Sixth Blog - Research Methodology

 

Research Methodology 

The research methodology for this proposal will be founded on the qualitative research methodology. The overall purpose of this study is to explore and analysis the role of the print media through information sharing and education in the development and education of black cricketers in South Africa through qualitative content analysis.

The researcher ontological view on the study is that print media has not done enough in their coverage, reporting and representation of black cricket in South Africa particularly South Africa’s black cricket talent to promote the black cricketers talent in the last five years. The recent South African cricket team which represents the country regularly in Test cricket has only three black players, Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngigi, although the team had coloured players, Dane Pietersen, Beuran Hendricks and one of Indian decent Kash Maharajah. Black Africans still represent 80% population of the country, this needs to be reflected in South African sport and the coverage of South African black talent. 

There is one main qualitative research question that researcher will like to investigate for this research. This question is looking at print media reports in the last five years. The question is has South African sport journalists done enough to advance the sporting talent of cricketers in townships and rural areas?  The research question call for the exploration of the coverage of cricket development for black cricketers in the townships and rural areas by the South African sport journalists. The qualitative approach that the researcher intends to use to investigate the research question is case study approach.

The standardized open-ended interview will used for this research because of the natural of the research and the interviewee professions. A structured interview is needed because participants will be asked identical questions, but the questions will be worded so that responses are open-ended.

For this proposal, the researcher will focus on mainly newspaper articles, and therefore the researchers units of analysis will be newspaper articles and columns. The target population for this research will be South African sport journalists and South African cricket correspondents. The work of these target population is readily accessible and available through their written articles.

Interviews

The standardized open-ended interview will used for this research because of the natural of the research and the interviewee professions. A structured interview is needed because participants will be asked identical questions, but the questions will be worded so that responses are open-ended.

The researcher will conduct these interviews telephonically as this could be the most cost effective and time saving method to successfully complete these interviews. A local sport journalist for the Pretoria community newspaper Rekord will be used as a pilot test. This will done to assist the researcher in determining if there are flaws, limitations, or other weaknesses within the interview design and will allow the researcher  to make necessary revisions prior to the implementation of the study.

The interviewees will be able to choose their own terms when answering questions. Carefully consideration will be taken to make the questions as natural as possible. The researcher will ask one question at a time to avoid confusing the respondents.  The researcher will also avoid asking the “why” questions and all questions will be clearly worded.

Criterion sampling technique will be used to sample the respondents through available newspaper articles and sport columns in the newspapers and online articles from the chosen newspapers. The criteria that needs to be met to be considered for the research are that the writers should have being writing on cricket for the last five years and/or a former cricketer who has being writing on cricket for the last five years. The respondents should be useful for identifying and understanding cases that are information rich.

Guest, Bunce, and Johnson (2006) suggests, “Saturation often occurs around 12 participants in homogeneous groups, to avoid reaching saturation a minimum of 12 participants and a maximum of 15 participants will be used for the research”. “Saturation is when you are no longer learning very much from additional interviewee” (Latham, 2013).

Careful consideration will be taken to choose both black and white respondents as the research deals with a sensitive race issues. Ethically the researcher is obliged to choose black and white respondents to avoid bias responses.

Observations

Because the researcher has prior knowledge of the coverage on transformation in cricket, a structured observation will be used. Furthermore, the researcher will be a non-participant while observing the participants. Participants newspaper articles, blog and newspaper columns will be mainly observed from the already produced work of participants. Observations will also assist the researcher to directly see what respondents do rather than rely on what they say.  

For this research, the researcher will focus on mainly newspaper articles, and therefore the researchers units of analysis will be newspaper articles and columns. The target population for this research will be South African sport journalists and South African cricket correspondents. The work of these target population is readily accessible and available through their written articles.

The method of constructed sampling which will focus on the weeks were mostly selection of black players was an issue in the media will be used. This sampling technique is more efficient than simple random sampling. An example of such sampling will be the week of the selection of Temba Bavuma for his first Test cap in relation to the selection of Steven Cook who made his Test debut in the same Test series as Temba Bavuma.

 Document Review

Sport news articles will be coded by thematic content analysis. The data will be analysed through extensive document review. The researcher will group and filter from newspaper articles a list of common perceptions in the reporting on the transformation in South African cricket will be drawn and analysed. This will be done in order to arrive at the conclusion of the role of the South African print media in transformation. Groups will include those who are for transformation and those who are against transformation in South African cricket. 

Document review involves indirect participation of the respondents; however, that although the goal of the research is to generate new knowledge, this can never take precedence over the rights and interests of individuals directly or indirectly participating in a research study.

 LIST OF SOURCES CONSULTED

1.      Guest, G, Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 24

 

2.      Gustafsson, J. 2017. Single case studies vs. multiple case studies: A comparative study: Halmstad. Halmstad University.

 

3.      Hancock & Algozzine, 2017. Doing Case Study Research, A practical guide for beginning researchers: New York. Teachers College

4.      Latham, J. R. (2013). A framework for leading the transformation to performance excellence part: CEO perspectives on forces, facilitators, and strategic leadership systems. Quality Management Journal, 20(2), 22.

 

5.      Pamela Baxter and Susan Jack. 2008. Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers: McMaster University, West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

 

6.      SCHOLZ R, W & Tietje, O. 2002. Embedded Case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge: London. Sage

7.      Zainal Z, 2007. Case study as a research method: Teknologi. Teknologi University.