ANALYSING THE DATA

Due to the various data types an iterative and multi-staged process of analysis was used. I frequently moved between data and literature, aiming to allow the data to drive my theoretical sense-making.

Interviews

There was one telephone interview for which written notes were taken. Face-to-face interviews were audio recorded (N=29). All participants gave consent for their interviews to be recorded. Of these N=28 were transcribed. Each recording was sent to a professional transcribing service to be produced as Word files.

These interview Word documents (and any other documentary data) were imported into the QSR NVivo8 software package to facilitate storing and organising the data. The NVivo8 package allows an iterative interaction with the data and also has the software capacity to allow embryonic interpretations to be attached to transcripts and to the audio recording itself. A thematic analysis was undertaken to broadly capture the issues which were of importance to participants, this analytic process also allowing for a more general re-familiarisation to the data.

Observations

The observational data was more difficult to deal with in a programmatic way. Whilst the observational data that been typed up in Word format was easily transported and analysed utilising the same methods as with the interview transcripts, in the main, observational data served a different interpretative purpose. Firstly, the observations provided me with broad contextual understanding of the localised MCNs and secondly, they presented specific incidents which illustrated more wide ranging themes.

Observations served to open further questions in need of answer. As I tried to work out why practitioners and managers organised themselves in MCNs, it was of use to see them doing different activities which could lead me to ask ‘why are they doing that?’ and ‘why are they relating to one another in that way?’ The observational data moved beyond the more readily captured linguistic and cognitive interview data to allow me to access moods, emotions and

sensory data. Accessing in-house jokes and rituals was clearly of added benefit when it came to understanding what was important to MCN members, but would not necessarily have been reported in MCN literatures. All of this helped to make more analytic sense of the interview data as I became more in-tune with the MCNs taken-for-granted interactional contexts.

Hermeneutic iteration

Through my focus on work I became increasingly more aware of what was or was not important to MCN members. As I began to appreciate the concerns of my participants, the analysis began to hone in on these themes so that they could be theoretically developed. The initial interview and observational data can be thus thought of as akin to Geertz’s thin description (1973, 1983) inductively creating themes which participants should recognise as being of importance to them and which can be reported by directly drawing on recorded quotes, whereas the analytic interpretation can thus be understandable as thick description.

The data analysis was thus multi-staged, continuing throughout the whole of the fieldwork. Interview and observational data were coded for themes. The interview themes were compared against the observational themes for discrepancies and similarities. These comparisons were then used to return to the field to inform further interviews and observations. This cycle was repeated many times. In addition to this, I repeatedly attempted to locate literatures which may help to understand what the data was saying. Overall, this process describes the hermeneutic research cycle, where experience and understanding, continually impact and interact with one another in ongoing iterative cycles.

Hermeneutic iteration refers not only to the conversation between data streams (e.g. interview and observation) but is also a conversation between the data and theory. That is, analysis is not only in reference to the data and themes per se, but also is concurrently considering how these findings can be explained. Underpinning this process is the assumption that social activity is an answer to an as yet unidentified set of social questions - interius verbatim. This back and forth between data and literature is akin to Gadamer’s (1960) fusion of horizons process and was carried out throughout the whole of the research, the aim to move beyond more realist data to create interpretative understanding and explanation. This analytic process can only be thought of as being finished at the end process of write-up, where the final verbal

construction of the thesis per se eventually locks down the analysis in temporary hermeneutic closure.

6.9 PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

The presentation of the findings reflects the variety of data forms and complexity of the thematic inter-relations.

Firstly, considering that which could be understood as thin description, I provide interview and observational data. The interview data is of relevant quotes which are seen as informing or strengthening analysis. It clearly records the number of interview and the MCN it is drawn from. All quotes are presented in italics. Observations are clearly presented in text boxes. It reports those events which are seen as important to particular MCN developments or theoretical themes. Again, it is clearly indicated which MCN it refers to.

Chapter 7 provides predominantly thin description, interview and observational data. It also though provides a description of a transition point in the methodology and whilst the positioning of this chapter perhaps sits clumsily with regards to timeline, it is included to provide a more genuine account of the stages in the research. It records my initial forays into the field where I admittedly did not have a very clear sense of what I was doing or what I was being told. Yet this stage proved to be a vitally important developmental stage in my understanding and is presented to allow a more accurate record of the types of questions which informed my later methodology, data collection and analysis. In placing this chapter here I do though recognise that it provides the reader some challenge in relation to narrative line.

Moving on to Chapters 8 and 9 it was necessary to organise in a way that draws together relevant literatures and data. This style of presentation was used to allow the reader some entrance into the contexts of the MCNs in order, to provide a theoretical context for assessment of the plausibility of the interpretations made.

In Chapter 8, I organise these themes in an analytic heuristic of work, morals-in-practice. Centred round the Sachen, shared clinical subject matters, this constructed organising frame,

has the dual aim of allowing the inter-relatedness of data themes to become visible, whilst also helping the reader to compare similarities across MCN contexts.

It is worth noting at this point that as the discussion is centred on the Sachen, shared clinical subject matters, the content may make at times for uncomfortable reading. It is not my intention to create difficulties for the reader but is presented to give an account of the work in relation to these Sachen. It must be borne in mind that the data presented represents conversations which are normalised and frame the work undertaken within these MCN contexts.

In Chapter 9, I use wicked problems as a way into MCN work and contrast the different MCNs through leadership, authority and relevant hermeneutic concepts. Again, this tack allows an interpretative organising frame for the data, whilst allowing the differences between the MCNs to become visible.

In the final Chapter, I return to the question of the interius verbatim, mobilising it as an analytic. In Chapter 10, I thus make the final interpretative move towards thick description, considering how the hermeneutic iteration of data and theory can help to answer why practitioners and managers voluntarily organise themselves in this way.

Thus as the analysis is understood as moving between data and theory – experience and understanding – this is reflected in the presentation of the findings. To do this it has been necessary to attempt to construct the narrative in an unfolding hermeneutic iterative style, layering theoretical and empirical evidence. Whilst granted this means the presentation style is challenging and somewhat unorthodox, this organisation style has been adopted deliberately. My aim is to at least partially, capture and inform the reader of the range of competing challenges and pressures which face MCN members in their every day work.