Chapter 4 METHODOLOGY

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1 42 Chapter 4 METHODOLOGY Introduction In this chapter the research design, data collection methods, sampling methods as well as the procedures that were followed for this research are discussed. The instruments that were used in this research will also be briefly discussed. 4.1 Research design This study employed a non-experimental survey type design. Over the years the concept of research design has seen a number of definitions and its definition is reported to be ambiguous. What researchers do agree on is that it involves some form of plans about the research (De Vos & Fouché, 1998). A research design refers to a detailed plan of how a research study is going to be conducted or how it was conducted from data collection to analysis of the research (Hyusamen 1993 as cited in de Vos & Fouché, 1998). Fouché (1998) emphasized the importance of differentiating between research design and data collection. Design refers to plan, and provides a guideline for data collection method that is appropriate to the selected research design. Research designs can either be qualitative or quantitative in their approach, and in this study a quantitative approach was adopted. The quantitative approach was utilized as the main aim of the study was to objectively measure work-family conflict, sense of coherence, coping resources and job satisfaction (De Vos, 1998). Since the area of study is virtually unknown within the South African context the design can also be said to be exploratory (De Vos & Fouché, 1998). Within the quantitative approach different types can be identified, they include exploratory, quasi, explanatory, and survey designs, and it is the latter that was adopted in this study (De Vos & Fouché, 1998). Survey design use self-report measurement techniques to question people about themselves, and since questionnaires were used in this study survey design was appropriate (Cozby, 1997). This design is also helpful in indicating trends in attitudes and behaviors but do suffer from several limitations (Kerlinger, 1986; Rice, 1999). These include unanswered questions, lack of spontaneous response, and lack of control on who answers the

2 43 questionnaires. Lastly, it is reported to be best adopted for extensive rather than intensive research (Kerlinger, 1986). However, this approach does come with its own advantages and they include: It saves time, and expenses and the amount of quality information yielded is valid (Kerlinger, 1986) Interviewer bias is reduced because participants complete identically worded self-reported measures (Bailey, 1987) Depending on the effectiveness of sampling techniques, there can be better generazability, however, this was not the case in this study due to low sample size There is greater privacy for the participants (Dane, 1990). This held most true to this study as participants completed the measures in their own privacy. 4.2 Data collection method As mentioned earlier a quantitative approach was adopted in this research. Methods of collecting data relevant to this approach can be through questionnaires, checklists and lastly indexes and scales (Fouché, 1998). It was the questionnaires that were used as a means of collecting data in this research. Various types of questionnaires can be identified and they include mailed, telephonic, personal, hand-delivered, and lastly group administered questionnaires (ibid). The research was aimed at female general practitioners situated in the Gauteng province. Thus due to the geographical circumstances it was then felt that mailed questionnaires would be the most suitable for this research. Grinnell and Williams (1990) defined mailed questionnaires as those questionnaires that are sent off by mail to potential participants with the hope that they will respond and then return the questionnaires. It is reported that unfortunately that does not always happen and in fact a return rate of 50% is considered as adequate (Fouché, 1998). Over and above this, missing data is likely to occur, as respondents will tend to ignore questions they do not understand and this might render the questionnaire invalid for use in research. Lastly, the researcher does not have any control on who answers the sent questionnaire (ibid). However, in spite of the low return rate it is reported that the mailed questionnaire is the survey technique most frequently used (Powers, Meenaghan, & Toomey 1985, as cited in Fouché, 1998). This type of questionnaire has its own advantages and perhaps that is what makes it attractive to researchers (Fouché, 1998) and they are:

3 The costs are relatively low, however this is relative to direct interviewing of a equivalent sample size A wide geographical area is covered without a huge increase in cost Respondents enjoy a high degree of freedom in completing the questionnaires Information can be gathered from a large number of respondents in a brief period of time All respondents are offered the same stimuli, thus there is low contaminatory influence from the researcher. It was these advantages that made the mailed questionnaire more attractive and appropriate to this research. 4.3 Sampling method and participants A sample is the element of the population who are considered for inclusion in a research study (Strydom & De Vos, 1998). There are two types of sampling techniques that exist (Cozby 1997; De Vos & Fouché, 1998). According to Strydom & De Vos (1998) probability sampling is based on randomisation. This implies that each person in the identified population of study has the same or equal probability of being selected. With non-probability sampling on the other hand chances of a person of being included in the study are unknown (Bailey, 1987). Cozby (1997) mentioned that non-probability sampling techniques are arbitrary. A population may be defined, but little effort is made to ensure that the sample accurately represents the population whereas in probability sampling it is ensured that the sample will provide a larger representation of the population of study (Cairns, 2001). Although the researcher attempted to select from a sampling frame the level of non-response resulted in a de facto non-probability sample. There are various approaches to the non-probability sampling and they are accidental (convenience), purposive, quota, dimensional, target, snowballing and spatial sampling (Strydom & De Vos, 1998). For this study two methods of non-probability sampling were utilised, that is, accidental and snowballing. Accidental sampling makes use of the take them where you find them approach (Cozby, 1997). Thus this approach makes use of those individuals who are readily available until a desired number of individuals are achieved. For this research this implied that only those

4 45 female GP s who responded to the mailed questionnaires and then returned them were included as part of the study. Needless to say, its limitation lies in the fact that researchers cannot generalize results with high levels of confidence. Cozby (1997) reported that systematic error could easily occur and as a result give a distorted view because the sample easily misrepresents the population. Despite its disadvantages this type of sampling is reported to be utilised in most research (Patton, 1987). Its advantages are said to lie in the fact that it is very convenient for the researchers as it saves cost and time and this held true for this study (Cozby, 1997). Snowballing sampling on the other hand involves approaching an individual who is involved in the phenomenon to be investigated in order to gain information on other similar individuals (Strydom & De Vos, 1998). In turn the identified individual is also requested to give information about similar individuals, thus creating a chain about similar individuals until the desired number of the population of study is reached (ibid). In this study this meant that those female GP s who were contacted by phone or individually where asked to give information of other female GP s that they know. Breakwell, Hammond and Fife-Schaw (1997) reported that the disadvantage of this sampling method lies in the fact that it can contain built-in bias, meaning that the researcher is put in contact with people who are in the same social networks thus ignoring individuals who form part of other social networks. Basically the study consisted of female GP s who are in private practice most of whom were obtained through the snowballing sampling method and female GP s who are employed in government hospitals and group private practices who were obtained through convenience sampling. 4.4 Instruments According to De Vos & Fouché (1998) it is important for the quantitative instruments used in research to meet the following criteria: they must be valid, reliable and brief. A number of questionnaires were used in this research and their properties will be discussed below.

5 Biographical questionnaire (See Appendix C) This was the questionnaire developed by the researcher in order to obtain participants personal demographics and was based on a literature review. It was felt that this was needed not only in order to contextualise the results, but to make the results much more meaningful. This questionnaire required the following information: age, marital status, the type of work setting and whether it is full or part time, the number of hours worked per week, if participants have children and if so, to specify how many as well as the age of the youngest, and lastly the quality of relationship with patients. Some items on the questionnaire were close-ended whereas some items were open-ended Work-family conflict scale (WFCS) (See Appendix D) To measure work-family conflict, two four item measures were used, the Work Interfering with Family (W F) and Family Interfering with Work (F W) measures, developed by Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly (1983); and Burley (1989) respectively as cited in Gutek et al (1991). The two measures were chosen as they assess the bi-directional nature of WFC. According to Gutek et al (1991), a factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed that the items for the two scales loaded on separate factors. Both measures of the work-family conflict achieved similar levels of internal consistency reliability and proved to be valid (ibid). These researchers reported a Cronbach s alpha, which is a form of internal consistency coefficient that suggests that the scale is reliably tapped. The alpha coefficients varied from amongst the working women under study (ibid). This suggests a good level of reliability for these scales. In the current study the Cronbach s alpha was reported to be 0.80 again suggesting good reliability Orientation to life (SOC-29) (See Appendix E) This is a 29-item questionnaire that was developed by Antonovsky (1987), and it assesses the strength and weakness of the SOC in the individual. In South Africa, Strumpfer and Wissing (1998) reported the means and standard deviations for Black and White samples from their largest samples, which can be used for general interpretive purposes (Jooste, 2001). However, these should be viewed as preliminary due to the fact that the intention was not to provide normative information. While field-testing the measure, Antonovsky reported that the measure shows a respectable

6 47 degree of internal consistency and was found to be reliable (Antonovsky, 1987). In South Africa, evidence of cross-cultural applicability was found (Wissing & van Eeden, 1997). Jooste (2001) reported that the SOC-29 can be used on university students and adults and that it is used in a research capacity to study factors which promote psychosocial health and well-being. The SOC-29 is used for both interviewing and self-completion purposes and has five facet items, where each scale item includes four facets describing a stimulus, while the fifth facet expresses one of the three components of the SOC concept (i.e., comprehensibility, meaningfulness and manageability). This measure has been found to have evidence of test-retest reliability, as well as internal consistency reliability (Fox, 2000; Kassen, 2002; Le Roux, 2000). Studies have further shown a high content of face and contextual validity, and there are further indications of good construct validity. Criterion validity correlations have been found to be statistically significant (Madhoo, 1999). The current study reported Cronbach s alphas to the value of 0.86 for the Comprehensibility subscale, 0.60 for the Manageability and 0.88 for the Meaningfulness subscale. Thus indicating that except for the Manageability subscale the other two scales were reliability tapped. Perhaps the low reliably for the manageability scale was due to the small sample The Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) (See Appendix F) As mentioned earlier in the literature review coping resources were conceptualised using Hammer and Marting s (1988) conceptualisation of coping resources. Thus it was felt this measure would be appropriate for the study. The CRI is a 60-item measure that assesses coping resources that one utilises when confronted with stressors. Over and above, this measure assesses coping resources in a multidimensional manner (ibid). Respondents are required to respond to various statements on a separate answer sheet on a four point scale, they are: Never/rarely, sometimes, often and always/almost always. According to Hammer and Marting (1988) the measure takes about ten minutes to complete. The CRI was developed and standardised in the United States of America, therefore the norms used for the interpretation of the participants results will not necessarily be applicable to an African sample (Brown, 2002). In South Africa, the CRI has been used in a variety of studies (Brown, 2002; Cairns, 2001; Madhoo, 1999; Otto, 2002).

7 48 According to Hammer and Marting (1988), the item to scale reliability correlations was shown to posses fairly good homogeneity in terms of item content per scale. Brown (2002) reported that Cronbach s alpha was generated in her study sample. The internal consistency, which was measured by using Cronbach s alpha, possessed a range and pattern that suggests that the constructs in the CRI are fairly homogenous and reliability tapped and the item to scale reliability correlations were shown to posses fairly good homogeneity in terms of item content per scale. (Hammer & Marting, 1988). Pertaining to validity, the scale was found to have some scale inter correlations as well as predictive, convergent, divergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity (Hammer & Marting, 1988). In the current study a Cronbach s alpha for each subscale ranged from , thus indicating good reliability not only for the scale itself but for the subscales as well The Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) (See Appendix G) For this study Koeske, Kirk, Koeske, & Rauktis s (1994) Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) was used. It is a short 14-item scale and has been used in other studies in South Africa (Kirkpatrick, 1998). Respondents complete the questionnaire by indicating levels of satisfaction with their jobs from very satisfied to very dissatisfied. Koeske et al, (1994) reported that this scale was developed and validated in a series of studies for a period of over a decade amongst people in helping professionals. Since this instrument was developed for health professionals it was felt that it was the most appropriate for female general practitioners in this study. The reliability of this scale has been found to be adequate and the alpha reliabilities were originally reported to range from 0.83 to In her study of speech and audiologists therapists using the JSS, Kirkpatrick (1998) reported a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.90, thus indicating high level of internal reliability, which is still closer to the original reported reliability by Koeske et al (1994). In the current study a Cronbach s alpha coefficient of 0.90 was reported, again indicating good reliability. Over and above this, this value was consistent with the original study by Koeske et al (1994).

8 Procedure As already mentioned in the sampling methods, two approaches were used, namely snowballing and convenience sampling. With regard to the first one the researcher approached a number of Private Clinics within the Johannesburg area through their Public Relations Officers (PRO). This was done first by calling the private hospital/clinic and requesting to speak to the PRO. The research was explained to the PRO and a request was made to be put in contact with female GP s who are employed in that clinic. What came out of that was that there appeared to be very few female GP s in these private hospitals/clinics. Most of these clinics either had one or no female GP s employed in their premises. It was only in one private clinic that the PRO provided the researcher with six female GP s contact details employed there. The researcher then called these GP s and explained the research to them as well as to ask for their participation in the study. GP s were asked to provide contact details of other female GP s that they might know and as a result an overall list of 17 female GP s was produced, they were contacted and all of them agreed to participate and questionnaires were sent to them via the post. This took place in the period 10 th 30 th February Seeing that the first approach was not really fruitful, the researcher then approached the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) personally (an attempt to approach them via the post and through the web a few months before was unsuccessful no response was received) and again the purpose of research was explained. This was followed by a request to obtain postal addresses of all female GP s within the Gauteng area. Due to financial constraints the researcher only requested a list of 100 female doctors. They were chosen accidentally in that the first names that appeared on the records were chosen. Unfortunately the HPCSA does not keep telephonic records of any health professional registered with them. As such questionnaires were just sent without having prepared the potential participants. Based on the records obtained from the HPCSA 100 questionnaires were distributed via the post along with a self-addressed stamped return envelope on the 24 March All in all 117 questionnaires were distributed. By the 16 th of June only 28 questionnaires had been returned and 22 were completed, thus there was an extremely poor response. Six questionnaires were returned but not

9 50 used based on the following reasons: two were inappropriate since one participant was retired and the other was a specialist, two had emigrated, one simply just not interested, and lastly three were sent back due to the fact that the postal addresses had been closed. Again due to financial reasons it was felt that no further questionnaires could be distributed. Summary This chapter introduced the reader to the research methodology of the current research. Two types of sampling methods were used, that is, snow balling and convenience sampling. Data was collected using mailed questionnaires and this presented with its own consequences, namely low response rate. The instruments that were used for collecting data are: biographical, Work-Family Conflict Scale, Orientation to Life Scale, Coping Resources Inventory, and lastly the Job Satisfaction Scale. The next chapter discusses the statistics analysis, statistics procedures as well as the results obtained from the study.

THE PROFESSIONAL BOARD FOR PSYCHOLOGY HEALTH PROFESSIONS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA TEST DEVELOPMENT / ADAPTATION PROPOSAL FORM

FORM A THE PROFESSIONAL BOARD FOR PSYCHOLOGY HEALTH PROFESSIONS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA TEST DEVELOPMENT / ADAPTATION PROPOSAL FORM This document consists of two sections. Please complete section 1 if