Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

Research Design and methodology

A research design is in response to the question “How am I going to achieve my aims and objectives?” The designs employed in this study were Exploratory and Descriptive Designs Participation Action Research (PAR). PAR researchers argue that the “….authentic knowledge of the human and social world can only be gained in the process of attempting to change the world and that authentic change can only happen when it is accompanied by shifts in the knowledge-base of those involved.” (Terre Blanche & Durrheim, 2002:230). PAR is associated with hands-on-small-scale research that involves practical and real world problems and issues. The emphasis is on the empowerment of the most marginalised and oppressed groups in society, the aim being to uncover truths with people, rather than about people PAR encourages egalitarian research relationships and the full involvement of those being researched in every aspect of a research project, from initial conceptualisation to final implementation. When citizens participate in research they do not merely remain the objects of a study, but become full partners in the research process and committed to its success. This design is mainly dominated by a bottom-up approach versus a top-down approach. The same applies to this study, where service providers, street children and families/households were part and parcel of the development of new strategies for the formulation of reunification programmes and their evaluation.

Triangulation method was used this includes unstructured interviews whereby the researcher organised workshops with service providers to collect data about the operation of their agencies. Tape recorders were openly used in order to tape conversations. Another tool used were interview schedules (Questionnaires) designed for the parents, service providers and adults who had already reformed or reunified children the street (case studies). These methods were supplemented by a review of relevant literature and consultation with people involved with street children both inside and outside the study area. Discussions with the street children covered areas such as demographic characteristics, family history, socio-economic conditions, and the standard of education. In the case of service providers questions covered their educational standard, any training experience in running the institution, the abscondment of the street children from these shelters, the existence of reunification programs, the evaluation of these programs and their relationships with the children’s parents. The data was collected from the following shelters, Nkandla, Nqutu, Newcastle, Eshowe, Ngwelezana, Empangeni and Richards Bay in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province (real names of shelters are reserved for confidentiality reasons).

The Questionnaire tool was structured into four (4) phases that is, Phase 1: interviews with street children between 5 and 18yrs both males and females. Phase 2: interviews with Service Providers. Phase 3: interviews with family members/households and

Phase 4: interviews with reunified children (case studies). A snowball or accidental sampling technique was used to select the children for this study. The children were approached individually in their operational areas (on the streets). Data from all these phases was analysed and interpreted using a SPSS 14 computer style.

The process followed the qualitative method of continuous comparison as developed by Glaser & Strauss (1967) to identify themes, concepts, patterns and tendencies.