B. Macrae McDermott and Dr. Valerie Hudson, Political Science
I recently completed the data collection portion of the research project entitled “Security in South Africa: The Perceptions of Women.” With the aid of my faculty mentor, I developed a mixed method, ethnographic field study in order to gain a greater understanding of women’s perceptions of safety and security in South Africa. From May through November 2010, I lived in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa in order to conduct this study.
Population/Sample: For this study I planned to focus on the perceptions of security of adult women in East London, South Africa. I originally chose to focus my study on adult women aged 18 and older. I hoped that by maintaining a broad sample population with solely a minimum age of involvement, I would be able to represent an expected diversity of opinions. I believed that I would find opinions to vary according to age, race, and marital status. I hoped that through my various methodologies, I would be able to identify differences and find various commonalities.
As my project developed, I recognized that it would be challenging to make any sort of conclusion with such a broad sample set. While in the field, I conducted several interviews with women of various ages and recognized a need to emphasize the opinions of young adult women. With the approval of the IRB, I narrowed the focus of my sample to women aged 17-29. As my project intended to identify the concerns of women and to give a voice to those who felt absent from the security discussion, I began to see that the young adult age bracket felt particularly absent from security and safety discussions in South Africa. Those young adult women interviewed not only felt as if they had little say in security discussions, they also felt that they were by far the most susceptible to feeling insecure and unsafe.
Through the narrowing of my sample, I was able to more deeply come to identify the major concerns of young adult women. I particularly focused on learning what these women did in order to establish safety. Most women I spoke with explained that they never felt completely safe. They were always feeling as if there was some risk that they needed to minimize. Through this adjustment, I was able to gain a greater understanding of this segment of the population in East London, South Africa. Ages of women involved in the research spanned the 17 to 29 window. The four main race groups in South Africa (black, Coloured, Indian, and white) were all represented. Both single and married women, as well as mothers and non-mothers, were represented. This allowed for the possibility of various comparisons and included the other variables I had originally intended to highlight, although used differently than originally intended.
Methods: Original planned data collection methods included both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Qualitative methods included 4-6 focus groups to discuss the topic of security, 35-50 semi-structured interviews to elaborate on information found in focus groups, and the utilization of domain analysis in the form of free-listing to determine terminology usage on discussed topics. Additionally, a quantitative survey was developed with the intent to distribute to 60-80 respondents.
Several adjustments to methods and method implementations were necessary while in the field. First, methods used were narrowed down to allow a greater emphasis on the semi-structured interview portion of the research. One focus group was conducted, but I quickly realized that more could be accomplished through semi-structured interviewing in terms of the information I hoped to learn. As feelings on safety and security are very personal, it made more sense for this project, to steer away from group discussions and move immediately to individual interviewing. Second, free-listing was given crucial attention in each interview and proved essential to effective interviewing. Third, the developed survey is no longer playing a key role in my analysis.
I completed 20 semi-structured interviews. Individuals within in the sample set represented the four main race groups in South Africa. The breakdown of interviewees is as follows:
Race:
Black: 8
Coloured: 6
Indian: 1
White: 5
Additionally, a variety of ages were represented. Although attention was focused on young adult women, prior to the focus being made, older subjects were interviewed, and I intend to allow the information collected to aid in the analysis process. Ages of respondents ranged from 17 to 80. It is also important to note that the sample set contained single, married, divorced, and widowed women as well as mothers and non-mothers. This acted as a way to focus attention on other possible factors that might affect perceptions on safety. Various education and income levels were also represented. In the seven months that I was in the field, I believed that it would be impossible to effectively represent the opinions of all adult women, I decided that narrowing age range and showing diversity of opinions was more appropriate as an introductory study on this topic.
Free-listing proved crucial in understanding terminology and was an essential part of each interview. I would not have been able to obtain the information I did without the use of this method.
Although a survey was developed and distributed to approximately 70 individuals, return was dismal. My return rate was approximately 5%. I hope to return to South Africa and focus more attention on the survey in order for it to be used in analysis.
Analysis: I am now preparing to begin my in-depth analysis of all data collected. I am in the process of transcribing the interviews conducted. I plan to follow the transcription process with qualitative data analysis software (NVivo 8). I hope to publish my findings and make the information available to other researchers with similar interests. I also hope to present my findings and prepare to expand this research in the future. I hope to incorporate a wider array of research methods, as originally planned.