Section 4.2 describes the research structure of the study. It describes the qualitative design, the decisions resulting in the use of a case study as the research method, and the descriptive nature of the study.
4.2.1 Research design
The term “qualitative research design” was introduced in section 4.1 with an indication of its applicability to the study. Qualitative research has the following distinct characteristics (Gay, Mills & Airasian, 2006:411):
The focus of qualitative research is on individual, person-to-person interactions.
A researcher should spend a great deal of time with the participants and become immersed in the research setting.
Qualitative researchers should avoid making premature decisions or assumptions about the study and should remain open to alternative explanations.
Qualitative data are analysed inductively and the researcher does not have to impose an organising structure or make assumptions about the relationships between the data before collecting evidence.
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Qualitative research reports include clear and detailed descriptions of the study and include the voices of the participants.
Researchers using qualitative research methods should be diligent in fulfilling their responsibility to obtain informed consent from participants and to treat them ethically.
A qualitative research design was chosen for this study in order to facilitate the development of a deeper understanding of the perceptions held by the IAF’s previously identified key customers of the work performed by the IAF in the National Treasury. This is in line with the characterisation of qualitative research by Lodge- Peters (1988:1-7) as “an attempt to uncover the patterns underlying social behaviour, which occur in groups that have been organised over a reasonable length of time.” Cobb and Forbes (2002:197) describe qualitative research as “the study of human behaviour that relies on the analysis of data to create an interpretation of the meaning of that behaviour from the perspective of the participants in their own social context.” Cobb and Forbes (2002:197) further argue that qualitative research has its roots in social science and is more concerned with understanding why people manifest certain behaviours, attitudes, beliefs and fears than it is with formulating measures to adjust or change those behaviours, etc. In qualitative research therefore, the researcher is engaged in the lives of the people being studied, in order to hear their voices, grasp their points of view, and to understand their meanings; this gives real meaning to the phenomenon being studied (Taylor, 2000:79). In this instance, the key customers’ perceptions of the work performed by the National Treasury IAF were acquired through interviews conducted personally by the researcher, thus directly involving him in the process.
4.2.2 Research technique or method
This research employs a case study research technique. The case study method has long been most commonly used to conduct research for use in review and formulation of public policy, and in business and public administration (Yin, 2003a:xi). According to Schell (1992:14), research based on the observation of a
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phenomenon in a contextually rich environment is in great demand, especially in the field of management sciences. Thus, in this study the researcher has made great efforts to consider the context in which identified key customers of the IAF in the National Treasury function, by obtaining their views through individual and personally conducted, in-depth discussions.
Yin (1994:2) defines the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in its real-life context, most appropriately and effectively used when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and when multiple sources of evidence exist. Since the aim of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of identified key customers’ perceptions of the work performed by the IAF in the National Treasury, perceptions of a particular function in a real-life context were investigated. The choice of the National Treasury was deemed appropriate, because the department is seen as a custodian of the policy frameworks that guide the functioning of the IAF in the South African public sector (RSA, 2009a:1).
The decision to use the case study method is in line with Yin’s (1994:3) view that a case study should be selected in the same way as the topic of an experiment, and should reflect the characteristics and problems identified in the underlying theoretical propositions and conceptual frameworks. Schell (1992:3) agrees with this view, and further indicates that, at the simplest level, the case study should provide descriptive accounts of one or more cases. Wellington (2000:91) explains this view by stating that case study researchers should be able to interpret situations rapidly and in depth in order to revise interpretations where necessary. Neale, Thapa and Boyce (2006:4) and Vissak (2010:371) contend that use of a case study is appropriate when there is a unique or interesting story to tell, and a case study can offer a more complete picture of what happens in the story’s wider context.
According to Babbie (2010:309), a case study focuses one’s attention on a single instance of some social phenomenon (such as a village, a family or a juvenile gang), to obtain a description or in-depth explanation which can yield explanatory insights. MacPherson, Brooker and Ainsworth (2000:52) contend that a case study is designed to investigate the rich complexities of social phenomena and the social
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environments in which people are situated. According to Creswell, Hanson, Plano Clark and Morales (2007:245), a case study is a single unit in which the focus is on an issue and the selected case could provide insight into the issue. Creswell, et al. (2007:245) suggest that the case study approach requires in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information, such as observation, interviews, audio- visual material, and documents, which describe a case and the case-based themes. It is in this context that Yin (2003b:13) argues that much case study research builds on an in-depth contextual understanding of the case and relies on multiple data sources, instead of individual stories which occur in narrative research.
Given the above descriptions, a case study approach would be applicable in, and appropriate to, various disciplines as a research method for understanding a particular phenomenon or set of phenomena within a unit, such as a department in the government. For the purposes of this study, identified key customers of the IAF in the National Treasury were investigated to gain an understanding of the phenomenon, namely their perceptions of the work performed by the IAF.
4.2.3 Descriptive nature of the study
To date, no empirical study has been conducted in the South African public sector to determine and generate an in-depth understanding of customers’ perceptions of the work performed by the IAF in the National Treasury.
According to Rubin and Babbie (in Thyer, 2010:120), descriptive research is an attempt to describe the characteristics of a sample and of the relationships between phenomena, situations and events observed by the researcher. Many qualitative studies are primarily descriptive in nature (Babbie, 2010:94). The descriptive nature of this study focuses on the perceptions of identified key customers of the IAF in the National Treasury and describes situations and events on the basis of deliberations during one-on-one personal interviews. The following questions were posed during the one-on-one interviews with the participants (key IAF customers):
99 What are your expectations of the IAF?
What do you perceive as hindering factors preventing the IAF from meeting your expectations?
What are the contributory factors that ensure your expectations are met?
Do you have suggestions about what you would like the IAF to do to meet your expectations?
The aforementioned interview questions were used to direct the researcher’s efforts to understand the perceptions of the AC, executive and senior managers, programme and operating managers and external auditors participants in relation to the work performed by the IAF in the National Treasury.