McMillan and Schumacher (2010:325) define sampling in qualitative research as a selection of information-rich cases for an in-depth study. Furthermore, McMillan and Schumacher (2010: 328) maintain that qualitative inquirers regard sampling processes as “dynamic, ad hoc and phasic rather than static”. Unlike quantitative research samples that are usually large to accommodate statistical analyses, in contrast, qualitative research samples are usually small (Borrego, Douglas & Amelink, 2009:57).
In essence, the logic behind any sample size is mostly related to the purpose of the study, the research problem itself, the major data collection strategy, and the availability of information-rich cases (McMillan & Schumacher, 2010). Consequently, insights generated from qualitative studies, according to McMillan and Schumacher (2010), depend more on the richness of information of the cases and the analytical abilities of the researcher than on the sample size itself.
Sampling strategies also depend on whether the research approach is qualitative or quantitative. Harris, et al. (2009:84) identified sixteen types of sampling techniques, some of which are appropriate for quantitative studies. For example, when the researcher wishes to formulate a “balanced” viewpoint of the phenomenon being researched, often the researcher will select a “large variety” of individuals. This type of sampling is also known as maximum variation (Harris, et al., (i2009: 81) and it is a quantitative research sampling technique. Another example of quantitative sampling is the extreme case sampling which is applied when the researcher intends to ‘compare and contrast’ certain extremes regarding the concept being studied (Harris, et al., 2009).
One of the examples of qualitative research strategies is the theoretical sampling. When participants are selected because they understand or experience a “given theoretical concept”, then the researcher will use theoretical sampling (Guest, Bunce & Johnson 2006:59; Harris, et al. 2009:81; McMillan & Schumacher, 2010:326). In addition, Barratt, et al. (2011:331) suggests that researchers who employ case studies often use the
“theoretical or biased sampling” technique instead of utilising “statistical sampling from a defined population”. In the theoretical approach, the selected cases are chosen on the basis that they will either “predict similar or contrary” findings. Snowball sampling is
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another example of qualitative strategies. When selected participants are asked to identify other experienced, information-rich participants who would also be part of the sample size, the snowball sampling technique is employed. In this technique, those participants that were selected by the initial chosen participants are often requested to
“identify more people until participant saturation has been reached” (Harris, et al., 2009).
The most commonly used of the qualitative sampling strategies is purposive (also called non-probabilistic) sampling. Harris, et al. (2009:84) and McMillan and Schumacher (2010:325) maintain that in purposive sampling the researcher tries to find some special features that purposefully relate to the phenomenon or intervention being studied. This type of sampling is very much systematic as only certain individuals with certain characteristics will become part of the sample. On certain occasions, the intention of the researcher selecting a specific sample may be based on the notion that the researcher wishes to generalise the findings of the study, using this specific selected sample, to the larger target population that has “like individuals” cite. However, this is a rare occurrence. Furthermore, Guest, et al. (2006:59) posits that the sample size used in purposive sampling usually depends on a concept which they have coined as the “point of saturation”. At this point, no new data is usually observed. Therefore, Guest, et al.
(2006: 59) argues that the point of saturation fails to provide a solid framework for sample size estimation before data -collection during a qualitative study.
The sampling strategy for the selection of school sites was the convenience sampling strategy. The sampling strategy for the selection of the participants in this study was purposive. Firstly, according to the official website of the Association of Muslim Schools, South Africa (AMS-SA), there are currently 25 affiliated Muslim schools that are operational in the Gauteng Province. These schools span into various metropolitan regions within the province. These 25 schools formed the total population from which this study’s sample was selected. Therefore, the sample composed of five Muslim schools in the Gauteng Province which were selected following the convenience sampling strategy. Among the advantages of the convenience sampling strategy is the easy accessibility of sites and participants (Tariman, Berry, Cochrane, Doorenbos &
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Schepp, 2010). The selected Muslim schools were situated in close proximity to each other. It was easy to gain access to the selected sites during data collection. Secondly, the information-rich teacher participants were then purposefully selected from these schools. The phenomenon being studied was the enabling and restrictive factors regarding the implementation of EE at Muslim schools. Thus the teachers that implement EE in Muslim schools have the first-hand experience of the phenomenon being studied. They also understand this phenomenon much better than other teachers who teach in other schools. Teachers who facilitate a subject or learning area that has an EE focus critically designed into its curriculum were eligible for participation. Such subjects include Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Life Orientation, Geography, Islamic Sciences and the Natural Sciences. It is also noteworthy that owing to the scarcity of teachers in privately-managed schools, some teachers teach more than one subject in such schools. In addition, any teacher that is currently part of a functional enviro-club of the school (if such a club exists) was also eligible to participate in the study.
It was also envisaged that at least one specific participant at each site preferably be a member of the School Management Team (SMT). This is due to the fact that the implementation of any curriculum, such as EE, in any privately managed-school, is first decided by the managers. Another reason is that one of the main objectives of EE is to integrate the principles of a sustainable society into whole school development (Loubser, 2008: 01).This type of integration is only possible if managers at every level of curriculum implementation contributes to EE implementation in some meaningful way.
Three teachers in each of the five selected Muslim schools were requested to participate. Thus a total of fifteen teachers participated. The table appearing below gives a brief summary of the research sites.
84 Table 4.3: Summary of sites visited
School Mrs Nazia Life Orientation Intermediate Level 1 teacher
Eco-club co-ordinator Admin staff
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Mrs Najma Life Skills Foundation HOD
SMT
Creswell (2012:133) posits that it is important that the purposefully selected participants be honest and be willing to “share information”. Therefore, the setting upon which interviews will be conducted must be warm and comfortable enough for the participants to feel free to speak openly when sharing information. Therefore, in this study, rapport with the participants was established by greeting them politely and by speaking to them in a friendly manner. In this way, more honest information was believed to be elicited from the participants during the data collection phase.
Barratt, Choi and Li (2011: 330) explain that a researcher that uses a case study may also adopt numerous methods incorporating “inductive logic” to collect qualitative evidence. In the next section, the discussion is focused on the methods of data collection for this study.