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Social science researchers in the global South, and in South Africa particularly, utilise research methods in innovative ways in order to respond to contexts characterised by diversity, racial and political tensions, socioeconomic disparities and gender inequalities. These methods often remain undocumented – a gap that this book starts to address. Written by experts from various methodological fields, Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences is a comprehensive collation of original essays and cutting-edge research that demonstrates the variety of novel techniques and research methods available to researchers responding to these context-bound issues. It is particularly relevant for study and research in the fields of applied psychology, sociology, ethnography, biography and anthropology. In addition to their unique combination of conceptual and application issues, the chapters also include discussions on ethical considerations relevant to the method in similar global South contexts. Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences has much to offer to researchers, professionals and others involved in social science research both locally and internationally.
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Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences Case Studies from South Africa
Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences Case Studies from South Africa
EDITORS Sumaya Laher, Angelo Fynn and Sherianne Kramer
Published in South Africa by: Wits University Press 1 Jan Smuts Avenue Johannesburg 2001 www.witspress.co.za Compilation © Editors 2019 Chapters © Individual contributors 2019 Published edition © Wits University Press 2019 Images and figures © Copyright holders First published 2019 http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/22019032750 978-1-77614-275-0 (Paperback) 978-1-77614-355-9 (Web PDF) 978-1-77614-356-6 (EPUB) 978-1-77614-357-3 (Mobi) 978-1-77614-276-7 (Open Access PDF) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978. All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced in captions for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press in case of any omissions or errors. This book is freely available through the OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The publication of this volume was made possible by funding from the Psychological Society of South Africa, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of South Africa.
Project manager: Inga Norenius Copyeditor: Lee Smith Proofreader: Lisa Compton Indexer: Tessa Botha Cover design: Hothouse Typesetter: MPS Typeset in 9 point Stone Serif Std
Contents Tables, figures and box viii Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii 1
Research as practice: Contextualising applied research in the South African context 1
Sherianne Kramer, Angelo Fynn and Sumaya Laher
Section One: Quantitative methods 2
Non-experimental research designs: Investigating the spatial distribution and social ecology of male homicide 19 Lu-Anne Swart, Sherianne Kramer, Kopano Ratele and Mohamed Seedat
3
Longitudinal designs: The RANCH-SA study 36 Kate Cockcroft, Paul Goldschagg and Joseph Seabi
4
Establishing factorial validity of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 52 Malose Makhubela and Solomon Mashegoane
5
Usi