After carefully considering the best methodological option for this thesis, I decided on the qualitative approach to be adopted for the entire study. This type of method involves purposely enrolling respondents for the study. I found from numerous sources, including that of Pathak et al. (2013). After careful explorations of various methodological options, qualitative research adds to the scientific body of knowledge, making significant distinctions that come about by getting closer and intimate with the phenomena under study. I chose this strategy since qualitative inquiry is about a humanistic or optimistic approach to comprehending a survey. This means it's used to learn about people's ideas, experiences, attitudes, behaviors, and interactions. It allows the complete participant freedom to respond to the research questions in any way they see fit, and it will help the researcher uncover more than the planned study conclusions. This type of study does not generate numerical data. Another advantage of using qualitative research methods is that, for example, interviews give voice to the participants in the research and enhance the involvement of everyone related to the study. (Pathak et al., 2013.)
For a good representation of the study, there is no doubt a definite study setting is a key to unleashing the most appropriate and or readily available participants for the study. Therefore, I settled for Joensuu, Finland, for my studies. This setting was chosen due to the high number of international students, especially Africans. Joensuu, also known as "the student city," is the vibrant capital of North Karelia, Finland. Joensuu is the second biggest town in Eastern Finland, with over 77 000 people (25 percent of whom are under 25). It is the largest city in North Karelia and is home to numerous higher education institutes.
Because of the strong interest, consideration for availability of participants, COVID 19 protocols, and some other personal factors such as time, I decided that the population for this study would be West African migrants in Joensuu, Finland. Before I had considered all other options of involving the whole
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of African migrants, but that would have been too broad for my study. I, therefore, narrowed it to get the best details possible, and I believe this set of people (respondents) was the best for my study.
Only West African migrants who consented to be part of the study and were available during data collection were the respondents I included in the study. Before the interview, various prospective participants were served information sheets about the study (available in the appendix), scheduled times according to their schedule. It turns out only a few people made themselves available for the interview.
After reading the information sheet, others opted not to continue the study. Eventually, I conducted interviews with seven individuals.
According to Creswell (1998), the qualitative research topic necessitates a deep comprehension of human experiences shared by a group of people, and the investigated group should have 3 to 15 members. I believe that the seven respondents I had were adequate for a single researcher-led study.
Getting participants to partake in the survey has been a significant challenge. However, in the end, seven participants were recruited to participate. Two of which were females, and the remaining were males.
To get the data that reflects different experiences and opinions and to avoid gender bias, efforts were still made to recruit more females, but this turned out to be complicated. So I had to proceed to analyze what I had. For example, I resent emails to various female respondents who had been contacted earlier.
I also met new people through other friends I had in the city- all in attempts to recruit more people, especially females. Still, they never availed themselves for the interview despite meeting their conditions and times.
3.1 Description of the Interview Process
It will be worth detailing my efforts in data collection because, in as much as I tried to employ more respondents with varying professional backgrounds living in Joensuu to be included in the study’s data collection (interview) process, all attempts failed despite continuous efforts such as trying to meet them
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via online or sending them emails. Those that responded and scheduled interviews at their convenience within the expected period for the discussion were included in the study. I initially only had six participants within the formally allocated period for the data collection and one other after the official scheduled time frame, about two weeks. Some others declined to be engaged in the study even after scheduling appointments giving reasons beyond our capacity. Finally, I included seven persons in the study, of which all of them happened to be students studying various programs in Joensuu, Finland. Out of the seven individuals with whom I conducted the interview data, only two of them were females. I initially scheduled about six females for the interview, but only two of them were available, consented, and made time for the discussion. The remaining five individuals included in the study were males. The participants were, however, aged between twenty-seven years and thirty-four years. It was not my intention to have most participants from a particular country more than the other, but this happened because they were the ones that availed themselves for the study despite numerous efforts, as stated earlier.
3.2 Data Analysis
A semi-structured interview was used as guidelines to conduct face-to-face interviews (via video or audio calls) with the interviewed participants. These were the only means since participants were not close by and fell in line with COVID 19 protocols. The various interviews I conducted had a minimum time of thirty minutes per respondent and a maximum of an hour and quarter minutes. Also, the total transcribed data was thirty-one pages in total after transcription. Finally, I used the various pages from the thirty-one transcribed data to deduce the results for my study. I would have had more than the said (thirty-one) pages if I had considered using all the verbatim transcribed data (including repetitions of some respondents’ statements which were excluded).
I chose West African migrants in Joensuu, Finland, for the study using a purposive sample technique.
Purposive or judgemental sampling is an approach in which particular circumstances, individuals, or
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occasions are intentionally chosen to offer critical data that cannot be assembled through other implies.
It's when an analyst decides to incorporate cases or members within the test since they're curious.
(Maxwell, 1996.) The West African migrants I selected were to narrow the scope of my study, which I believed was the best to answer the research questions I sought answers. After contacting prospective participants for the study, we, the participant, and I had agreed on the times they (the participants) were available where the interviews were scheduled online in their comfort zones.
I developed and used a structured interview guide (available in the Appendix) for data collection. All eligible West African migrants who were within reach during the data collection period and willing to participate in the study were interviewed by me. The interviews were recorded life, while notes were also taken simultaneously. All interviews were conducted in English for easy verbatim transcription all by myself. At the end of each day of data collection, the interviews were transcribed and compared with the notes taken. This was to ensure that I captured all relevant data needed and not miss any necessary data that would be crucial for my results.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim. I played audios and videos of the recorded interviews where I typed all statements made by participants as it was from in their constructs without alterations or trying to correct a sentence. To ensure accurate data representation, these were repeated three times. A thematic content strategy was used to capture key material linked to the research goal. The transcriptions were initially verified to improve dependability to ensure that the content accurately mirrored each interview.
I reanalyzed the data after the initial assessment to eliminate any potential bias or personal motivations.
Firstly, I read the complete data set independently and became familiarized with it. Afterward, I identified the vital information and recurrent topics and patterns in reading the transcripts I had already printed from the study interviews I conducted. I then grouped the data into themes to accurately reflect the participants' responses.
32 3.3 Ethical Considerations
I sought permission and consent from participants before I began the study to carefully consider ethics.
When constructing the approval and confidentiality form for my research, I have used World Health Organization’s template for qualitative studies for my study. I informed the participants of their voluntary participation and their ability to opt-out of the survey without having to give any explanation.
I told them that the information obtained would be used solely for the academic purpose of the study. I also maintained confidentiality when dealing with respondents, and privacy was ensured. The answered interview sheet was placed under lock and key, thus only to be accessible by me alone. I did these before and during the interview to maintain consistency with keeping their data confidential and anonymous.
The study I conducted was without limitations, even though after thoroughly explaining the research and its related ethical principles, some respondents were observed to be biased in their response as they seemed not to open up a lot about the situation being explored, which might affect the study's results in knowing precisely what the problem is. Also, the COVID-19 restrictions on access to participants made it very difficult getting to meet or talk to people as everyone strictly adhered to protocols to reduce the risk of infection. Participants failed to be available for the interview despite doing all I could to meet their demands and times. Some of them gave various excuses for which I could do nothing. All other attempts to reschedule were denied or failed. I also found it extremely difficult to get female respondents to participate due to perhaps some unforeseen circumstances not shared by the respondent.
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