CHAPTER 3

Research Methodology

INTRODUCTION
Research Methodology chapter of a research describes research methods, approaches and
designs in detail highlighting those used throughout the study, justifying my choice through
describing advantages and disadvantages of each approach and design taking into account
their practical applicability to our research.

O’Leary (2004, p.85) describes methodology as the framework which is associated with a
particular set of paradigmatic assumptions that we will use to conduct our research. Allan and
Randy (2005) insist that when conducting a research methodology should meet the following
two criteria:

Firstly, the methodology should be the most appropriate to achieve objectives of the research.

Secondly, it should be made possible to replicate the methodology used in other researches of
the same nature

RESEARCH DESIGN

According to Sileyew, J, K (August 7th 2019) Research Design and Methodology the
research design is intended to provide an appropriate framework for a study.

To my research study the research design to be used is the descriptive design. According to

Descriptive research aims to accurately and systematically describe a population, situation or

To my point of focus my descriptive research is qualitative structure manner

Population of the study

The population of the study involves the people of Mogoditshane, the Mogoditshane sub
district council staff, the ministry of road transport and communications, the garages dealers
or the vehicle ports owners, the side garages mechanics.

The project research only covers the geographical area of Mogoditshane. The project research
only certain numbers of the population thus it is limited to the rest of the district population.
My project research is covering the time period from February up to the end month of July.
The research topic is limited to the only the car dealers and the other key players in second
hand vehicle businesses.

Research approaches

The research approaches that was followed for the purposes of this research was the inductive
which is the mixed research approaches because it involved the both the qualitative and
quantitative

The quantitative approach involves the use of the questionnaires

Qualitative research involves the use of the interviews of the selected population. Bothe
approaches will be used in the research
Data sampling procedures

Sampling is a method that allows researchers to infer information about a population based
on results from a subset of the population, without having to investigate every individual.

In my research project the simple procedure was used simple random sampling for example if
the selected population size is 100 from company that is to participate in my research i can
label maybe make labels who labels show are from 0- 50 they are to be selected. Simple
random sampling allows the sampling error to be calculated and reduces selection bias. A
disadvantage of simple random sampling is that you may not select enough individuals with
your characteristic of interest, especially if that characteristic is uncommon. It may also be
difficult to define a complete sampling frame and inconvenient to contact them, especially if
different forms of contact are required (email, phone, post) and your sample units are
scattered over a wide geographical area.

The Sample

In research terms a sample is a group of people, objects, or items that are taken from a larger
population for measurement. The sample should be representative of the population to ensure
that we can generalise the findings from the research sample to the population as a whole.

In my research a sample of 50 people is used at the Mogoditshane sub district Council

It is all the instruments used in collection of data for the study. The instruments used i my
research includes the all printed questionnaires which were open-ended question. The
questions are listed in a way that it allows the respondents to freely express himself or herself
on the subject or issue. . Questionnaire is a set orderly arranged questions carefully prepared
to answer the specific problems of the study or list of questions to be answered by a group of
people especially designed to get facts or information. It is a list of written questions related
to a particular topic, provided with space for residents to fill-up (Good, 1959) the questions
were set in an interesting manner so that the respondents like to answer the printed number of
question. The results were validated by re checking them if the respondents are in one motion
of the problem happening.

Data collection methods

Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest,
in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research
questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes. The data collection component of
research is common to all fields of study including physical and social sciences, humanities,
business, etc.

The data collection methods used in my study is questionnaires, questionnaire it is the most
commonly used method in survey. Questionnaires are prepared form of list of questions
which were open-ended for which the respondents give answers.

The following is the questionnaire representation of my research study;

In my research the interview data collection is also use in the data collection in which we go
face-to-face conversation with my respondents.
Ethical Considerations

I have gained the access to the facilities of the car ports, offices of the key role players by
setting and granting appointments letters from the company leaders and managers to be able
to give them the questionnaire and interview them if is possible

Voluntary Participation and Consent some individual are not willing to participate so in order
to gain participation you need be precise and find the right interesting times.

The need for the applications for ethical approval will differ across institutions. Regardless,
they focus on the benefits of your research and the risk to benefit ratio concerning
participants. Therefore, you need to effectively address both in order to get ethical clearance.

For example it is vital that i make it clear that individuals are provided with sufficient
information in order to make an informed decision on their participation. In addition, you
need to demonstrate that the ethical issues of consent, risk of harm, and confidentiality are
clearly defined.

Data Preparation

Data Preparation involves checking or logging the data in; checking the data for accuracy;
entering the data into the computer; transforming the data, and developing and documenting a
database structure that integrates the various measure.

The data was collected using the questionnaire so in orders to access the data printed
prepared copies were used and distributed to the respondent. I used the Microsoft word to
prepare and access the questionnaire document copies.

Microsoft Word is one of the most popular software programs in the world, used by millions
of office workers, students and home users to create, read and edit documents.

The returned copies of the questionnaires are recorded and kept safely.

As soon as data is received you should screen it for accuracy. In some circumstances doing
this right away will allow you to go back to the sample to clarify any problems or errors.
Checking if the responses are complete and are the important questions answered.
Operational Definition of Variables

Operationalization is the process of translating verbal concepts into numerical symbols and

values variables into scores that represent or take the place of the variables during statistical
analysis.