Socio-Cultural Contexts of Adolescent Fertility in Yoruba Society: Insights from Osun State

Theoretical context of “Socio-Cultural Contexts Of Adolescent Fertility In Yoruba Society-Insights From Osun State”.
In seeking to explain and understand how age at first childbirth affects the demographic and socio-economic status of women and children in Osun State, the author employed the three theoretical frameworks or theories of Demographic Transition, of social status determinants and Globalization, skill-mismatch and development of the underclass.
Since this study draws from these theoretical expositions to explain adolescent reproductive behaviour(social phenomena), establish relationship between the demographic and economic variables of the study, generate basic hypothesis and provide a framework that guides research questions, we could say that it is Nomothetic in nature. Nomothetics seek to construct a deductively set of general theories that explain and predict human behavior.
Deduction= Theory/Theoretical Framework Data Collection.
It is therefore consequential that a research dominated by deduction, positivism, objectivism and etic view of ontology in explaining -
1. The demographic factors responsible for adolescents’ fertility among people of different localities and socio-economic status in Osun state
2. The factors responsible for differences in social status in individuals in the society
3. The relationship between globalization, adolescent fertility and labour markets (chapter 3)
Will employ a quantitative research method (Cross sectional survey) (chapter 4)
But every scientifically approved theory must be empirical and explanatory in nature to be able to pass the reliability and validity test. Some of the theories used for this study e.g Theory of Demographic transition are descriptive in nature (non-experimental) and therefore lack the explanatory nature of scientific inquiry.
To make the research a complete one capable of explaining present day demographic and socio-economic status of women in Osun State(drawing from its explanatory failure in Europe) in Osun state, the author used critical realism to merge the quantitative methods with qualitative research methods(ethnographic method of indepth interviews) inorder to have the required results that can answer all the hypothetical and research questions.
The weakness of the theoretical frameworks in validating and explaining the phenomena of adolescent fertility and its demographic and socioeconomic impacts on women in Osun state from an objective view necessitated the use of qualitative methods of non-experimental research design which consists of cross-sectional and indepth interviews to identify the impact of adolescent childbearing on socio-economic status of women and their children in Osun state.
Through Critical realism, the author merged a study conceptualized through nomothetic deductive, positivism and quantitative method with an ideographic, emic, subjective and inductive perspective to have a study with verifiable and validated results.