1.4. Methodology
The case stud y is the main research method used in this
research, which focused particularly
on Africa's FMs, particularly those from the
Sub-Saharan Africa. Samples were selected among people from East Africa
(Ethiopia, Burundi, and Tanzania), West Africa (Nigeria and Ivory-Coast),
Central Africa (DRC and the Republic of Congo or Congo-Brazzaville),
and Southern Africa (Zimbabwe).
Interview and participant observation were the two sources of
information that used to collect data presented and analysed in this report.
Altogether 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 FMs, seven members of
seven different CSOs, one police officer from the Hillbrow police station, and
an official of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
A. Interview
All the in-depth interviews conducted were semi-standardised;
that is, I started asking specific
questions to all my informants to show them the kinds of
information I wanted, depending on
the group to which each informant belonged. With regard to the
FMs, for example, I started questioning them about their experience as
FMs living in the inner city; about their knowledge and
relationships with different CSOs dealing with refugees and asylum seekers in
Johannesburg; and about their relationships with the local government (LG)
authorities. And from their answers I could develop other series of
questions accordingly to my research interests of this particular study.
As said previously, it is important to note that among the
information presented in this study, some of them came from five interviews
selected from interviews conducted the previous year (2005) in collaboration
with Kihato. In other words, among the 10 interviews done with FMs, only 5 were
done in 2006; while the 5 others were selected from the 2005 interviews.
With regard to the CSOs, I conducted 7 in-depth
interviews with people working in 7
different Johannesburg CSOs, as already emphasised. The names
of these organisations are given in Chapter Two and repeated in the Appendix
Two.
B. Participant Observation
Participant observation is another method used during my
visits to the offices of CSOs
selected in this research. It is important to note that data
presented in this study came also, partly, from my day-to-day contacts with
FMs in both Hillbrow and Yeoville, and in places such as community parks and
community forums.
With regard to my visits to the offices of CSOs, such as the
Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), I used to spend hours in the board room
with FMs, observing them and learning from their conversations. This
allowed me to find out the type of assistance most of them needed, and
the type of relationships existing between them and these
CSOs. I also assisted in the prayer meetings of FMs, especially in
Yeoville where francophone FMs usually attend church service in French
the third Sunday of every month, at the Saint Francis Catholic Parish. I also
attended some of their community meetings in the same Parish.
In-depth interviews and participant observation exercises
helped me to clarify the real problems facing FMs in the inner city and
to reveal the potential of the Johannesburg's CSOs with regard to their ability
to facilitate a greater social justice for FMs living in this part of the city.
In other words, information collected through interviews and
participant observation helped me in answering the main research
question of this study, as well as its subsidiary questions.
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