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

high proportion of uniform answers provided in the course of the six pre-
test interviews.
3.7 Household Interview schedule and supplementary questions.
To avoid repetition so that those who had already been interviewed did not
unduely influence subsequent responses, I found it necessary to scatter
the interviews over a much wider area. I also attempted to resolve this
problem by reducing the sample size and by interviewing the few
households selected, both intensively and extensively, to help cross-check
the responses on the spot. More importantly, a large number of
supplementary and probe questions were used. It was therefore critical to
interview not more than one person per day. I took seventy days to
complete the 45 interviews at Morulem and another fifty days for the 35
interviews at Lokichar.
Direct observation was also done alongside the interviews. Observation
had a function of giving me a broader picture than what was obtained
during interviews and helped in filling some gaps of information. I used my
eyes as a data collection tool. I observed structures in the study areas
such as family houses, homesteads, livestock sheds, boreholes, and family
tasks in relation to livestock. This enabled me to confirm to some extent
the socio-economic activities of the households, and to get a clearer picture
of the local people’s dependence on pastoralism as a livelihood source.
But, I cannot say I practiced ‘participant observation’ in that I did not
carry water and firewood or herd goats with the people. It took most of my
energy to walk to all my sample households. Although walking was not my
first choice as a means of transport (I could not afford a vehicle), it actually
provided me with hundreds of observations and opportunities to be closer
to the people. It also released me from the image of wealth and power that
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