4.2 Population and Sample

The target population to be surveyed was people who use public libraries in New Zealand to do whakapapa research. For the purposes of this study there was no restriction on the ethnicity of the researcher, though it was considered likely that the vast majority of those completing the survey would have Māori ancestry. Participants self-selected through their voluntary participation. A sample size of 70-80 was selected as a target response rate for the survey with the aim of gathering around 12 responses from each site. This was in anticipation of a roughly 50% return rate based on Kuglin’s experience. In reality a much lower response rate occurred in this study with only a 12.5% return rate achieved. Given the differences in percentage of Māori population living near these sites it was also anticipated that there would be some differences in the level of response. Though the results of previous research has shown the age of genealogists to be middle-aged to elderly, in the context of whakapapa research, the researcher’s experience suggested that there may be more younger people involved in this pastime than in other groups previously studied. Conversely, this study was expected to confirm the gender of whakapapa researchers as predominantly female, a idea supported by previous research on other populations.