IAMOT Proceedings
DETERMINING THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY SELECTION IN AFRICA: APPLICATION OF THE FOCUS GROUP TECHNIQUE
MARIE-LOUISE BARRY
Graduate School of Technology Management, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria, Gauteng 0001, South Africa,
PROF HERMAN STEYN AND PROF ALAN BRENT
Graduate School of Technology Management, University of Pretoria
Pretoria, Gauteng 0001, South Africa
and
The supply of sustainable energy is a crucial factor for development in Africa. This is important both for business development and also for supply of energy to households in order to save time and thus enable members of households to be economically active. Without sustainable energy poverty reduction and economic development in Africa is not achievable. Africa has limited skilled human resources and thus the selection of successful, integrated technological systems is imperative. This study focuses on the identification of factors to be taken into account when identifying the most sustainable technological systems for Africa. Focus groups, using the nominal group technique, can be used successfully in problem definition and first order identification. The purpose of this focus group was to identify the first order factors for the study, which would then be used to inform the Delphi study that was to follow. A pre-existing group of specialists in the energy field was used. During this process, 38 factors deemed important were identified. The factors were categorized into six clusters namely: technology factors, social factors, institutional or regulatory factors, site selection factors, economical or financial factors and achievability by the specific organization factors.
Introduction
The need of energy for economic development in developing countries was vividly illustrated recently when South African power supplier Eskom could not supply sufficient power to the gold and platinum mines. Each day of the shutdown translated into R193 million ($ 26,8 million) of lost production for the mining sector (Mathews, 2008). According to Toman and Jemelkova (2003) more energy is used by advanced industrialised societies than by poorer societies, which implies that energy is required for effective development.
When selecting sustainable energy projects in Africa, a myriad of factors should be taken into account, and normally only the availability of finance and other financial issues are addressed. This implies that some projects fail as the optimal technological solution is not selected. This study was undertaken to determine the most important factors to take into account when selecting sustainable energy technological systems in Africa. The study was to address not just the financial or economic factors but also the social, technological, regulatory factors and factors around the organisations performing the installation and operation of the technological system.
The complete study utilises four research methods namely: a focus group, a Delphi study and selected case studies as shown in Figure 1. This paper presents the methodology and results of the focus group phase.
Figure 1: Methodology of study of which case study forms a part
According to McGrath (1982, cited Sandura and Williams, 2000, 1249) the important factors that need to be taken into account in research design are: generalisability to the population that supports external validity, precision in measurement and control of behavioural variables, affecting internal and construct validity and realism of context.
Figure 2: Important factors to consider in research design
Source: McGrath (1982, cited Sandura and Williams, 2000, 1249)
According to McGrath (1982, cited Sandura and Williams, 2000, 1249) literature reviews maximise population generalisability but are low on realism of context and precision of measurement. Judgment tasks (or in this case Delphi study and focus group) are moderately high on generalisability and precision of measurement but low on realism of context. Lastly field studies (or case studies) are high in realism of context but low in generalisability and precision in measurement. This can be presented as shown in Figure 4where items indicated in bright green are high, those in lighter green are moderately high and those in red are low:
Literature survey / Judgment task / Field studyFigure 3: Generalisability, precision in measurement and realism of context for applicable research methods
Source: McGrath (1982, cited Sandura and Williams, 2000, 1249)
Grath (1982, cited Sandura and Williams, 2000, 1249) further stated that any chosen research method will have inherent flaws and the choice of method will always limit the conclusions that can be drawn. For this reason it is essential to obtain corroborating evidence by using a variety of methods. This is also known as triangulation. In this case a triangulation of research strategies will be used. A focus group can be used in research in the preliminary or exploratory stage as a method in its own right or to complement other methods (Gibbs, 1997 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000).
According to Sandura and Williams (2000) the use of a variety of methods in examining a topic might result in findings with a higher external validity. In their study of patterns of research methods in management research across the middle 1980s and 1990s indicated that researchers are increasingly employing research strategies and methodological approaches that comprise triangulation.
Background on the focus group technique
The focus group technique is also called the group depth interview and the focused interview in literature.
Different authors in the literature ascribe the origin of the focus group method to different sources. Hutt (1979) states that the technique grew out of group therapy techniques applied by psychiatrists, Robinson (1999) avers that they originated with Market researchers in the 1920’s whilst Blackburn credits Merton and his colleagues with developing the technique for data collection on the effectiveness of World War II training and propaganda films.
Regardless of the origin of focus groups, they have been successfully used in many areas of research. By definition, focus groups are organized discussions or interviews, with a selected small group of individuals (Gibbs, 1997 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000), discussing a specific predefined and limited topic under the guidance of a facilitator or moderator (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000 and Robinson, 1999). A focus group is also a collective activity, where several perspectives on the given topic can be obtained, and where the data is produced by interaction (Gibbs, 1997). According to Merton and Kendall (1946 as reference in Gibbs, 1997) the focus group is populated by individuals with specific experience in the topic of interest which is explored during the focus group.
Patton (1990 as referenced in Robinson, 1999) avers that the focus group has the following purposes: basic research where it contributes to fundamental theory and knowledge, applied research to determine programme effectiveness, formative evaluation for programme improvement and action research for problem solving. In this study, the focus group technique was used for basic research with the goal of contributing to the fundamental theory and knowledge of important factors for the selection of energy projects in Africa.
One of the common uses of focus groups is during the exploratory phase, to inform the development of later stages of a study (Bloor et al, 2001, p 9). One of the four basic uses of a focus group given by Morgan (1998, p 13) is that of problem identification. For this reason, it was decided to use the focus group technique in this study to explore the factors which would later be confirmed and rated in the Delphi study.
Focus group research has been applied in many generic applications. These include: determination of respondent attitudes and needs (Robinson, 1999), exploration and generation of hypotheses (Gibbs, 1997 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000), development of questions or concepts for questionnaire design (Gibbs, 1997), interpreting survey results (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000), pretesting surveys (Ouinet et al, 2004), counselling (Hutt, 1979), testing research methods and action learning (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000), identification of strengths and weaknesses and information gathering at the end of programmes to determine outputs and impacts (Robinson, 1999).
Focus group research has been applied in many fields including: social sciences, medical applications (Gibbs, 1997), market research, media, political opinion polls, government improvements, business, consulting, ethics, entrepreneurship research (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000), education (Ouinet et al, 2004) and health care (Robinson, 1999).
The benefits to the focus group participants include the opportunity to be involved in decision making, the fact that they feel valued as an expert and the chance to work in collaboration with their peers and the researcher (Gibbs, 1997). Interaction in focus groups is crucial as it allows participants to ask questions as required and reconsider their responses (Gibbs, 1997).
The advantages of the focus group method are many and include:
(i) It is an effective method of collecting qualitative data as common ground can be covered rapidly and inputs can be obtained from several people at the same time (Hutt, 1979 and Robinson, 1999).
(ii) During discussions, the synergistic group effort produces a snowballing of ideas which provokes new ideas (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000 and Hutt, 1979)
(iii) Data of great range, depth, specificity and personal context is generated (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000).
(iv) In the process, the researcher is in the minority and the participants interact with their peers (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000)
The disadvantages include:
(i) Not all respondents are comfortable with working in a group environment and may find giving opinions in the bigger group intimidating (Gibbs, 1997 and Robinson, 1999)
(ii) The outcome can be influenced by the group effect in that the opinion of one person dominates, that some are reluctant to speak and that an opportunity is not give for all participants to air their views (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000).
(iii) The researcher has less control over the data than in for example a survey due to the open-ended nature of the questions (Gibbs, 1997).
The disadvantages can be mitigated by ensuring that the moderator has sufficient skills, reliable data collection and the use of rigorous analytical methods. (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000)
Objectives of this study
The purpose of this focus group was to obtain the opinions of the group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), tasked with helping the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) select sustainable energy research projects for Africa, as to the most important factors for the selection of these projects.
The main objectives of the focus group were then as follows:
i) Inform the focus group participants on the purpose and future plans of the study
ii) Identify as many factors as possible that should be considered when selecting sustainable energy projects in Africa to be used as an input to the Delphi study.
iii) Identify knowledgeable participants for the Delphi study.
Study design
The main stages of the focus group process (see are: planning, recruiting, moderating, and analysis and reporting (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000). During the planning stage, the researcher familiarized herself with the focus group technique and did a literature survey on sustainable energy selection factors.
Figure 4: Main stages of the focus group process
Source: Blackburn and Stokes, 2000
The role of the moderator or facilitator is critical in the success of the focus group (Gibbs, 1997 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000). The moderator must clearly state the expectations and purpose of the group, facilitate interaction (Gibbs, 1997) by outlining the topics to be discussed and controlling the direction of the conversation (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000). The moderator is the conversational controller (Hutt, 1979) who must promote open debate by using open-ended questions and probe deeper as to the motivations (Gibbs, 1997). The moderator must further ensure that the conversation does no drift but that the group addresses the key topics of interest (Gibbs, 1997 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000).
Robinson (1999) further emphasizes that focus groups are in depth and open-ended group discussions which implies that the focus group is not very structured. Hutt (1997) advocates that focus groups should be semi-structured and not highly structured. The use of an interview guide or list of questions to be answered during the focus group is recommended (Hutt, 1979, Robinson, 1999 and Blackburn and Stokes, 2000). It is important to limit the numbers of questions and whether the interview is more or less structured will depend on the application (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000).
To this aim, a presentation was prepared during the planning stage to be used to inform the participants on the purpose of the focus group. The structure planned for the focus group is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Focus group structure
Item / Description1 / Purpose, rationale and methodology of the study
2 / Identification of the most important factors for project selection
3 / Classification of factors
4 / Preliminary ranking of factors
5 / Identification of Delphi study participants
The literature survey during the planning stages identified the factors eleven factors listed in Table 2.
Table 2: Factors identified during the literature review
Quantitative factors:• Economic measures
• Future savings in capital
• Operational and maintenance costs
• Profits
• Improvement in productivity / Qualitative factors:
• Political and senior management support
• Client and public support
• Environmental impact
• Technical and educational relevance
• Interface to existing projects
• Impact on project portfolio
Focus groups can consist of pre-existing groups if those groups have the expertise required (Bloor et al, 2001, p 23). For this study, the existing group in the CSIR were selected due to the fact that these scientists all have interest and experience in the filed of sustainable energy.
In the literature, various sizes of focus groups are recommended. These include four to fifteen participants (Gibbs, 1997), six to ten (Blackburn and Stokes, 2000) although it must be noted that in practice this study used three to ten and on to fourteen (Ouinet et al 2004). Blackburn and Stokes (2000) found that group sizes of more than 8 become less manageable. Focus groups can vary in size from three to fourteen participants and small groups can be an advantage if the topic is complex or when dealing with experts (Bloor et al, 2001, p 27). It is important to choose a group of people that are not too heterogeneous so that participants will be comfortable in sharing their views (Gibbs, 1997).