CHAPTER 3

Research Methodology
Introduction
Delvin (2006) defines research methodology as a science of why and how research is done and
conducted scientifically. The main thrust of a research methodology is on the steps and
procedures taken by the researcher in studying the study problem and giving the reason or logic
behind each step and procedure adopted. This chapter provides an explanation of the procedural
framework used by the researcher. The chapter looks at the research design used by the
researcher, the sampling techniques, population’s size, data collection instruments used during
the research. The chapter finishes off by providing the data analysis plan, the ethical
considerations and limitations of the study.

Research design
For the purposes of the study, the study was highly qualitative. The researcher made use of an
exploratory research design. There seems to exist little literature on issues relating to the
challenges brought about by globalization on the conservation of church heritage in most
Christian churches. This is because such issues are still peripheral in theological studies
discourse in Zimbabwe. The researcher seeks to provide information that will bring to attention
the existing challenges associated social media and migration (components of globalization).
Hence adopting an exploratory research design is more appropriate and befitting as it helps the
researcher to explore information of benefit directly from the people involved. According to
Creswell (2005), the major goal of an exploratory researcher design is to expand the knowledge
on the topic being studied as well as to get hold of recent data and knowledge into the research
area and sequentially devise realistic answers to the noted problems. Due to this reason, the
researcher opts for an exploratory research design.

Qualitative research
The researcher adopted a qualitative research stance with the sole purpose of its capability to
provide were explanation measurements. Scats (2005) notes that, qualitative research enables the
researcher to determine the manner, principles and intentions as well as the conducts of the
populace under examination. The main objective of each research is to provide in examination of
the existing knowledge gap, in such a manner the researcher sought to bring to the surface the
challenges of migration and social media on the Seventh Day Adventist church heritage. With
this in mind, qualitative analysis is the most appropriate technique to use for the study.
Qualitative research technique is applauded due to its ability to give data straight from the field
using techniques such as questionnaires and interviews.

Population size

The population size for the study is 653 337 people living in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province
and the population comprise of both sexes of different nationalities. Statistics of the number of
Seventh Day Adventist church members in the province could not be secured hence the
researcher provided population size of the general population of people in the province.

Study Site
The study makes use of SDA churches in the Bulawayo Metropolitan province for the research.
This is because the area is convenient for the researcher, who happens to stay in Bulawayo.
Bulawayo metropolitan province is located in the south west of the country, and is the second
largest city in Zimbabwe. It is home to about 653 337 people and the population comprises of
both sexes of different nationalities although the majority are local Zimbabweans. The Seventh
Day Adventist church is one of the prominent churches in the province.

Sample size and characteristics

The sample size for the research comprised one hundred participants. The selection of
participants will be highly on voluntary basis and all the participants voluntarily engaged as
participants. The sample size constitutes of fifty females and fifty males. The researcher
randomly selected ten SDA churches as distributed in the metropolitan province. The surburbs
chosen include Northend, Sauerstown, Queens Park east and South, Pardonhust, Romney Park,
Kings Dale, Barbourfields, Makokoba and Kumalo. From the ten SDA churches selected,
participants were selected on voluntary basis. The researcher task was to ensure that youths only
participated in the study as they are the target population. Amongst the participants were ten key
informants being church leaders form the ten churches used for the study.

Sampling techniques
As for this study, the researcher made use of non-probability sampling techniques basing on
quota sampling and purposive sampling.
Purposive sampling
The researcher made use of purposive sampling. Purposive sampling relies on the judgment of
the researcher when it comes to the selection of units that are to be studied (Jones,2010). The
researcher chose to use purposive sampling because it enabled the researcher to have relevant
participants that possess the required characteristics of interest and this allowed the participants
to be in a position to answer the research questions. In this study, the researcher purposively
selects the youths at the indicated SDA churches to be participants in the study because they
were the rightful candidates to answer to the research questions such as the challenges posed by
migration and social media on their church heritage.. Selection of Key Informants as church
leaders will be a purposeful move because they were deemed to be in a position to answer
research questions that required a more administrative voice/response such as the consequences
of social media and migration of the youth on church heritage. Purposive sampling proved to be
advantageous as it avoids the researcher from incorporating participants that cannot relate with
the problem under study. Purposive sampling also presented the researcher with the justification
to make generalizations from the sample under study whether the generalizations are analytic,
theoretical or logical in nature. However, one of the draw backs of purposive sampling is that
purposive sampling is highly prone to researcher bias because the purposive sample has been
created by the judgment of the researcher hence making it difficult to eliminate researcher bias.
Jones (2010) notes that, purposive samples are also doubtfully representative of the whole
population. However, to ensure that the drawbacks of the sampling technique were dealt with,
the researcher merges purposive sampling with random sampling which helped to ensure that
there are increased levels of representativeness.

Quota sampling
The researcher made use of quota sampling to ensure that the sample population is representative
of the population under study. As according to Creswell (2008), quota sampling helps improves
the representativeness of the sample population. This is so because quota sampling ensures that
all strata are represented as well as not over represented. For the purposes of this study the
researcher makes sure that both males and females will be given the chance to participate in the
study.

Convenient sampling
Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling method where units are selected for
inclusion in the sample because they are the easiest for the researcher to access (Creswell, 2014).
The researcher will make use of available participants at church as participants as the
researcher will be working under limited time and cannot wait for all the youths to be present at
church to then select participants.

Sources of data
Two sources of data exist and they include primary and secondary sources of data. The primary
source is that in which information is collected through field surveys, questionnaires,
observations and interviews. Secondary sources of data are those in which information is
obtained from articles, journals, textbooks, magazine among other texts. In this study, the
researcher made use of both primary and secondary sources of data. Secondary sources will be
used so as to capacitate the researcher with data that are already available in the similar field of
study. This helps the researcher to establish a gap to which she sought to fill by this study. The
researcher uses the secondary sources to expand, compare and make extensions on the available
literature. Primary sources will be used to establish information that helped the researcher to fill
in the gap in the literature as identified.

Data collection instruments

In-depth interviews
In-depth interviews are verbal practices that are adopted and used by many researchers in order
to acquire qualitative information from the participants ( Creswell, 2008). The researcher will
use in-depth interviews during the study because they enabled the researcher to get qualitative
and comprehensive data from the participants as the technique provided the researcher with
opportunities to discuss comprehensively with the participant and has chances to probe when
issues are left unclear. The problem with interviews is that, they are time consuming and in other
cases the interviewees were not free to give other responses to the researcher. However, as a
way to meet the targeted responses the researcher makes sure that the interviews will be thirty
minutes long so that they became quick and precise so as to avoid taking people away from their
business for hours.

Unstructured questionnaires
The study sought to acquire qualitative data and to acquire this the researcher will make use of
unstructured questionnaires to complement the in-depth interviews. The researcher will
administer fifty questionnaires (twenty five females and twenty five for males) so as to make a
stable and representative number of participants. The unstructured questionnaires will be
administered to the participants and collected upon completion. This gives the participants
ample time to look into the questions and provide responses without being disturbed by the mere
presence of the researcher. According to Babbie and Mouton (2006), unstructured
questionnaires are primary instruments used in qualitative research. As postulated by Babbie and
Mouton (2006), unstructured questionnaires are advantageous as they allow the respondents to
offer further explanations on the provided space. During the research the use of unstructured
questionnaires allows participants to explain complex issues and opinions that would need
clarity when stated. The problem with questionnaires is that they are left for the participants to
look into is that, the researcher will have to hope that the questions asked in the questionnaire
meant the same to all the respondents. As a way to counter such a challenge, the researcher will
make use of in-depth interviews with the other willing participants and this will help in clarifying
on issues that the respondents might have missed or to probe further on issues that the
researcher failed to understand from the responses provided in the questionnaire.

Direct observation
The researcher makes use of direct observation as a complimentary technique to the shortfalls of
the mentioned research methods. Drury (1992) defines direct observation as a method of data
collection of evaluative information in which the researcher watches the subject in his or her
usual environment without altering that environment. Direct observation is used when other data
collection procedures, such as surveys, questionnaires, in- depth interviews and other techniques
are not effective or when the goal is to evaluate an ongoing behavior process, event, situation, or
when there are physical outcomes than can be easily seen. The researcher will make use of direct
observation because of its ability to establish a correlation between what the participants
provided and the situation on hand on the ground. The researcher during the services will
identify queer behaviors displayed by the youths, their way of dressing and other issues that can
signal diversions from the original church expectations. This also helps validate the responses of
the participants by comparing what they are telling the researcher and what was available on
the ground so as to avoid lies and fabrication of data by the respondents.
Pre- testing instruments
In a bid to enhance the reliability and validity of this study, the researcher distributed some
questionnaires to classmates so as to test the validity of the questionnaires. This is a test done to
the instruments to be used for data collection prior the actual data collection (Thomas, 2011).
Hence, the main reason for pre-testing was to spot the strengths and weaknesses in the design of
instruments to be used. After this activity will be done, it became clear that some of the questions
are vague and confusing. In light of this, the researcher will revisit some of the questions and
changes the wording. This expose the deficiencies in the design of the intended study and these
will be dealt with prior to the actual data collection in the field to avoid wasting time and
financial resources

Data analysis procedures

The researcher will make use of thematic analysis and content analysis of data.

Thematic analysis
According to Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic analysis is a qualitative analytic method for
identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. In light of this, the researcher
makes use of a thematic approach in analyzing the data that was obtained from interviews,
observations and questionnaires. Thematic analysis plainly organizes and describes the data set
in detail. However, regularly it goes further than this and, interprets various aspects of the
research topic. This analysis permits data collected to be clustered into similar themes. Various
researchers have encountered problems of leaving behind important data behind during data
analysis. The use of thematic analysis presents the researcher with a clearer presentation of work
that ensured that each and every data collected from the field will be presented in an orderly and
clear manner.

Ethical Considerations
Creswell (2002) defines ethics as norms, values or standards for conduct that differentiates
between what is right and wrong during research. Ethical considerations are a detrimental
element in research. Ethics help as they provide appropriate guidelines that guide the research
and govern the relations between the researched and the researcher. For this study, ethical issues
such as confidentiality and annonymity, informed consent, participation on voluntary basis, and
protection of participants from any harm will be observed.
Informed consent
Pickels (2009) notes that informed consent in research entails that the researcher informs the
study participants on every detail of the study as a way of enlightening the participants on the
aim of the study. The researcher will give informed consent to the study participants. This gives
the participants freedom to choose whether to participate in the research or not following the
information provided to them by the researcher relating to the study aim and procedures. It will
be clearly stated by the researcher that the study is purely academic and no incentive or payment
will be given to any participant

Confidentiality and anonymity

This study observes the principles of confidentiality and anonymity. Jones (2010) notes that,
during research some participants can disclose information that they might not want their names
to be attached to for the sake of safeguarding their identities or for 'safety' reasons. With this in
mind, the ethical values of anonymity and confidentiality will be highly prioritized in this study
from data collection and presentation of findings up till the final stage of publication of the
document. Fake names (pseudo names) will be used to replace the real names of the
participants. Initially, real names of participants will not be requested and in instances where
they were given, the researcher will not capture them. This even helps as the study participants
feels free to express themselves freely without fear of being indentified.

Principle of no harm
Social research deals with human subjects, who should be protected at any cost by any means
possible (Munhall,1988). For this study, the researcher gives critical attention to the participants
so as to assure that the participants were safe psychologically, emotionally and physically. From
the process of informed consent throughout issues of anonymity and confidentiality, gaining
entry, the researcher will seek to ensure the safety of the participants. Aims and procedures of the
study will be explicitly said out to the participants without hiding anything to the participants.
This will be done to avoid participants’ disappointments when they discover that the researcher
was hiding something from them. Exploitation of participants, force and misrepresentation of
findings will be avoided by the researcher. This helps as it upheld participants' safety and
accuracy of the findings.

Debriefing
Jones (2010) notes that, every research interview begins with the process of informed consent
and concludes with the process of debriefing. Debriefing gives participants the liberty to give
comments, additions and complaints relating to the interviews. The researcher takes advantage
of this stage to evaluate whether the research process will be safe enough for the participants as
the participants would air out their views relating to the interviews and how they were carried
out. The researcher also makes use of this stage to appreciate the participants for their time and
efforts towards the success of the study.

Chapter Summary
The chapter centered on the selection and justification of the research methodology for this
study. A qualitative research design will be adopted for this study and the rationale for adopting
it was provided. Justification of the study site was also provided in this chapter. Purposive and
quota sampling procedures will be used to select the study sample. Indepth interviews,
unstructured questionnaires , direct and participant observations will be used as data collection
tools and justification for using these tools was provided. Thematic data analysis was largely
adopted as a data analysis technique for this study. The chapter concluded by providing the
ethical considerations observed for this study.