The Registration Process at a Recently Merged South African University

The primary aim of the study was to determine the subjective experiences & viewpoints; in other words the insider perspectives of administrative personnel during the student registration process in a newly-merged South African university in the Gauteng Province. The task became very difficult as it had to be approached in the complexity of the ongoing institutional change. In short, the merging of the institutions cannot be separated from the service delivery or the experiences and views of employees during this transitional period. Sampling, data collection & data analysis were done simultaneously & interactively, rather than in discrete sequential steps. I made use of a case study, meaning that ¿the data analysis focuses on one phenomenon, which the researcher selects to understand in depth regardless of the number of sites, participants, or documents for a study (McMillian & Schumacher, 1997). In such a design the context of each participant's experience is important in its analysis. I considered a modernist qualitative-research approach since I was aiming at an in-depth understanding of the social world & work environment of the employees involved in the registration process..