CHAPTER THREE:
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS AND FORCED MIGRANTS IN THE
INNER-CITY OF JOHANNESBURG
3.0. Introduction
After reviewing a number of works on different themes that
this report will consider, I would like now to focus my attention on the
Johannesburg CSOs and FMs living in the inner city of Johannesburg, in order to
discover the type of relationships that exist between both CSOs and FMs. My
purpose is to examine closely the efforts of the inner city CSOs efforts to
improve
the quality of life of FMs. For this reason, I decided to
enter into contact with members of CSOs as well as with FMs living in the
inner city in order to collect the information presented and analysed in this
stud y.
This chapter comprises two main parts. The first
part will focus essentially of the methodology used to collect the
data presented and analysed in this chapter. While the second part will
elaborate and present the findings of my fieldwork which has been characterised
by series of interviews done with both members of CSOs and FMs
living in Hillbrow and Yeoville.
3.1. Methodology.
As previously said, this study will focus only on FMs
from Sub-Saharan African countries. Information gathered will come from
two sorts of data, namely primary data (including interviews and
participant observation) and secondary data (such as books, articles,
and internet). But before presenting research findings, it is
necessary, for me, to explain the 3 research methods that I used in
this study, namely: case study, interview, and participant
observation.
3.1.1. Case study
`Case study' research many definitions. This section will provide
some of them, taken from
a) Definition of Case Studies
Yin defines a case study as an empirical inquiry
that «investigates a contemporary
phenomenon within its real-life context, addresses a
situation in which the boundaries between phenomenon and context are
not clearly evident, and uses multiple sources of evidence» (Yin,
1993: 59). Bulmer, in turn, defines it as «a way of organizing social data
and looking at the object to be studied as a whole» (Bulmer, 1983: 44).
The most important thing in the definitions of Yin and Bulmer
is that both present case study researches as empirical inquiries that may help
a researcher to investigate a phenomenon or a situation that occurs in a
well-specified context and within a particular community or a group
of people. According to Yin, when using a case study research
method, the researcher should make sure that his/her investigations cover
both a particular phenomenon (in this research report, the main focus
is on a search for social justice) and the context in which the
phenomenon is occurring (Yin, 1993: 31). He advises researchers to use a case
study not only
for exploratory or explanatory purposes but also for causal
purposes. For Bulmer, a researcher should pay particular attention to all
aspects of the event, phenomenon or situation because «the
development over time of the event or person constitutes an important
dimension» (Blumer, 1983: 44). For example, one may ask:
«How are the feelings of South Africans towards FMs gradually
changing? What are the incidents and thought processes that facilitate these
changes?»
Case study research can also use one case or selected cases in
order to look at events, collect data, and report the results.
b) Types of Case Studies
Yin (1993) distinguishes between three types of case studies:
exploratory, explanatory, and
descriptive. While Stake (1995) includes three others,
namely, intrinsic, instrumental, and collective case studies. This study
drew three types from Yin.
Exploratory case study
The exploratory case study aims to gain insights into a
situation, phenomenon, community or person (Bless and Higson-Smith, 1995: 42).
The need for an exploratory research method is
usually influenced by the lack of basic information on a
new area of interest. This method
helps researchers to become more familiar with a situation in
order to formulate a problem or
to develop a hypothesis. In this case, fieldwork and data
collection are undertaken prior to the final definition of questions and
hypotheses. Exploratory case studies then become a prelude
to much social research, in the sense that they serve as an
initial step before the actual stud y and thus the subject of investigation may
not be precisely determined but may be left open for adjustment (Bless and
Higson-Smith, 1995: 43). According to Yin, the main problem with
exploratory methods is that the data collected during the pilot phase are also
used as part of any ensuing case study (Yin, 1993: 6).
Explanatory Case Studies
An explanatory case study «sets out to explain a
social phenomenon». It usually seeks to answer `why' phenomena
exist and tries to find the answer to these phenomena (McNeill,
1985: 9). This may be a social problem that McNeill defines as
«those aspects of social life
that cause private unhappiness or public friction, and
are identified by those in power as needing some kind of social policy to
deal with them» (McNeill, 1985: 9).
According to Yin (1993), explanatory methods help researchers
to seek the causes of a social problem or phenomenon. Forcese and Richer
(1973), in turn, believe that the object of explanatory case study is
to «test specifically hypothesised relationships among
variables» (Forcese and Richer, 1973: 89); and others scholars,
such as Tellis (1997), believe that «explanatory case studies may be
used for doing causal investigations» (Tellis, 1997).
Descriptive Case Studies
Generally, a descriptive case study requires theory to be
developed before starting a particular project (Wikipedia, 2006). The aim
of such case is to describe a phenomenon that is occurring.
Note that complementary information (including sources of
evidence for case studies; and application and procedures of case studies)
about case studies can be found in Appendix I at
the end of this study.
3.1.2. Primary Data
In social research, the term `primary data' refers to data
collected b y the researcher through surveys, interviews, participant
observation (McNeill, 1985), or experimentation (Monash University, 2006).
Interviews and participant observation are the two sources of primary data that
I used during my fieldwork.
3.1.2.1. Interview.
a) Definition
An interview is a series of items and questions (structured or
unstructured) that are asked and
filled in by an interviewer in a face-to-face situation with the
respondent (Phillips, 1966).
b) Types of Interviews
There are various types of interviews including: standardised,
semi-standardised,
unstandardised, qualitative, and in-depth interviews.
- A qualitative interview: This type of
interview is based on conversation with emphasis on researchers asking
questions and listening, and respondents answering. Qualitative interviews are
linked to ethnographic fieldwork, and both are considered as `qualitative
or interpretive methods' (Warren, 2002: 87).
- An in-depth interviews: In-depth interview
tends to be relatively long. It commonly involves face-to-face interaction
between an interviewer and informant, seeking to build the kind of
intimacy that is common for mutual self-disclosure. It tends also to
involve a greater expression of the interviewer, and a personal
commitment on the part of the participant (Johnson, 2002: 103).
- A standardised interview: Here, the
interviewer is not free to adapt his/her other questions
to the specific situation, to change order of topic, or to ask
any other extra questions. In the standardised interview, the interviewer,
therefore, asks all respondents a pre-established series
of questions with proposed answers. There is generally little
room for variation in responses,
except where open-ended questions may be used (Frey, 2002).
- An unstandardised interview: In this type
of interview, the interviewer is free to develop each situation in
whatever ways he or she deems most appropriate for the purposes at hand. It
is a `nondirective' interview. The interviewer thus
attempts to develop a very permissive atmosphere in which the
respondent will feel perfectly free to express his or her feelings
without fear of disapproval (Phillips, 1966: 130).
- A semi-standardised interview: Here, the
interviewer may have to ask a number of specific questions, but he or she
may be free to probe beyond the answers to these questions. It
combines some advantages and disadvantages of each of the other types (Philips,
1966).
c) Significance
Forcese and Richer (1973) state that interviews are a
social exchange which involves the
interaction of two people. According to them, for any social
interaction to be enjoyable, both
the interviewer and the informant should receive what these
authors call `social rewards', in
the sense that each party should receive from the other
sufficient social rewards to allay the cost he (or she) is suffering in terms
of time given up. The researcher's rewards are obvious; and the respondent
should be receiving a combination of subtle flattering and attention
(Forcese and Richer, 1973: 172).
d) Procedures and Techniques of the
Interviews
Regarding the procedure and technique, four different
stages of an interview may be identified. The first concerns the
selections of persons to be interviewed and this selection depends on
how well-defined the aim of the inquiry is. The second stage consists of
securing appointments for interviews. The third stage deals with
creating favourable conditions for interviewing by ensuring the privacy of
the informant. The last stage regards the techniques used for driving an
interview, which depends on the personality and skills of the interviewer
(Lundberg, 1942). According to Lundberg, the most important procedure to be
followed by
the interviewer is to «gain the confidence of the
informant and to release whatever mental
inhibitions that may exist with reference to the interview»
(Lundberg, 1942: 365). Similarly,
Whyte believes that «the first concern of interviewer is to
build rapport» (Whyte, 1984: 104).
3.1.2.2. Participant Observation.
According to Bless et al, (1995) participant
observation requires that the researcher join a group of people who are
being studied in order to observe and understand their behaviours, feelings,
and attitudes (Bless et al., 1995: 43). Lundberg (1942)
states that this method requires a researcher to `become' a member of
the group by, for example, settling in a community and participating
in the everyday life of a group (Lundberg, 1942: 375). For McNeill
(1985), participant observation is sometimes used instead of
ethnography and fieldwork. But, this method «is just one method of
collecting data, not a complete strategy for social research» (McNeill,
1985: 68). In most of the cases, participant observation is usually combined
with other research methods, including interviews.
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