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Research design
Where the researcher is situated in the ‘world of experience’ the research design has according to Denzin and Lincoln (2005) important underlying premises. The researcher has to indicate how the research design decided upon connects to the paradigm. The empirical data have to be informed by and interact with the paradigm utilised. The data have to allow the researcher to answer the problems of praxis and change. The participants and their environment have to be clearly defined in addition to the strategies of inquiry utilised. The methods and tools for collecting and analysing empirical data have to be stated and described upfront. The researcher in this study aimed with the construction of the research design for the Child Support Group Evaluation Study to answer and adhere to the underlying premises as set forth by Denzin and Lincoln (2005) and is visually presented and summarised in Figure 4.1.
The empirical data sources and the theory-driven qualities of the intervention programme guided the researcher to utilise a mixed-method approach. A theory-driven programme outcome evaluation was furthermore utilised to evaluate the efficaciousness of the child support group intervention. The concurrent nested QUALquan mixed-method design was decided upon as it provided a rich description of the child support group intervention. The pragmatist and realism paradigms support the use of a mixed-method approach as this approach provide insight into what and why the intervention might have worked well or not. The children and mother participants and their environment are clearly defined in the following sections as well as the methods and tools used for collecting and analysing the empirical data of the theory-driven intervention to give a clear picture of how the research design was constructed and decided upon.
Nested multiple case study design
The qualitative research problem (refer to par. 4., p.148) is explored by means of comparative data analysis and an in-depth interpretation of multiple case studies. A nested multiple case study design is a holistic investigation that studies a contemporary phenomenon in its setting.
The phenomenon may refer to either an individual or to a specific programme, activity or event (Harling, 2002). In the Child Support Group Evaluation Study it refers to an intervention programme. The setting is the context wherein the phenomenon occurs. Two settings were utilised for the intervention programme. The Mamelodi and Atteridgeville settings are fully described in paragraph 10, p.172. The holistic enquiry involves rich, indepth data description from multiple sources of observation. The multiple sources indicated in the Child Support Group Evaluation Study are summarised in Appendix 2. A nested multiple case study design for the Child Support Group Evaluation Study was chosen. The data of the full data set of 163 cases (participants) who attended the group support sessions and received the intended treatment was used.
The Child Support Group Evaluation Study includes multiple cases to provide a “general understanding using a number of instrumental case studies that occurred in multiple sites” (Harling, 2002, p.2). Multiple cases and sites have the added benefit that it is robust and provide more compelling results than a single case study (Yin, 2009). A case study allows a researcher to gain a holistic view of a specific (in this case child support groups) phenomenon (Noor, 2008). A multiple case study is also referred to by Stake (1995) as a collective case study and is similar in nature. A case study enables a researcher to answer the “how” and “why” type of questions while taking into consideration the multi-directional relationship between the context and the case study participants (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Rowly, 2002). This type of design supports bio-ecological system theory research. Yin (2009) proposes furthermore that different types of data evidence have to be used and triangulated when the research questions are answered to minimise critique and to maximise generalisability. The embedded units of analysis are described by Yin (2009) as data that originates from different layers of a case study. The nested multiple case study design followed in the Child Support Group Evaluation Study made it possible to analyse data on different levels of the intervention as for instance on the careworker level, mother participant level, child level, project coordinator level and community level.
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
1. Introduction
2. Background to the Child Support Group Evaluation Study
3. Purpose of the study
4. Rationale of the study
5. Research questions
6. Clarification of key concepts
7. Assumptions
8. Limitations
9. Significance of the Child Support Group Evaluation Study
10. Literature review
11. Methodology and procedures
12. Outline of chapters
CHAPTER 2 Literature Review
1. Introduction
2. The latent child’s experience of maternal illness
3. The psychosocial effects of maternal HIV and Aids on children
4. Resilience of young children in the context of HIV/Aids
5. Intervention groups for children
6. Theoretical framework
7. Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 Research design and Methodology
1. Introduction
2. Research paradigms
3. Research design
4. Research questions posed in the Child Support Group Evaluation Study
5. Participant selection and sampling procedure
6. Data-collection
7. Data analysis and validation procedures
8. The Promoting Resilience in Young Children Study assessment battery (quantitative data collection methods
9. Child Support Group Evaluation Study – qualitative data collection methods
10. The intervention setting
11. The Promoting Resilience in Young Children Study intervention programme
12. Facilitator training and the implementation process
13. Staff of the Promoting Resilience in Young Children Study
14. Cost of the group sessions
15. Ethical issues in evaluating the Child Support Group Evaluation Study
16. Role of the researcher
17. Summary
CHAPTER 4 Data Analysis and Results
1. Introduction
2. Population characteristics
3. Quantitative analysis of the child-focused questionnaires
4. Qualitative analysis (individual group members)
5. Qualitative analysis of the groups
6. Qualitative interpretation
7. Quantitative interpretation of the Child Support Group Evaluation Study (childfocused questionnaires
8. Summary
CHAPTER 5 Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
1. Introduction
2. Summary
3. Further limitations of the study
4. Strengths of the study
5. Conclusions
6. Executive summary
7. Contributions of the study
8. Recommendations
9. Further research
10. Synopsis of key findings
REFERENCES
References
