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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Map 2: The towns (Abeokuta, Akure, Ibadan & Osogbo), South Western Nigeria, showing the scope of study

3.4 Method of Data Analysis

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Plate 7: Ifatayo Awogbile (middle) and his son Ifalowo (right) who are babaláwo in Osogbo (Original, 12th of June, 2010).

In cases where there are older babaláwo around the younger one, the younger babaláwo only spoke authoritatively with the permission and the backing of the father even if the son is a respectable babaláwo in his own right.

The FGDs corroborate the data gathered from the In-depth interviews and helped the researcher to resolve some cloudy issues that he observed during clinical sessions and in some practices of individual babaláwo.

3.3.3 Post-Field

After collecting data from the field, the researcher consulted published and unpublished materials to verify the data gathered from the field and to give support to the findings as well as to augment data that were not too clear as a result of the limitations encountered on the field.

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To analyse the data that were gathered during the course of this study, the researcher employed a nominal scale that assigned the result or findings of this study to class or categories. Each patient was labelled according to the relevant attribute possessed by him/her. No specific order was followed as findings determined the labelling.

Themes were derived from the observed disease aetiologies, symptoms found in the patients, diagnosis and treatments as they relate to the research questions that emanated from the objectives spelt out for the study.

All of these served as the basis for evaluating the data.

This method of analysis was adopted because multiple cases were studied to:

(1) determine how àmódi is understood in Yoruba traditional medicine;

(2) determine the experiences of patients suffering from àmódi and the disease aetiology as contained in Ifá literary corpus;

(3) observe what causes the difficulty in the diagnosis and treatment of àmódi and how Ifá divination can become relevant in the process of diagnosing àmódi,

(4) find out the treatments for àmódi,

(5) determine the popularity and the willingness of patients and or family members to try Ifá divination, (6) determine the effectiveness, of Ifá divination in the process of recovery from àmódi.

This study was carried out on some selected individuals who had unique stories to tell, thereby making it necessary to study the patients as individuals. To achieve this, case study was used as a method of data analysis. Case study as a method became relevant in arranging the gathered information about the patients who were observed in this study because by its nature, it is ―an intensive study through which one can know precisely the factors and causes of a particular phenomenon‖ (Ghosh, 2006:224).

As a method of data analysis, case study helped to clearly distinguish and deepen the researcher‘s perception of the experiences of the patients before, during and after their treatment. It also gave strong evidence to the observed data, because it represented real records of personal experiences. The patient‘s conditions were better understood as they were narrated within their different contexts, and this made it possible to understand the sources of the pain that the patients expressed.

In each of the cases that were studied, the researcher grouped data using a combination of in-depth interviews, written documents and participant observations. Data in this context refers to the ―recorded observations about the phenomenon being studied‖ (Naechmias and Naechmias, 1981:153).

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Four steps were followed in developing each of the cases: first step was to determine the factors; second was to discover the problem to be resolved; third, the whole component of the case was determined and, finally, the underlying elements of the cases where examined (Ghosh, 2006:225).

Step 1: Determination of Factors: Each case began with a preliminary process, which was meant to indicate or find out if the patients went to babaláwo for treatment because all other known methods of diagnosis had failed and not because of any of the following reasons:

 Cost: According to the findings of WHO (2003), about 80% of Africans patronise traditional healthcare because it is cheaper than Western healthcare.

 Greater efficacy: Today, more than ever, there are claims that some traditional methods of healthcare are more effective in treating some particular diseases. This belief brings about recourse to traditional healthcare providers for treatment, rather than Western methods.

 Alternatives: There is pluralism in healthcare services in Nigeria today, and this has created the possibility of choice in the method of healthcare one employs. In this case, it is not about one being better or being more effective; it is a matter of preference.

 Filial relation: There exists a filial relationship between patients and babaláwo during treatment procedure. Unlike the formal procedure that exists in the Western process of healthcare, patients find the babaláwo available and accessible. This encourages the patronage of the babaláwo over the Western healthcare providers.

Patients were identified as having àmódi in line with the focus of the study, to provide the opportunity of examining the possibility of diagnosing and treating àmódi (somatoform disorder) with the use of Ifá divination. The patients were observed to be: (1) visibly ill and (2) Western method of healthcare that they had earlier used could not diagnose what they were suffering from.

The first insight to the nature of the patient‘s condition came each time the babaláwo was told that the patient had tried reliable herbs or Western medication without the condition being any better for it. This is arrived at during initial clinical sessions. After a satisfactory assessment, the babaláwo asked each of the patients, questions about their conditions and the types of diagnoses and treatments that had been administered. When the babaláwo was not convinced that what had earlier been used was good enough, he

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gave a new prescription. This he did because, ―in addition, to his knowledge of Ifá and the process of divination, an aspiring babaláwo must know the appropriate sacrifice for each Odù. He must also acquire a vast amount of herbal and pharmaceutical lore‖ (Ajayi, 1996:3). It was only after his own prescriptions did not help to improve the conditions of the patients that the babaláwo resorted to Ifá divination.

Given the possibility of a cultural dimension that Western method does not understand, the babaláwo employed Ifá divination to diagnose patients‘ conditions and ascertain that their conditions were àmódi. In each of the cases, the process of diagnosis began with an elimination process, as is the case with every process of diagnosis.

First, the babaláwo found out if the condition was àìsàn ara (naturally caused disease) or not. All the 23 cases that were chosen for this analysis were found not to be àìsàn ara. This helped to arrive at the first conclusion that the cases were àmódi. The next level of diagnosis was whether the conditions will respond to medicine; that is, ‗bóyá wọ n gbọ òògùn‟ (whether they can be treated with herbs/medicine or not). In all the cases, it was found that the conditions required more than medicine. Once this was known, it became necessary to find out what was needed for the conditions to be cured.

All the cases were found to be àmódi, àìsàn tí kò gbọ òògùn, șùgbọ n tí ó șe é wò (a condition that requires more than herbs/medicine to treat).

Step 2: Statement of the Problem: Reports of the observations from the clinical sessions helped to classify the diagnosis of the conditions of the patients. The FGDs also contributed to this stage. The babaláwo were interviewed to know what the patients were suffering from, since the diagnosis of the conditions of each of the patients took place using Ifá divination.

The babaláwo began diagnosis by divining and then narrated the content of odù (Ifá literary signature) that appeared. It was the narrative (àșẹ odù) that told the story that contained what was afflicting the patients, the disease aetiology as well as the treatments for the conditions of the patients. That is, ‗as it happened to so and so and whatever so and so did that worked for him/her, so was prescribed as treatment for the patients.‘ Since the babaláwo is skilled in psychotherapy and in interpreting the content of the Ifá literary corpus, he solemnly pronounced the results of the divination procedure and advised the patient or family members on steps to take.

Step 3: Analysis of Problem Found: Data were described as observed and the findings were presented