This chapter is a descriptive presentation of the procedures utilized to collect the data used in the study and to carry out the analysis. It describes the research sites and units of analysis, the study sample, data collection procedures, operational measures of the variables, and the methods of data analysis.
4.1 Research Site and Units of Analysis
The study was carried out in Botswana in Southern Africa. Previously called Bechuanaland, Botswana attained self-government from the British in 1965 and became a republic in 1966. The Republic of South Africa borders the country to the south, the Republic of Zimbabwe to the north and the Republic Namibia to the northwest. Despite being mainly semi-arid, Botswana has experienced tremendous mineral driven economic growth since independence and today boasts one of the world's fastest growing economies. Although the country attained independence with minimal development in the area of education, it has managed to develop and expand its educational system at all levels. The specific units of analysis were teachers employed in primary and secondary schools and tutors employed in colleges of education located in selected school districts in Botswana.
Botswana is an ideal site for the study because the level of gender awareness is high due to the presence of various advocacy groups such as Emang Basadi and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA). More specifically, focusing on the teaching profession is ideal because the government of Botswana remains the biggest consumer of labour force in general and of female labour in particular and teachers comprise a significant proportion of public sector employees. As a major employer, the government has to play a leading role in demonstrating how institutions can help advance women's participation in the labour market on an equal footing with men including having access to top level management/administrative positions. Indeed, it is in the public sector where female achievements are critical if gender equality in the workplace is to be realized in most developing countries. In addition, women are overly present in the teaching profession, relative to other employment settings. The profession thus offers us the opportunity to test whether strength in numbers does or does not count with respect to gender-based discriminations. Finally, the profession boasts a considerable population of expatriates, and differences between them and local staff in terms of tenure of service may act to intensify the experience of discrimination in especially areas related to rewards for doing the job.
4.2 Sample and Selection Procedures
This study included 1,123 teaching professionals distributed across primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. The three categories of educational institutions are not equal in terms of the number of teaching professionals they employ. While primary schools consume the bulk of teaching professionals, colleges employ the least number of teachers. Following primary schools in terms of size of teaching staff are junior secondary schools and then senior secondary schools. Because of such variations, differential sample sizes were drawn from each category with primary schools contributing the largest number of professionals studied and colleges contributing the least number of respondents. The aim was to make the sizes of samples studied for each category of educational institutions roughly proportional to the size of the institution. As such, questionnaires were distributed to 566 primary school teachers, 246 junior secondary school teachers, 181 senior secondary school teachers and 130 college tutors.
To select the desired sample to be studied for each category of educational institution, some form of random sampling was employed. With respect to the primary school sample, a multi-stage stratified sampling technique was utilized. The 24 school districts in the country were stratified into two major blocks; the North comprising 13 school districts and the South comprising 11 school districts. Out of each region, two school districts - one rural and one urban - were selected randomly and studied. These were Selebi-Phikwe Town Council and Central Tutume school districts in the north and Gaborone City Council and Kgatleng school districts in the south. Once the four school districts to be studied had been identified, a random selection of the specific schools was undertaken from a listing of all schools in them. To guarantee the desired sample of at least 500 primary school teachers, the random drawing of school was continued until 566 teachers had been selected. In all, 23 primary schools were selected, distributed across the four school districts as follows: Selebi-Phikwe Town Council district - eight schools, Central Tutume district - five schools, Gaborone City Council district - four schools and Kgatleng district - six schools. Questionnaires were distributed to all teachers in every school selected.
The samples of junior secondary, senior secondary and college categories of institutions used in the study, on the other hand, were selected utilizing simple random sampling. The sampling process started with the construction of a sampling frame for each category listing all institutions in the country. To guarantee the desired sample size of 200 respondents from junior secondary schools, eight institutions were selected and studied. These accommodated 246 teaching professionals. Given a target sample size of 150 teachers for senior secondary schools, two schools made up of 181 teachers were selected for the study. Finally, two colleges accommodating 130 tutors were randomly selected and studied guided by a target sample size of 100 respondents for this category. Again, surveys were distributed to all teachers/tutors in the selected institutions.
4.3 Data Collection Procedures
To collect the bulk of the data utilized in the study, the survey method was used. More specifically, the study utilized self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires gathered information about the employees' job experiences, work attitudes and personal backgrounds. Respondents were given time to complete the surveys before handing them over to the researcher or his assistant. In order to strengthen accuracy, clarity, and ease of respondent completion of the questionnaire, the researcher explained the purpose of the study to the respondents before the surveys were distributed to them. Any concerns that the respondents might have had were addressed before their co-operation was enlisted for the study. To guarantee confidentiality, no names were indicated on the surveys and each respondent was provided with an envelope in which to seal the completed questionnaire before turning it to the researcher. Where it was not possible for respondents to complete the questionnaires and hand them over to the researcher or an assistant immediately, a two-day duration was allowed. To quicken the collection of questionnaires that were not be completed immediately, a central collection point where respondents could return their completed surveys sealed in envelopes was established in each school and/or college participating in the study.
To supplement quantitative data realized through surveys, qualitative secondary data was collected from existing documents such the Employment Act, documents detailing the terms of service for teachers, and educational statistics from the Central Statistics Office and the Ministry of Education. In addition, informal interviews were conducted with some education officials at different levels in the Ministry of Education. This was necessary to bring out certain aspects of gender discrimination that are not easily discernible from large surveys. It also provided diversity of opinions concerning certain features of the teaching professionals' workplace and of the profession itself and served as a basis for the cross-validation of some of the opinions provided through the surveys.
4.4 Measurement and Techniques of Data Analysis
To improve reliability and to allow for the use of more powerful statistical techniques, all the workplace conditions in the study were measured using multiple item indices. To avoid response-set bias, the items were distributed randomly throughout the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to rate each item on a likert-type scale with five response points coded from `strongly agree' [5] to `strongly disagree' [1]. Most of the scales have been used in previous studies (see e.g., Mulinge 1994; Price and Mueller 1986a) and have been judged to have acceptable validity and reliability.
To measure the value employees attached to job rewards, workplace support and workplace stresses, respondents were asked to rate the importance they attached to various types of workplace conditions regardless of whether or not they prevailed in their current job using the following five point scale: of great importance, quite important, of some importance, of very little importance, and not important at all. The responses were scored from 1 to 5 with a score of 5 representing `of great importance' and a score of 1 indicating `not important at all'.
The data realized by the study were analysed in three stages. Stage one involved a presentation describing the study sample using descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and standard deviations. To test for differential treatment in the workplace for men and women and for differences in job satisfaction, professional commitment, organizational commitment and intent to stay, on the other hand, mean scores were used. T-tests were utilized to check for the possible existence of significant differences between group means. T-tests were also utilized to check for mean differences in the values (importance) attached to various workplace rewards by men and women to assess whether men and women value the same rewards.
