confined to four political regions in Namibia: Khomas, Erongo, Otjozondjupa and Oshana. In Section 1.10, it was stated that the study was confined to formal businesses.
It was necessary to narrow down the regions and only focus on four regions from which the findings of the study could be generalised to the wider population of the survey. The targeted regions are representative of the majority of employers training or employing VTC graduates.
4.8 SUMMARY
This chapter discussed the research design, methodology and techniques and instruments used to collect and analyse the data for the study.
It was reported that the study was descriptive because it was necessary to establish the perception of respondents regarding the employability skills considered important in the workplace and to describe such skills in words. Data collected were qualitatively (descriptive) and quantitatively (statistical inferences) analysed. The ethical considerations maintained during the study as well as the delimitation of the study were presented. The next chapter presents a descriptive account of the research results of the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE
RESEARCH RESULTS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The previous chapter discussed the methodology used in collecting and analysing data for the study. The purpose of the study was to identify the employability skills that VTC graduates should possess when entering the workplace. No research study could be found in Namibia regarding the employability skills required by Namibian employers, and this study could be seen as an attempt to address the gap in knowledge on employability skills in the vocational education and training system in Namibia.
This chapter reports on the results obtained during the survey conducted. Results are presented in terms of the demographic information of the respondents, a section on the evaluation of the vocational education and training centre performance based on survey questions related to this study. Results are further presented in terms of the main research questions of the study.