community and their businesses. These factors and explorative questions were
incorporated into the research questions and form the basis for achieving an understanding of the research objectives. For the purposes of this research, semi-structured
interviews were conducted utilising the questionnaire as a basis and guideline in the
data collection. The researcher spent time with the selected communities to observe
how they use indigenous knowledge in their agricultural practices. The said observation was unstructured although, as stated above, a questionnaire as an instrument
was utilised for direction and giving a guide on the type of information that needed to
be probed further. McKechnie (2008) defines unstructured observation as follows: In
unstructured observation, the researcher enters the field with some general ideas of
what might be salient, but not of what specifically will be observed. Therefore,
observation is holistic, unstructured, and unfocused, with the investigator attempting
to document as much as possible about the setting and its participants in order to
discover themes of interest. The unstructured observation was also chosen as it is not
constrained by checklists and a coding scheme (McKechnie 2008).
9.4.3 Data Analysis
Data analysis is the range of processes and procedures whereby the researcher
moved from the data that had been collected, into some form of explanation,
understanding, or interpretation of the people and situations that are investigated.
The process of analysing is complex and begins with a set of data that on its own
bears no meaning but through the analysing of this data, information, and meaning is
derived from it. This ensured that the researcher was in a position that makes sense of
the responses received in order to derive meaning from the total data collected
(De Vos 2011).
The process of data analysis afforded the researcher to answer the research
questions and present the collected data in a systematic manner that gave the data
meaning and told a story of the field of interest. As mentioned earlier, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The data was collected from a semistructured questionnaire which has two sections for quantitative data and qualitative
data. The first part of the questionnaire (Section A) consisted of biographic and
background information and the second part (section B) qualitative information. To
provide meaning to the data collected, the presentation of the findings and results
was done in a narrative manner.
The participants of the study included IKS farmers and practitioners living in the
selected communities in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan’s geographical area. The
farmers ranged from commercial farmers to community farmers (practitioners), who
also had functional household gardens (these are people who use their own yards to
grow different types of crops for their families). The analysing of this data followed
the deductive approach. The application of the deductive approach includes the
establishment of patterns or themes (Creswell 2013), which were utilised in the
data analysis.
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incorporated into the research questions and form the basis for achieving an understanding of the research objectives. For the purposes of this research, semi-structured
interviews were conducted utilising the questionnaire as a basis and guideline in the
data collection. The researcher spent time with the selected communities to observe
how they use indigenous knowledge in their agricultural practices. The said observation was unstructured although, as stated above, a questionnaire as an instrument
was utilised for direction and giving a guide on the type of information that needed to
be probed further. McKechnie (2008) defines unstructured observation as follows: In
unstructured observation, the researcher enters the field with some general ideas of
what might be salient, but not of what specifically will be observed. Therefore,
observation is holistic, unstructured, and unfocused, with the investigator attempting
to document as much as possible about the setting and its participants in order to
discover themes of interest. The unstructured observation was also chosen as it is not
constrained by checklists and a coding scheme (McKechnie 2008).
9.4.3 Data Analysis
Data analysis is the range of processes and procedures whereby the researcher
moved from the data that had been collected, into some form of explanation,
understanding, or interpretation of the people and situations that are investigated.
The process of analysing is complex and begins with a set of data that on its own
bears no meaning but through the analysing of this data, information, and meaning is
derived from it. This ensured that the researcher was in a position that makes sense of
the responses received in order to derive meaning from the total data collected
(De Vos 2011).
The process of data analysis afforded the researcher to answer the research
questions and present the collected data in a systematic manner that gave the data
meaning and told a story of the field of interest. As mentioned earlier, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The data was collected from a semistructured questionnaire which has two sections for quantitative data and qualitative
data. The first part of the questionnaire (Section A) consisted of biographic and
background information and the second part (section B) qualitative information. To
provide meaning to the data collected, the presentation of the findings and results
was done in a narrative manner.
The participants of the study included IKS farmers and practitioners living in the
selected communities in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan’s geographical area. The
farmers ranged from commercial farmers to community farmers (practitioners), who
also had functional household gardens (these are people who use their own yards to
grow different types of crops for their families). The analysing of this data followed
the deductive approach. The application of the deductive approach includes the
establishment of patterns or themes (Creswell 2013), which were utilised in the
data analysis.
192
J. Seko et al.