1.8 Delimitation of the Study
In terms of peripheral guides, the study was confined to
Gasabo, a district (akarere) of Kigali City, Rwanda.
Its capital is Ndera, a village on the outskirts of the Kigali urban area. The
district also includes large areas of the city itself, including Kacyiru,
Kimihurura, Remera and Kimironko. The district occupies the northern half of
Kigali province, which had its boundaries extended under local government
re-organization in 2006 (MINALOC, 2006). Gasabo includes major suburbs of
Kigali, sections of a ring of hills which surround the city, and some villages
to the north and east of those. Rwanda's wealthiest area, Nyarutarama is also
in the district, as are the Offices of the President (in Kacyiru) and most of
the ministries.
Gasabo district is divided into 15 sectors
(imirenge): Bumbogo, Gatsata, Jali, Gikomero, Gisozi, Jabana,
Kinyinya, Ndera, Nduba, Rusororo, Rutunga, Kacyiru, Kimihurura, Kimironko and
Remera. As such, the results and findings obtained shall be perceived as
representative and generalisable too, to other districts not studied Donor
activities in all these areas will be explored. Both males and females
constituted the respondents in this particular study. The
study of aid in the context of hunger and poverty is broad. Conceptually, this
study is confined to the study of aid, poverty and development politics. It
entails defining foreign aid, poverty and development within the context of
MDGs. It entails exploring the complex dynamics and the politics of aid in
general and in the localized context of Gasabo, Rwanda.
It entails evaluating, competing perceptions of various actors
in the politics of aid and what may be said to constitute aid theory. The
timeframe in which the study is confined is 2000 to 2009. Spatially, the study
is limited to Gasabo District of Rwanda although literature will cover
Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
1.9 Limitations of the study
During the course of the study, the researcher experienced a
number of drawbacks which included lack of cooperation from respondents, time
inadequacy and financial constraints in meeting the budgetary requirements of
the study. However, efforts were made to address the constraints. The first
constraint was purely logistical. Given that the study was self-funded; the
researcher is faced serious challenges of financing travel to Rwanda for data
collection as well as financing the training of 10 assistant field
researchers.
The second major constraint was the methodological limitation.
Given that the study is based on a case study approach, it follows that it
inevitably exhibits the limitations of the method. Critics of the case study
believe that the study of a small number of cases can offer no grounds for
establishing reliability or generalizability of findings. This point is valid
when one considers that given the sensitive nature of the research some key
informants within the donor community and government offices may deny the
researcher access to important documents or information and this will lead to
information asymmetry. In light of this, others declined to be interviewed.
Thirdly, time factor was a limiting constraint. The fact that the researcher is
a mother, student and employee made it difficult for her to rationalise the
demands of these roles.
Also related to time was timing. The fact that the research
study took place against the background of genocide and genocide trials meant
that the subjects of research study were in different emotional states, so much
that they could easily provide or offer a political interpretation to the
study. In this case chances were that some sensitive members were not
forthcoming and forthright with their answers as expected. Such a background
threatened the validity of the outcome.
However, to overcome the above limitations there was need for
careful planning ahead of time. The planning should take into account use of
different data collection techniques such as direct observation, in-depth
interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions in order to improve the
validity of data through methodological triangulation. Communication with
interviewees and questionnaire respondents should be done on time in order to
facilitate meetings. Besides, prior awareness of these limitations should
invoke constant sensitivity to their possibility so that due care is constantly
enforced.
| 
