|
|
Methodology -- A Reflexive View
INTRODUCTION We present our methodology in two parts. Part I is a straight-forward description of our research objectives, methods and activities. Part II is an evaluation and assessment of these methods. Because the African women's employment situations, which we sought to document, are economically and socially lived as personal experiences, we recognized from the beginning that our methodology had to make space for the women's subjective expression of these experiences. For this reason, we developed a methodology which would be sensitive to and validate the women’s attitudes, meanings, feelings of anxiety, triumphs, and values; we did not want our methodology to negate, nullify, or discredit their personal experiences (Mackinnon, 1982). Our underlying concern was to prompt the women to tell their own stories and speak in their own terms, rather than to confirm our hypotheses (Labelle et al 1987; Moussa 1992, 1993). Moreover, we wished to go beyond documenting the women's employment and training needs to eliciting information relevant to deal effectively with employment issues. PART I 1a) Research Objectives The research project had the following objectives:
1b) Research Hypotheses The initial research project's hypotheses were:
1c) Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection: For the reasons stated above, operationalization of our research objectives necessitated collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data was collected through two surveys using The African Women's Questionnaire and the Agency Questionnaire. In addition, a special run of 1991 census data for the Toronto metropolitan census area (hereafter MCA) was carried out. The qualitative methods included in-depth interviews with selected women and discussions which took place at a workshop held toward the end of the research data-gathering phase (see below). The research necessitated cooperation with individuals in three distinct social milieus: 1) African communities across Metro Toronto; 2) federal, provincial, municipal and city government agencies; 3) non-governmental agencies delivering employment services and training programmes. The project staff developed a comprehensive plan of action to carry out the research in six somewhat overlapping phases over the period of a year (May 1994 - May 1995). 1c (i) Focus Group Discussion To lay the collaborative foundation essential to the data gathering process, our first task was to organize a Focus Group Discussion. Twenty women, several of whom work with immigrant and refugee organizations in the city, met at New College, University of Toronto, on May 25, 1994. The Focus Group Discussion, which was informal in nature, proved to be a rich source of information about African women's employment and training experiences in Toronto. When constructing questions for the survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews, comparing preliminary research findings, and making recommendations for change we drew upon information generated from this Focus Group Discussion. 1c (ii) The African Women’s Questionnaire Administration of The African Woman’s Questionnaire to collect information relevant to making a general description of African women's employment experiences was the major component of the data gathering process. A draft questionnaire constructed by the research team was critically evaluated by five African women from the community who attended the Focus Group Discussion, two of whom had considerable experience with social research in Africa and Canada. This draft was revised, pretested on 15 women, and revised again. The final version of The African Women’s Questionnaire included 134 items organized into various sections (see Appendix II), some but not all of which were relevant to each respondent, whose situations and social backgrounds were diverse. All were asked to answer the questions in the sections on: Background information; Evaluation of education; Language and language training; Skills training; Opinions on gender and employment. Depending upon their circumstances, respondents were asked to answer questions in the following sections: Job search; Job history; Current employment status; Working conditions; Current unemployment status; Self-employment. About 70 questions were relevant to most respondents. The questionnaire provided some opportunity for learning about women’s opinions and attitudes on employment related issues, but was primarily a quantitative data gathering instrument. Translations of the questionnaire were made to accommodate francophone and Somali-speaking respondents. The questionnaire was administered to 188 women by student Field Assistants (hired through the Jobs Ontario Youth summer programme), the researchers, and African women volunteers, with the summer months being the period of most intense activity. Prospective respondents were identified by the researchers themselves, by the Field Assistants, and by women volunteers. Our network reached out from its base at the university to African women working in the areas of settlement, training and employment, and beyond to centrewomen (see Chapter 8) who are activists in their various communities. We became linked, for example, with a group of professional Somali women participating in an information and discussion group, organized on the initiative of two Somali community workers at the Rexdale Women's Centre. We benefitted greatly from the collaboration of these African women throughout the research period (see Appendix I). The education they gave us about the realities of African women and work in the Metro area forced us to examine our research biases critically and influenced the way we represent their experience in this report. The employment status of African women in Toronto, including the women we surveyed, can be measured by comparing statistics on their employment with employment data on the general population of women in the 1991 Toronto CMA. This comparison was based upon a special tabulation of 1991 Canadian census data on the category "Single black African" in the 1991 Toronto MCA. Note that because high numbers of Africans have continued to arrive in Toronto since the census was taken in 1961, these statistics were out of date by 1995, when the special tabulation was done. Thus, the statistics are indicative of trends only. 1c (iii) In-depth interviews with African women Qualitative data relating to women's employment experiences in Toronto was collected through in-depth interviews with 20 women using a set of guide questions. The women interviewed were identified in a variety of ways (see Chapter 6); interviews generally took between one and one-half and three hours. One purpose of the interviews was to develop a perspective and understanding of African women’s strategies for managing household and work responsibilities, preparing themselves for the work force, and coping with racial and gender discrimination in the labour market. Because the interviews acknowledged that employment is not an isolated aspect of people’s lives but rather connected with many of their pre-occupations, they were a rich source of information about the ways perceptions of culture, gender, class and race mediate the women's experiences with regard to economic integration. They provided space for the women to talk about aspects of their private lives, such as domestic relations and child-rearing, as these related to their employment and training experiences. By allowing for subjective contemplation, the interviews also yielded information about the conditions and limitations affecting the women's choices, strategies and consciousness. Several women who consented to be interviewed in-depth indicated to us that they appreciated having an opportunity to reflect upon their work and training experiences, revisit their struggles and express their views. Consider, for example, the following testimonials:
1c (iv) A One-day Workshop On February 4, 1995, close to 100 women attended a workshop titled "Finding Space for Our Voices" (see Appendix IV) organized by the research team with the collaboration of a volunteer committee. Our research was conceptualized as a vehicle to create space for the voices of the women themselves. We had not planned for a workshop in our research proposal yet, with the research half-way completed, we felt a need to reciprocate the women for their collaboration and to find a way to gather concensus on a number of issues that had already come up. Generously funded by the various offices at the University of Toronto, the workshop provided the women a forum at which to exchange views, strategize for the future, and dialogue with agency and government personnel involved in policy formulation and the delivery of employment services and training programmes. An innovative data-gathering strategy during the workshop was the effective use of the video camera. In recording visual images, the video camera registered facial and vivid bodily expressions and revealed the extent to which the women's words were intuitively, yet selectively used. These visual images expose the fallacy of seeing African women as passive, lazy, non-contemplative, and non-analytical. The video portrays the women dealing actively with a bleak employment situation by sharing experiences, strategizing, determined not to give up. The video has had rich implications for our data analysis and offers a range of largely unexpected possibilities in our research project. Viewed analytically, the videotape provides constructive criticism to the research team as they interact with the women researched. Finally, the videotape testifies to the fact that the Workshop went beyond documenting African women's needs to creating space for their voices. 1c (v) The Agency Questionnaire (see Appendix III) was designed to collect factual information on employment services and training programmes, as well as to elicit opinions about the funding situation, policy priorities, and other matters. Constructed in the two weeks following the workshop, the Agency Questionnaire drew upon the expertise and experiences of workshop participants. It was distributed to 13 agencies with substantial numbers of African women clients (see Chapter 8). While our intent was that agency personnel answer the questionnaire anonymously, about a third of the agencies transformed the task of responding to the questionnaire into an opportunity to discuss the issues face-to-face and to instruct us on their views. We are particularly indebted to these individuals, from whom we learned a great deal. PART II A Reflexive Assessment of our Research Methodology The subject matter of this research raises a number of ideological and methodological concerns and questions. The need for objectivity in social science gives rise to contradictions in methodology and results, some of which we were prepared to consciously challenge and accommodate. Our theoretical and methodological choices have been dictated primarily by our underlying socio-political perspective and concern to critically address questions surrounding the documentation of African women’s experiences -- how to document these experiences, and for what purpose? Early on in the development of the research project we acknowledged the validity of an interdisciplinary approach which would incorporate and accommodate different methodologies. An historian, an anthropologist, and a sociologist worked to develop the research instruments. In interpreting the data, the historian strove to analyze the women's experiences in relation to the context of the wider political economy while the anthropologist struggled to present an ethnographic description of the women’s experiences. Though working from different disciplinary perspectives, the members of the research team were united by the view that in-depth interviews were to take us beyond simple collection of detailed accounts of the women's work experiences to documentation of their subjective points of view. Collaboration with the community activists gave a certain legitimacy to the research project and certain women, who became our key informants, permitted us to "intrude" into their private lives. Because reciprocity is an important component of the social process of collaboration, this intrusion was not a one-dimensional affair. It exposed us to the women's scrutiny and questioning. Challenging and educating us in our knowledge and experiential deficiencies (see Oakley, 1983), the women in turn used us as social resources to get information and potential employment contacts. For example, a woman who did not have access to a computer and printer asked us to revise and print up her resume; another asked for help in writing a letter to her Member of Parliament. Several women asked us to let them know if we heard about job vacancies of particular kinds. Other women sought our advice about furthering their university educations. Professor Musisi, an African woman herself, was asked "How did you get where you are?" and several other questions. A francophone woman who wanted to improve her English by doing volunteer work in a certain occupational milieu, asked Dr. Turrittin to make contacts for her. Our participation in the women's social networks rarely extended to social interaction beyond that which was tied to the research, but that participation enabled us to observe aspects of the uses women made of social contacts in relation to getting information and employment. Methodologically, it was important for us to situate the research process and ourselves in the context of the larger political economy (Mies 1983:123). Our critical perspective acknowledges that our vantage point at the university is an aspect of the very same social reality that has structured and continues to structure the everyday experiences of the women we researched. The fact that researchers and researched alike are women does not necessarily imply that our experiences are similar, especially when racial and class attributes differ. We finished our oral interviews satisfied that we had not only been educated in the intricacies of women’s struggles with respect to employment but also in how, in the final analysis, the Canadian labour force is produced and reproduced. The in-depth interviews uncovered aspects of African women’s lives that have been made invisible due to the fact that Africans in Canada have been socially and politically constructed as a "visible minority". The women's choice of particular words and phrases were revealing with respect to the meanings they gave to their experiences. Pondering their words allowed us to understand and appreciate their struggles and to make sense of strategies they have utilized to cope with the crisis. We listened with the conviction that their reflections were not mere private subjective evaluations, but rather critiques of stereotypes rooted in the long history of gender, race, and class subordination and exploitation. The testimony generated by the in-depth interviews thus allowed us to analyze and interpret Canada’s social and economic reality from a new vantage point. The workshop was a useful method of data collection and listening to the women’s experiences as they interacted in small groups a humbling experience. In expressing their views about how they have fared in their new situation, the women articulated their feelings about the ways they have been treated in Canada. The workshop can thus be considered as providing a different and extended viewpoint which enhanced the project as a whole. Compared to traditional individualistic research methods, our interdisciplinary team approach had both positive and negative aspects and taught us a number of difficult lessons. Sharing information on how to think more analytically, locating us in different systems of thought and epistemological backgrounds and power relations, the project provided the members of the research team, who were of different races and ages, an environment in which they could nurture one another in the process of professional growth. But the collaborative strategy was at times seriously threatened by structural and deeply-seated problems such as unequal location in the research project itself and individualism (see Kennedy 1995). We overcame these hindrances by being open with one another to the point of sometimes being offensive at weekly meetings during which we shared, reviewed, and revised our strategies. Despite our differing cultural and ideological backgrounds, values, epistemologies and interests, we accomplished our research goals. In sum, the strength of our study lies in its socio-political perspective, which was fundamental to the methods used to elicit information. As the research progressed, it became clear that women were willing to share much more information than we had anticipated. This encouraged us to move beyond the conservative methodology of description and compilation of women’s "stories" to involve the women as active participants in the research process. At the same time, our socio-political perspective enabled us to draw upon ourselves as sources of knowledge and insight. The project has allowed us to experience first-hand contradictions in the social science methods we utilized for research purposes. It is not uncommon that the biases of the researchers enter into the research design and data collection process, resulting ultimately in a situation in which the research outcome represents the researcher's views rather than the situation as actually lived. Our data will be limited by the fact that The African Women’s Questionnaire may contain cultural and class bias, despite our efforts to avoid such bias through the collaborative and pretest processes.When carrying out the in-depth interviews, pre-conceived expectations about the kind of information we needed sometimes interfered and limited our soliciting and learning about important but unanticipated aspects of the women's experiences. While using a set of guide-line questions to solicit information during in-depth interviews, we realized, for example, that asking certain questions in succession at times gave double messages. For example, when she was asked about the agencies that get people into banking, Aniki gave a direct answer -- " Employment News, available free at bus-stops...", but she was not content with that level of discussion. She went on to talk about her volunteer work with a community organization, describing all the work she did. The interviewer then queried, "You didn't get paid for that?" Instead of answering the question, Aniki talked about how the situation was useful to her because it enabled her to get "to know a lot of (African) communities ... so I have background to do community work". In the ensuing dialogue, which goes on for a long time, Aniki enumerates her ups and downs when looking for work that took her from a receptionist to an administrative assistant, research assistant to health educator.Our experience obtaining informed consent illustrates a significant difference between demands imposed on us, as researchers, by social research protocol, and the women surveyed, as respondents. The importance of getting informed consent from respondents was discussed with all who administered questionnaires, yet we have signed consent forms from only 131 respondents; 57 women who answered our questionnaire did not sign consent forms. Moreover, 14 of the 131 women who did sign and return consent forms did not indicate whether or not they consented to their comments being quoted in the report. Lacking instruction from those who returned signed consent forms, and from women who participated in the survey without returning consent forms, we assumed that, since these respondents agreed to participate in the survey, they would agree to use of their comments in the report. Thus, our report draws upon the comments of all but 16 women who specifically requested that their comments not be used. With respect to statistical representativeness of the wider population of African immigrant and refugee women in Metropolitan Toronto, we can say that our sample is a convenience, not a random sample. Respondents were accessed through the personnel networks of the researchers, the field assistants, and centrewomen in various communities across Metropolitan Toronto who administered the questionnaire as volunteers. The sample includes four field assistant's mothers and one field assistant’s three sisters. Our sample over-represents the percentage of educated Africans in metro Toronto, since the percentage of women surveyed with post-secondary education is considerably higher than that in the wider population of African immigrant and refugee women. Almost half the women surveyed -- 86 women or 46.5 percent -- reported community college or university as the Canadian equivalent of their highest level of education (see Figure 5.3), while only 26.8 percent of the women reporting "single black African" ancestry the 1991 Toronto CMA had post-secondary education. Our project took a flexible approach with respect to administering The African Women's Questionnaire. In this case, the procedure for filling in the questionnaire was not consistent. For example, some respondents filled out the questionnaire alone, without validating their procedure with a field assistant, while others, including those who filled out their questionnaires in the presence of a field assistant, exercised their right not to answer certain questions. This procedure accounts for the variation in the number of women who responded to questions in particular sections of the questionnaire. Although our sample may not be statistically representative of African women in the Toronto CMA, we argue that a great deal can be learned about the employment and training needs of African immigrant and refugee women from our data. The sample's strength is that it documents the experiences of well-educated African immigrant and refugee women with employment and training in metro Toronto very well, but it also captures the employment experiences of African women of widely different backgrounds and experiences. Thus, the survey reveals a great deal about the kinds of barriers African women encounter here, and about their strategies to deal with these barriers. Our consciousness has dictated the writing of the report and the formulation of its proposals. This research project has not only been a research project about women, but for women and by women, aimed at transforming their employment situations. Hence, the report is meant to be used by the women themselves as they deal with their employment problems and to provide vision not only to the current generation of African women but to future generations. To translate knowledge generated by the research project into policy and action, we have striven to confine proposals for change to those areas where solutions are workable.Because of our efforts to give voice to and thus contribute to the empowerment of African women, our research has been socio-political in so far as it has been committed, for ethical reasons, to ensuring that African women respondents have not been exploited as objects of knowledge. Testimony at the workshop illustrates that the women with whom we worked welcomed the research project as an integral part of their struggle to meaningful settlement and economic integration in their new country:
|
|