Mixed Method Analysis

This chapter presents the methodology employed to collect data and achieve the objective of the study. The major components of the methodology are the profile of the study area, research design, research population, sampling method, research instruments and methods for collection and analysis of data.

3.1 Research design

Research can also be classified as exploratory, descriptive or explanatory (Stangor, 2007). A research design constitutes the blueprint for fulfilling research and answering questions. It includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing research questions and their operational implication to the final data analysis.

This choice is between a quantitative and qualitative approaches or a mix of the two methods.

Beyond increasing analytical leverage, mixed method analysis also offered an opportunity for triangulation which further allowed an attendant advantage of comparing findings from both qualitative and quantitative results for the purposes of convergence (Greene et al. 1989). This allowed the study to prospect for stronger meta-inferences, which involves a combination of interpretation of findings into a coherent whole (Onwuegbuzie et al.

This method is hugely different from others that seek to merely describe patterns across qualitative data such as thematic decomposition analysis and grounded theory. As the name imply, this study essentially used thematic analysis to help identify, analyse, and report patterns within data. In the least, this allowed for systematization and expression of the data set in a ‘rich’ detail; in as much as it allowed the study to interpret the various aspects of the research topic (Boyatzis 1998; Braun and Clarke 2006). One clear benefit of qualitative thematic analysis is its flexibility, both theoretically and analytically. Particularly interesting in the view of this study, is the fact that thematic analysis is firmly anchored in constructionist method which examines the ways in which events, realities, meanings, experiences and so on are the effects of a range of discourses operating within society.

The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data and these were analysed differently. The quantitative data were analysed using - graphs, pie chart and tables. This was done with the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) software. Qualitative analysis involved taking the responses from the respondents, sometimes verbatim to confirm or negate what has been observed from the other