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other group members to remember details that may have been forgotten (Catterall &
Maclaran, 1997; Kitzinger, 1994).
In this study, collecting data from focus groups with volunteer caregivers proved useful in
providing insight into how the concept of infection control practices among volunteer
caregivers is carried out and understood. Focus group discussions were conducted in IsiZulu
and facilitated by an isiZulu speaking facilitator who was also a member of the research team.
The focus group discussions were conducted in IsiZulu inorder to allow the participants to
express themselves which also helped in gaining more insight to the study. The researcher
was an observer and took notes. These focus group discussions were guided by a focus group
guide with open-ended questions (see appendix 3). The major themes covered were:
perceptions of infection control practice by volunteer caregivers; resources available for
infection control practices in HBCOs; how volunteer caregivers carried out infection control
practices in HBCOs; challenges that they faced regarding infection control practices and the
strategies developed to deal with any challenges. These focus group discussions lasted for
approximately 40 to 80 minutes and they were recorded using an audio recorder and later
transcribes into English.
3.5.3 The role of a researcher and facilitator
This research is an interpretive study that relies on the ideas and interpretations of the
researcher, this means that the researcher needs to be aware and critically reflexive of his/her
own role and influence in the process and constructed understandings (Terre Blanche et al,
2006). For the purposes of this study, the term facilitator will be used. The researcher in this
study was not a Zulu speaker and was therefore unable to facilitate focus group discussions
and thus performed a role of observation, note taking and recording of the findings by means
of a tape recorder. A facilitator who was a Zulu speaker and also a member of the research
team facilitated the focus group discussions because he understood the literature on HBC,
research objectives and questions of the research study. The role of the facilitors was to
“create a non-threatening supportive climate that encourages all participants to share views;
facilitating interaction among members; interjecting probing comments, transitional questions
and summaries without interfering too abruptly with the dialogue; covering important topics
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