3.3 Sample
The importance of researching on South Kivu male-focused
domestic violence is motivated by the fact that the abuse is mostly perpetrated
by men. It is in this context that the current research project concentrated on
adult male respondents whose age varies between 26 and 69. Seven respondents
were purposively selected from the local population. At the start, the
researcher sought help from the local leadership in order to help him in
selecting the respondents. Then, the researcher invited all the selected people
to participate to the different group talks.
Such a selection inferred purposive sampling, which means
that the researcher selects the sample population considering their knowledge
of the phenomena of the study (Polit and Hungler, 1999:12). The main reason for
the researcher to choose sampling was that it saves time of research activities
and money that would not be used since the number of the cases involved was
reduced. To Mann (1985:16), this denotes intensive effort in obtaining high
quality information about a very compressed number of the issues that will be
studied on a given topic. On the whole, in case the researcher decides to use a
random sampling process, each individual in the community would have an equal
chance to be considered in the sampling process for the research (Bailey,
1982:29). The group of men who were selected for
the research were a good selection because they represented a
broader community, that is, South Kivu. The selected people were interviewed;
their attitudes and beliefs combined to present a more global view of the whole
community than the researcher had been studying (Mann, 1985:30).
In order to limit the sampling structure, the researcher took
into account the population target of some men from South Kivu province.
Although the number of respondents was much reduced and did not cover the total
population of the province, it remained representative and illustrative.
Accordingly, such selection contests the scope to which this research outcomes
can be generalised because of the reduced size of the sample that is used. The
research deals with the beliefs and attitudes of male domestic violence in the
area. Its results will complement the many previous ones that have been
conducted on the same issue in the same province. This research was intended to
enrich the understanding of men's beliefs and attitudes concerning domestic
abuse.
3.4 Data analysis
After the researcher had collected the necessary information
he needed for this study, he had to analyse it. Data analysis was of paramount
importance to this research because it helped the researcher to uncover and
make a real explanation of how South Kivu men think of domestic violence.
Congruent with Holloway and Wheeler (1996:72), information dissection is the
means through which the researcher reaches his objective of digging out how
people live the situation that is under phenomenological study. This required
that the researcher used thematic analysis in order to scrutinise the collected
information regarding males' beliefs and attitudes about abuse in the homes.
Holliday (2007:93) describes that `thematic analysis allows a
researcher with qualitative method and design to develop themes and use a check
on consistency of judgement'. In addition to this, the researcher sought to
discover the different themes by interpretation, which is normally a good way
for scrutinising talks and interviews. This process required the researcher to
grasp the themes that came from the information gathered during the focus
groups discussions and interviews that emphasized men's attitudes and beliefs
regarding
domestic abuse. Collected data was analysed and interpreted
to seek patterns of meanings regarding men's beliefs and attitudes of domestic
violence in this province. To Amin (2005:43), this is a sure way for the
researcher to determine specific themes and patterns of behaviour and
attitudes,which helps him to understand the social context that people consider
when they use abuse in the home.
Punch (2005:58) states that thematic analysis is a common
method used for interpreting social reality. The researcher checked what themes
could be deduced from the respondents' answers to the focus groups and in-depth
interview questions. If we consider beliefs and attitudes towards domestic
violence, the `researcher's opinion must be as close as possible to the
majority of the informants' (Vicsek, 2007:22). This infers that the respondents
may have personal and changeable internal views that are centred on a given
situation under study. Since the researcher cannot have the whole truth of the
respondent's internal views, he has to quote excerpts from their contributions
to the various discussions that occurred in different units (Strauss, 1992:32).
Given that various interviewees may provide different opinions in quantity as
well as in quality during focus group discussion, Parker and Tritter (2006:35)
insist that during data analysis, the researcher must not consider everything
the respondents say. This means that information breakdown requires a sound and
logical assessment of interviewees' global discussion and also the environment
changes that may possibly affect the degree of their input during the
discussions in their own units.
On the other hand, during information scrutiny the views of
the discussion groups may change and there may appear a difference of attitudes
and beliefs in the same team. The researcher should not neglect the
interviewees' openness in conveying their views regarding South Kivu men's
beliefs and attitudes towards domestic violence. For that reason, the
researcher checked whether interviewees' opinions had not been impacted by the
number of individuals who represented the minority attitude in the team and
possibly their social status. But in the mind of Mouton (2001:68), the
difference that exists between the majority and the minority's opinions in
different teams and how identical the views of the majority makes another
substantial modifying reason.
The above arguments reveal that all the participants would
not contribute equally to the discussions in their respective teams. In other
words, it was possible that some members of the group talks failed to express
appropriately their personal beliefs and attitudes towards domestic violence
simply because they considered the mate's contribution as not his own personal
and internal opinion. Sharp (2002:64) recommends that the researcher must think
basically on the different responses that the respondents will provide. This
assumes that the researcher explored, refined deeply and considered the
participants' points of view and not the way in which they were producing them.
Such analysis allowed the researcher to typify similarities and power of South
Kivu men's beliefs and attitudes that induce violence in the home and therefore
stimulate the culture of domestic violence in the province.
All things considered, the researcher did not neglect the
diverse groups' atmosphere and mood during discussions. Lunt and Livingstone
(1996:83) state that these factors remain very influential to the various
participants' opinions and the researcher will have to indicate this during
information breakdown. This depended much on how the researcher promoted group
members to speak in a relaxing way. In addition, Mack et al. (2005:54) urge the
researcher to do everything he can to ensure that confidence and freedom among
team members during group discussions are encouraged. In reality, this shows
how each participant is feeling when he is motivated to unreservedly provide
more private data about himself, which also makes him believe that he is in a
safe and trustworthy environment to relate attitudes and beliefs that will not
encounter any social expectation (Vicsek, 2007:25).
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