Sampling procedure

The following sampling procedures were applied for the quantitative and subsequent qualitative collection of data.

4.8.1 Quantitative procedure

Using non-probability convenience sampling, a total of seven SETAs were identified. Meetings were conducted with these SETA Managers to explain the purpose of the study and to establish whether learnership programmes were currently being offered within their SETA. Permission was then sort to conduct the study. The SETA managers willingly provided contact details of training providers who were currently offering learnership programmes.

The training providers were contacted to arrange meetings and to explain the purpose of the study. Further permission was then sought from training providers to administer the survey. All training providers readily agreed to make

arrangements for learners to complete the questionnaire during their classroom contact periods. Eight learnership programmes based in seven SETAs were able to avail themselves to participate in the survey. Table 4.1 presents a breakdown of the surveyed learners according to their respective SETAs and illustrates their percentile representivity.

Table 4.1 Number of learners surveyed according to SETAs (n = 123)

SETA Clothing, Textile, Footwear & Leather (CTFLSETA) 54 44%

Education, Training & Development (ETDPSETA) 2 1%

Insurance (INSETA) 20 16%

Media, Advertising, Printing & Packaging (MAPPPSETA) 15 12%

Services SETA (SERVICESETA) 15 12%

Transport SETA (TETA) 8 7%

Wholesale & Retail (W&RSETA) 9 7%

Grand Total 123 100%

For the sake of clarity, it is worth noting that the Clothing Textile Footwear and Leather SETA (CTFL SETA), even though most representative in terms of the number of participants, constituted two separate learner groups that registered for vastly different learnership programmes. One programme offered a learnership in the Clothing Industry for Sewing Machine Operators at NQF Level 2, whereas the second learnership offered a course in Man Made Fibres at NQF Level 2. These learnership programmes had a total of 34 and 20 enrolled learners, respectively.

All participants present for lessons on the day were handed a questionnaire during classroom sessions. Personally administering the questionnaire was seen as advantageous to the collection and completion of survey data, and ensured a 100% response rate (Sekaran, 2000:234).

Cost and time constraints, as well as the need to collect data from as large a number of respondents as possible within a short period of time, formed part of the rationale to personally administer the questionnaires.

4.8.2 Qualitative procedure

Following from the quantitative questionnaire survey, participants were then selected to take part in a focus group interview. Participants for the focus group interviews were selected from the original list of participants‟ sample size (n = 123) who had completed the questionnaire. Table 4.2 on page 85 presents a comparative representation of the quantitative participants versus qualitative participants listed according to the SETAs.

Each training provider was contacted and the purpose and aims of the focus group interviews and need to obtain participant lists were carefully explained to each of them. Training providers were explicitly requested to send only the contact details of participants who had originally taken part in the survey questionnaire. Three training providers readily assisted with lists of contact details of learners.

Participant lists and contact details were obtained from the course co-ordinators based on the list of seven different SETA groups, which participated in completing the survey questionnaire. The researcher attempted to contact all the learners that were listed, however, some participants were unable to attend owing to work commitments, while others did not respond to the call, which could indicate that their contact numbers were either no longer being serviced or unsubscribed.

The lists contained learners‟ names, home addresses, and contact numbers. All listed participants were contacted. However, after several attempts and for various reasons, only a percentage of the listed participants were able to agree to attend a focus group meeting. For some of the contact numbers there was no reply; others, especially at home numbers, family members answered and said that the person was not available. Table 4.3 on page 85 gives a breakdown of participants who were contacted in comparison to the number of participants who were actually able to attend the sessions. Of the twenty who did not attend, fourteen (70%) participants did not answer their cell phones or home telephones. Most of the cell phone numbers had been discontinued. Of

the remaining six participants who did not attend, two participants said that they were currently employed and could not take time off work, and one participant‟s parent promised that he would call back to confirm the appointment and did not, while the remaining three agreed to attend, but did not arrive for the interviews.

No reasons were sought for their non-attendance.

Participants who were available to attend were given a thorough explanation of the purpose of the group sessions, while participants were also notified of the approximate time frame for the sessions. The term „interview‟ was avoided during the telephone conversion as some participants were not in full employment or were unemployed, and it was felt that the term „interview‟ might mislead participants into conceiving the invitation as that of an interview for employment (Bloor, Frankland, Thomas and Robson, 2002; Krueger and Casey, 2000; Powell and Single, 1996:499).

Interview dates and times were based on learners‟ availability to attend at a given time and venue. As a result, three groups, which consisted of eight, seven and four learners, respectively, attended the focus group sessions. Refer to Table 4.3 on page 83 for a breakdown of the groups per SETA. The following SETAs formed part of the focus group interviews: Media and Advertising SETA (MAPPP); the Services SETA (SERVICESETA); and the Insurance SETA (INSETA).