Question 1
(a) The research design used is a case control study which has the following features:
A fairly large time frame was used to study from July 2005 to April 2007,
In depth detailed and intensive descriptive analysis of what is going on, is there a relationship between variables and what influences an outcome. It focuses on detailed structures or interrelationship observed within each individual. The research wanted to explore the relationship between use of biomass and kerosene fuel on Tuberculosis (TB), the relationship between use in cooking or lighting and TB and if the relationship between TB and vitamin consumption, religion and residence outside Kaski.
The case or cases are not necessarily selected by a formal sampling process. Cases were instead commonly chosen by virtue of having a certain characteristic of interest to the research. Instead purposive sampling was used to recruit all female patients aged 20 to 65 years who visited the Tuberculosis (TB) clinics in MTH and RTC. Those diagnosed with TB were treated as the cases and controls were taken from outpatient and inpatient departments.
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Has at least one level of purposive sampling so that it is non generalisable. Because non-probability sampling was used, the results cannot be used for making statistical generalisation about the population. Also the sample of 125 cases and 250 controls was too small to generalise the findings.
Case study research commonly operates within an inductive tradition that is examine critically, explore and develop theory. From this research, theory can be deduced by linking the causes of TB to the prevalence of the disease.
The design is used to examine and understand phenomena within a real life context. In this case the real context is the prevalence of TB and its potential causes.
The design uses a variety of techniques for data collection namely observation, interviews, questionnaire and numerical data. Observation were done through visits to view the types of shelters lived in by participants. Questionnaires were used to collect data on history of cooking fuels and stoves, education level, kitchen type and ventilation, smoking history and consumption of alcohol.
Holistic in approach in order to make sure that every aspect of the phenomena being studied is investigated with control and cases being fully investigated in a similar fashion. (369)
(b) Main Findings of the study
Indoor exposure to smoke from biomass fuel combustion is a risk factor for TB
Association is mainly with the use of biomass for heating than cooking
Poor house ventilation posses much risk of TB
Exposure to smoke from kerosene fuel combustion either in stove or in lamps is a risk factor for TB
Smoking is a risk factor of TB with the association increasing with of years of smoking.
Religion income residence outside Kaski district, vitamin consumption a family history of TB are associated with TB
TB is associated with biomass used as heating fuel
The Odds Ratio found to be high among both Kerosene stove and lamp users
Robustness of the findings
In this study a systematic procedure for recruitment of all controls from inpatient and outpatient department from MTH was used – only one control refused to participate. This procedure removed selection bias.
All controls came from one hospital MTH instead of the two hospitals. There was potential of exclusion bias.
Compared with other researches on the association between smoking and TB and cooking fuel and TB, to make sure that the research was not in isolation and to concentrate on improvement.
Adjusted for area of residence in the final model to reduce selection bias and enhance dynamism of the research.
Number of participants is very low for it to generate generalisation
Information bias was prevented as diseases misclassification did not occur. X-ray was used to confirm absence of other non TB respiratory diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease or pneumonia among controls. Active Pulmonary TB was diagnosed by clinical test, controls by chest x-rays and on spot sputum smear testing.
To avoid inclusion or exclusion error, an interviewee who had pulmonary TB was transferred to the case group from the control group. Those with diabetes and HIV were excluded.
The questionnaires asked daily issues and followed by home visits to verify high level of reporting and to avoid recall bias.
Confounding bias was prevented by collecting data on a much comprehensive range of exposures and investigated their potential to confound the association with fuel use.
(366 words)
Question 2
Qualitative research like any research start by a research question on a particular situation.
Qualitative research is based on the principle of constructivism or Idealist which recognise the subjective creation and imposition by people contextually (Flick et al, 2000). It is an ontological position which implies that social properties are a product of interaction.
Also another important principle is of interpretivisim which emphasises there is no exact standard for definition. It is epistemological which stresses on understanding of the world through an examination and the interpretation of the world by its participants (Bryman, 2016).
Qualitative research is subjective since the transcribing, coding and interpretation is all based on subjective interpretation of the researcher without standard measure of feedback (Drake and Johnson,2008).
It is multi-method in approach. It Involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials. There is also more emphasis on holistic forms of analysis and explanation (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994).
Most data is collected through procedurally through close participant observation under ethical guidelines. Qualitative data analysis processes data which is language based – use words which are descriptive in nature and is associated with ethnographic research. More time is spend with participants to obtain information such as visuals, audios, field noted which are not necessarily measurable. Thus most data is collected through observation, interviews and focus groups
Collected data need analysis to make it meaningful. Qualitative research is inductive where theory is systematically produced through the process of induction (Flick et al, 2000). There is no testing of a theory or knowledge set. It is grounded theory where theory is deduced from data. The researcher must develop themes from the data through coding. The coded data can be analysed through rigorous formulating and reformulating of hypotheses until no deviant cases are found- the theoretical saturation principle. Thus qualitative design is iterative.
Then follows the theory write up from the data analysis where the memos are conceptually sorted into a summary of emergent theory reviewing relationships between concepts. (332)
(b)
Interviewer: So how did the dugong fishers process their catch?
Informant: Well, it was a slow process. The nets were left in the bay for a few
nights and then we would go round early one morning in the boat, and the
carcasses would be cut from the nets. Sometimes they were still alive and we’d
have to finish them off. Made a real mess of the nets, getting them out. And the
carcasses would be bloated by that time, which helped actually ’cause that way we
could float them to the beach. Then they were butchered, and the Indigenous boys
sic would be paid in meat, that was what they wanted most. It took hours to
finish the butchering and then we’d have to repair the nets.
In the early days we used to boil down the carcasses for oil, but that business
dried up after a while. Back in the old days even the bones and the hides got used.
But after that we just concentrated on the meat. That was what people wanted.
The meat was really good. It had a flavour you couldn’t really describe. We never
had any trouble shifting all the meat. We’d get a few dozen dugong at a time,
which was as much as we could manage.
Interviewer: How many dugong did you catch in a season?
Informant: We’d catch about a dozen or so each time we set the nets, so that could
easily be a hundred or so in a year. But towards the end we were catching less. In
the early days we’d put the nets out and we’d take a dozen or more. But then it
became harder to catch them and towards the end we’d bring in three or four each
time we put the nets out. By the end they had definitely become more scarce,
although I think the animals are probably still out there if you know where to find
them. But by that time the way of catching dugong had changed anyway and it was
as easy to go out in a dinghy with a gun and catch them that way. But this fishery
continued to use the method using nets, right up until it closed down when the
fishery was regulated. That was in around 1967, I think.
Interviewer: Why do you think it became harder to catch dugong?
Informant: Well the dugong is a very timid animal, and I think they got wary of
the nets and the places where we were setting them. In the early days they would
congregate in these enormous herds and it was easy to take a reasonably large
number at once. But their behaviour changed once the fishery became established.
I think the Indigenous Aboriginal hunting can’t have helped either, and that’s still
going on, and there aren’t any restrictions on that. And then I think they are quite
vulnerable to what happens with the sea-grass that they feed on, because I think
that tends to come and go as well.
The government says it was basically to do with over-fishing, but I don’t think it
was anything to do with that because the numbers we took can’t have been
anything like the numbers out there, not when you take into account how few
fisheries there were. The yield of our fishery was something like a hundred or so a
year but that’s nothing compared with the unlimited resources of the sea. I think
it’s more that the behaviour of the animals changed as they got used to what we
were doing.
I don’t understand why the restrictions needed to be so strict, really. We provided
food for the people round here and that was what you had to do.
Annotation and coding of transcript
BUS : Processes and trade items from the fishing business
EVE: Change in behaviour and other eventsMET: Method of fishing
PEP: Actors/ participants (People, animals, community
Coding help in developing relationship between concepts, time sequence of the fishing business and the competing fishing methods.
Coding indicates trade opportunities such as high quality meat, bones and carcase and hides spelt out in question 1.
Change in fishing methods over time is possible through coding from nets being left out in the bay and being floated to beach, to gun in Q2 and a regulated fishery in Q3. Competition has occurred affecting the respondent’s business prospects.
The changes brought by competition makes the speaker nostalgic of the pre 1967 era. The speaker thinks the dugong behavior was influenced to change by reduction in feed, intelligence of the fish and overfishing.
The respondent seems to respect the dugongs at the expense of other humans as seen by the use of “them” referring to fish and “indigenous” referring to other people. Not any form of association to other people or groups in the responses shows an unsympathetic person who just want to make a living from the dugongs.
Question 3
Case study design of WMPRASampling error
To reduce sampling error, sampling frames were created from maps showing all households in each village by the local residents and checked several times. However the use of local residents in itself though they know the area to come up with the correct maps, they may not be technically equipped. They can be biased in the creation of maps and boundaries.
The 341 households used in the survey is too small a number to generalise the research findings given the size of the target population spanning over 230km2 . The further reduction of the households from the initial 341 to 123 for logistical reasons further compromised the research finding. However to reduce sampling error a systematic random sampling was used.
The follow up interviews on the 30 fishers also is too small a number to rely on for generalisation of the findings. It is expected that the use of the various tools complement each other and improve the nature of the data collected and generalisations.
Sampling related errors
In this study this type of error emanated from the decision to sample the whole Watamu village. The decision resulted in an inaccurate sampling frame. Also associated with such is the non responsiveness.
The poverty wealth ranking (PWR) where households were ranked from the most to the least wealthy compounded the sampling related errors as PWR was not standard. For example the poorest in creek villages included skipping a meal or two per day, lows levels of education and lack of material assets and housing problems. By contrast in Watamu even the poorest had 3 meals per day and there were no reports of individuals lacking a house.
To improve on the poverty wealth ranking accuracy, the rankings were carried out three times per village to cross check people’s perception of wealth and placement of individual household.
Data collection error
Flaws in the administration of the research instruments such as personal interviews, observations and questionnaires resulted in data collection errors as follows:
Interviews
Problems from interview arise for misunderstanding from the interviewee or respondents, memory problems from the respondents where they cannot remember in detail what has happened historically in a long time. The uneducated creek villagers did not keep any records on sales to confirm their income. Poorly worded questions in an interviews can cause problems in the interpretation and responses. The way the question is asked by the interviewer affects the outcome of the research if they don’t have the necessary skills and practice. Some participants did not understand Italian or English and efforts to circumvent this by engaging interpreters could possibly result in misinterpretation.
Questionnaire
In trying to reduce data collection error through questionnaires, a household questionnaire was administered at four different points of the year reflecting distinct tourism seasons. However the required information was too much, and demanded too much time from the respondents. Failure to pay attention to detail when preparing the questionnaire result in grammatical and formatting errors which can influence the respondents’ first impression and attitude in answering the questionnaire(Bryman, 2016). The questionnaire structure can also affect the responses if questions are not ordered correctly. Also the low level of literacy result in some subjects not participating. All the above have the effect on the research findings. To improve on response the respondents remained anonymous and this enabled them to freely express themselves.
Observations
Personal observations which confirms that there was higher wealth in Watamu than creek villagers need trained observers to avoid observation errors and bias. Errors also emanated in the huge number of parameters to be observed.
Survey gave snapshot view of who had been engaged in fishing and or tourism over the year. However livelihood trajectories (LTJ) revealed that livelihood choices fluctuate over a much larger time scale than a year.
Lastly with regards to all the above, poor recording of information result in the outcome of the research being biased and unreliable.
Data processing Error
These are errors which arise from the management of collected data. Common among them is coding error where information collected is wrongly or poorly coded (Bryman, 2016). The transcribing of LTJ and entry of data into Atlas.ti for coding could result in errors. (706 words)
Question 4
In depth household interviews were undertaken to collect data. This method helped in bonding the researcher and the respondents. The creation of trust further improved the rapport and the participants felt comfortable and were very cooperative. In depth interviews allowed for probing and prompting which enables the research to collect as much information from the respondents as possible. The interviewees feel very important with the personal touch since the sample was small and thus the researcher collected maximum information on the feelings, attitudes and perceptions regarding community forest management.
Interviewees are not influenced by others is a group and high response rates are achieved. The use of respondents’ own words avoid any misinterpretation of the responses. Interviewers can also monitor change in tone and other non verbal communications. The respondent complement of 80 is workable with since in depth interviews need fewer participants to glean useful information.
Stratified random sample of 40 house hold was used in each Barangay was taken for a total of 80 household interviews. The list of household was obtained from the provincial management office and verified to avoid duplication. Stratified random sampling was used as there existed a heterogeneous population, 2 homogenous population groups the Bagon Silan and Bago which lie within the boundary of the NNNP. This approach makes the sample reflect the population being studied. It provides better coverage of the population since there is control of the subgroups. There is no under representation of the population subgroup thereby reducing sampling error and the finding would be reflective of the population groups. To avoid duplication error, a list of households that had been awarded a CSC by the DENR under ISFP was obtained from the Provincial Management Office and verified with the above. The relevance of the sample was buttressed by consultation of the tribal leader to identify the indigenous people and their household.
Stratified random sampling ensures that the resulting sample will be distributed in the same way as the population (Bryman, 2016). Since the relevant information on population groups the process was quite feasible and more than one stratifying criterion could be used.
The interviews were done with the assistance of an interpreter and native speaker. Interpreter help respondents to understand the questions better in their own native language and thus they can also freely and correctly respond. Thus exclusion errors based on language were avoided.
Systematic and open ended questions
The use of systematic questions mean all respondents were asked the same questions and in the same order. This is good in that the same type of data will be collected and it makes analysis and comparison easier. If they do not have an idea, respondents can just answer what they know without being forced to lie based on set answers.
The use of open ended question also allow the interviewees to express themselves in their own words. As mentioned earlier the researcher can get more information on the feelings, attitudes and opinion regarding the situation in NNNP. Open ended questions reduce errors and bias as interviewees freely respond without any threats. Answers from open ended questions can be used for other future researches.
Quantitative data about cultivated parcel area, claimed parcel area etc was collected from each household. Quantitative data allows a broader study, involving huge number of subject and enhancing statistical generalisation of facts. Greater objectivity in the formulation of hypothesis ensures accuracy of results. The employment of prescribed procedures to ensure validity and reliability means the research can be replicated elsewhere and comparisons made across categories and over time. Personal bias can be avoided by researcher maintain distance from participants and employing strangers.
Statistical comparison using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Fischer exact test to compare groups for binary variables and t- test. Anova can be used to test for means of several populations.
The research also employed a mixed research approach which taps into the strength of both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The method also overcomes the shortfalls of the two approaches when implemented individually. It also works to confirm and explain findings through triangulation.
(685 words)
Question 5
In depth household interviews
The challenges associated with interview is that respondents can give responses that they think they are social desirable instead of standing in the truth. Also because the interviews are in depth, they tend to be time consuming and affect results from the respondents at the end of each cycle when the interviewer is tired. Time is also consumed when transcribing, analysing and coding of the responses. There is also need to provide incentives to participants to motivate them and so avoid biased responses. Because of the time and incentive aspects, interviews are generally costly. It is not clear whether each member or a single member of the household was interviewed. If all were interviewed, it would further exacerbate the time and cost factors. However if one individual is interviewed, the danger would be on using his personal opinions to represent the opinions of the whole household. If the interviwer is not skilled and experienced the process is undermined.
Stratified random sample of 40 house hold was used in each Barangay was taken for a total of 80 household interviews. The list of household was obtained from the provincial management office and verified to avoid duplication. However the need to identify every member of the population being studied and classify it can be time consuming. It is difficult to find an exhaustive list of the entire population and classify every member (Investopedia, 19 August 2018) .
Also in real life the existence in multiple groups is unavoidable and if these are included in the sample it result in a biased sample. In this research it is also very difficult for a tribal leader identify all indigenous households. According to Bryman (2016) it is also uneconomical because the identification of the population for stratification is tedious since there is no listing in terms of strata
Interviews done with the assistance of an interpreter and native speaker
However the use of interpreters can be problematic if they misinterpret the question. This result in wrong responses being given based on wrong question. The other problem is on mistranslation which like interpretation can make the interviews very long. There problems are of interpreting non verbal, idiomatic communication and other native words which do not have an English equivalent. All these lead to loss of meaning and research information.
Systematic and open ended questions
The challenge with open ended question is that they can result in the interviews taking too long and the interviewer might not have written everything said. Interpretation, transcribing and analysis could be difficult especially from the 80 respondents. Open ended question result in inter-coding and intra-coding errors (Bryman, 2016)
Quantitative data about cultivated parcel area, claimed parcel area etc. The limitations with quantitative data usage and analysis lies in the collection of narrow and superficial data set. The use of standard question could cause structural bias as the data reflects the view of the researcher instead of participants. The results are often limited as they provide numerical description rather than a detailed narrative and will not reflect how people feel about or perceive a subject.
Statistical comparison using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Fischer exact test to compare groups for binary variables and t- test.
Anova test for means cannot be used to test which means is different from the others. Thus it needs support of other tests. Fischer’s test is conservative because its rejection rate is below the nominal level of significance. If there are extreme values the range is affected thereby making statistical analysis unrepresentative.
(594 words)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bryman, A., 2016. Social Research Methods, 5th edition. Oxford University Press.
(https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041615/what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-stratified-random-sampling.asp).
Drake, B., ; Jonson-Reid, M., 2008. Social work research methods: From conceptualization to dissemination. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Flick, U., Kardoff, E.V., ; Steinke, I. (Eds)., 2000. A companion to qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications
Rubin, A. ;Babbie, E., 2008. Research Methods for Social Work, 6th edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Brooks/Cole.
Yegidis, B.L. ; Weinbach, R.W., 2002. Research methods for social workers, 4th edition. Boston, Mass: Allyn and Bacon.
