Sampling frame and techniques

Masindi District was chosen from other tobacco-growing areas in Uganda because it is easily accessible in terms of infrastructure and geographical location in comparison to others. Unlike many rural areas in Uganda, Masindi’s mode of communication is fairly good, and one can use a phone and Internet services. Budongo Sub County under Bujenje County in Masindi District was chosen as the area of study because it is very involved in growing tobacco and it is also rural. Budongo also had high poverty levels and a high incidence of child labour at the time the study was undertaken.

According to an ECLT survey done in 2002 reported by Vision Eastern Africa December 2003, children in Masindi worked on the tobacco farms instead of attending school. In Masindi, the high number of children missing out on acquiring education and dropping out of school was due to the poverty that drives children to work. Even though the free Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme was introduced and Masindi had 210 primary schools, of which 182 were government-aided, 37 secondary schools and 6 tertiary institutions, children, especially girls, dropped out of school to go into child labour practices.³⁴

Masindi was also chosen because the technological advancement in the area was low. Child labourers and farmers reported that the machines used for farming activities were mainly hoes. The researcher chose Masindi as the area for study because the respondents were not aware of in-depth information on human rights, so they were involved in child labour activities out of ignorance.

The prevalence of HIV and AIDS as one of the major causes of child labour was another reason why Masindi was chosen for the study.

34Masindi district profile. Accessed October 25, 2006, from http://www.ugandadish.org/masindi.doc

3.4.2.2 Sampling technique

Purposive sampling was used to select Masindi District, and stratified sampling was used in selecting the area of study as Budongo Sub County. Sampling at this point required subdividing the area into units or subdivisions. These sub-units were those of individuals and those of households, and identifying these sub-units helped to give the researcher a clear definition of the research, as suggested by Thomas and Gordon (1970:95). The researcher created a list of all households of Budongo Sub County in the parishes of Kasongoire, Nyabyeya and Nyantozi, as suggested by De Vaus (1986:59), and chose them using the simple random sampling method. Parents, leaders and child labourers were purposively chosen because purposive sampling was less time-consuming and helped the researcher use as few resources as possible.

3.4.2.3 Sample size

The researcher selected a total of 225 respondents who included child labourers, their parents and community leaders, and the variance in population was illustrated (see Table 3a) as described by Pamela and Robert (1995:70). Nardi (2006:116) suggests that equal numbers of respondents in relation to sex should be chosen from each household for the study despite the fact that it could be possible that there would be more females than males and vice versa in any household. One male and one female parent or guardian was chosen for the study. Households in Kasongoire, Nyabyeya and Nyantozi parishes were polygamous and contained a large number of children, all of whom might be involved in child labour. People in the study area lived as extended and polygamous families. Children were therefore present in large numbers. The number of children taking part in the study was greater than the number of parents and leaders.

David remarks in his book Surveys in Social Research (1995:74) that a sample selected for a study to represent the proportion of the rest of a bigger group should be in the same proportion as that of the population. The child labourers, who were the primary respondents of the study, were chosen from a population of 10 households. A minimum of 5 children per household for each of the three parishes under study were chosen. Fifty children from each parish and a total of 150 children were used for the whole study.

The parents of the child labourers, who were known to be one of the main influences on child labour, were also chosen from a population of 10 households and a minimum of 2 parents per household for each of the 3 parishes under study were identified. Twenty parents from each parish and two from each household were chosen, taking one male and one female household representative even if it was possible that one household had more than one parent of either sex. A total of 60 parents were used for the whole study. Local council leaders or chiefs were another group of respondents that took part in the study. The leaders that were chosen were able to participate in the study because the researcher thought their job descriptions would fit the aim of the study. Leaders in charge of child affairs were chosen to participate, as well as leaders in charge of youth affairs. A maximum of 5 leaders per parish were chosen and a total of 15 leaders participated in the study.

Nyabyeya had a population of 222 respondents, from whom 100 respondents were selected. Nyantonzi had a population of 111 respondents, 50 of whom were selected for the data collection exercise, and Kasongoire had 167 respondents, 75 of whom were selected by simple random sampling. The total population of respondents was 500 but 225 were selected for the study Table 3a below summarises the number of respondents who participated in the study, and Table 3b summarises the sampling process that was used for the study.

Table 3.a: Respondents participating in the study

Stratum Population Sample size

Nyabyeya 222 100

Nyantonzi 111 50

Kasongoire 167 75

Total 500 225

Table 3.b: Diagrammatic format of sample size and selection process for the study area

SAMPLE SELECTION

Number needed for one parish

Number needed for three parishes

Population 10 households 30 households SAMPLE

SIZE

Sample 5 children per household totalling 50 children per parish

150 children

2 parents per household totalling 20 parents per parish

60 parents

5 community leaders per parish

15 leaders