PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

Sampling key informants: There was no sample frame prepared for the
selection of key informants. During the reconnaissance survey, I
established rapport with many villagers, and, through observation,
informal meetings, interaction and discussion with various groups of
people in market places and in other social places, i managed to identify
eight key informants. Key informants are people perceived to have
particular insight or opinions about the topic under study. They may be
ordinary people and not necessarily the specialists, the better educated,
those in power or the officials (Mikkelsen 2005). In my study, the main
criteria for selecting the key informants were their ages, especially the old,
(65 years and above), and those assumed to have extensive knowledge of
the Turkana cultural practices related to drought and famine, both today
and in the past, and lastly, their length of stay in the study site.
A total of eight key informants were identified from the villagers on the
basis of the criteria as set above. Five were interviewees at Morulem and
three at Lokichar. The ones interviewed were those willing to volunteer
relevant information to my study. They were interviewed in-depth on the
cultural history of the Turkana, and the traditional modes of adjustment to
drought and famine.
3.4 Data collection techniques and their limitations.
The approach adapted in this study views research as a process of
interaction between theory and methodology. According to Crosbie Walsh
(2005: 93) “methodology is a means for generating data to be used in
testing hypotheses which derives from theory where applicable, the testing
of the hypotheses leads to recasting of theory and emergence of new
theoretical paradigms”. Similarly, Mikkelsen (2005) argues for a closer
relationship between methodology and theory. According to her, advancing
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