Analysing the data

I analysed the data using a process of ‘thematic analysis’ outlined by Braun and Clarke which involves ‘searching across the data set to find repeated patterns of meaning’ (Bruan and Clarke 2006 p84) This is a recursive rather than linear process involving moving backwards and forwards between a series of different stages. The first stage involved familiarising myself with the data. Transcribing the audio recordings was an important first part of this stage. Bird has described how during

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the process of transcription she became more aware of tone as well as content of what was being said, identifying points where the interviewee was using sarcasm to give an opposite meaning to what might be conveyed by simply reading the words alone (Bird 2005). This is something I observed in the transcription process where silences, pauses and an uncertainty in tone of voice suggested meanings that would not have been apparent from the transcript alone. I transcribed everything, making notes in square brackets to record tone, pauses and so on. With the documentary evidence familiarisation was a case of reading, and re-reading documents. At this first stage I noted down initial ideas.

The second stage was generating initial codes. Bruan and Clarke distinguish between ‘inductive’ and ‘theoretical’ thematic analysis. Inductive analysis involves

developing codes from the data itself rather than trying to fit them into a pre-existing theoretical frame. This approach draws on grounded theory, developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) which strives to develop theory ‘from the ground up’ through analysis of data. This approach was originally seen as highly compatible with feminism because of a desire to locate theory in respondents’ worlds but it has been criticised on the grounds that no work can be free from theory (Morley 1996). Kelly et al argue that ‘as feminists we cannot argue that theory emerges from research since we start from a theoretical perspective that takes gender as a fundamental organiser of social life’ (Kelly et al 1994 p156). Theoretical analysis develops codes from existing theorising about the area being studied. I started with the latter approach, with codes that reflected ideas from my reading of the literature. However as I read and re-read the data I identified some themes which I had not previously considered. For

example the importance of the political make-up of the authority was a well- established theme in the literature on equality work within public authorities. However it became clear that London Borough’s work on equality was not simply a reflection of an historical political commitment to equality within the authority, shared by councillors and staff, but also a way of positioning the authority in opposition to the Coalition government. Several participants commented that it was easier to raise issues of inequality within the council under the Coalition than it might have been under the previous Labour government. My approach to generating codes cannot therefore be described as purely theoretical since it contained elements that might be described as inductive.

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The third stage was searching for themes, collating codes into themes and gathering all data relevant to each potential theme. These themes were reviewed in the fourth stage, at which point some codes became themes in their own right as it became apparent that there were sub themes within then. The review stage involved re- reading and re-coding, going back through existing transcripts to identify codes which had only emerged in later transcripts. One example of this was the

confidence/lack of confidence shown by interviewees when describing what equality meant to them. Throughout this process I reviewed the themes against the research questions and the literature, searching for additional literature that related to the themes that had emerged from the data.

I chose to code manually rather than use NVivo or other forms of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDA). CAQDA can be a very fast way to search for particular terms in the data, but interviewees often express the same concept using very different language which can only be picked up through a manual search (Welsh 2002). CAQDA can also be useful for managing large amounts of data, but my sample size was relatively small and I did not think it was necessary in this case.

3.6 Ethics

Savin-Baden and Howell Major identify a number of ethical issues in social research including issues related to the efficacy of the design of the research, issues related to the treatment of individuals, issues related to transparency of process and issues related to the plausibility of the final products of research (Savin-Baden and Howell Major 2013, p332). Ethical issues in research design include an ethical responsibility to develop knowledge, that research should have a sound methodological basis and that the researcher should have the skills and knowledge to under-take the study. The treatment of individuals includes respect for persons, ensuring that participants have autonomy and full understanding of the research they are being asked to take part in, that they are protected from harm and that they are treated with justice. Transparency of process requires researchers to make their own position clear, to conduct their research consistently and to present their findings in a way that allows others to evaluate them. Plausibility of the research product includes scrutiny and

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accountability of the work to others, honesty in the portrayal of participants’ voices, and dissemination for the benefit of all interested parties.

Many of these issues are addressed elsewhere in this chapter. This section concentrates on two key areas, informed consent and protection of interviewees through anonymity.

Informed consent involves ensuring that participants are fully aware of the potential risks and benefits of the research before taking part in it, and that they are choosing to take part freely and without any form of coercion. Simply providing participants with a consent form to sign at the start of an interview may not be enough to ensure informed consent if the participant does not understand what they have been given to read (either because they do not speak the language the form is in, they lack literacy skills or the language used in the form is complex and confusing) (Savin-Baden and Howell Major 2013 p323). For this research project information about the aims and purpose of the research was sent to all interviewees in advance of the interview via email. A second hard copy was given to interviewees to read at the start of the interview. I checked if interviewees understood what it said, and if they were still happy to go ahead with the interview, and then gave them a consent form to sign (copies of both documents are reproduced in the appendix).

The main risk to the interviewees was that any views they expressed in the interview about a local authority’s policies or practices might affect their relationship with that authority. This could be damaging for employees of the authority and also for civil society groups that depended on the authority for funding. The best way to protect against this was to ensure interviewees could not be identified. I decided not to name either the individual interviewees, or the local authorities and as far as possible to ensure that neither were identifiable. This involved making some changes to the exact titles of equality documents produced by the authority and giving general rather than exact statistical information about the demographic make up of the authority, number of councillors and so on. The number of people working in equality in any given authority is relatively small, as is the number of civil society organisations working on equality in any local authority area meaning that it would be impossible to maintain interviewees’ anonymity if the authority was named. It is impossible to ensure that someone who was really determined could be prevented

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from working out the likely identity of any of the authorities. However I aimed to make this as difficult as possible and to ensure ‘plausible deniability’ for the individuals interviewed. I was conscious of the argument that that anonymity is undesirable because it makes research difficult to replicate and harder to review (Yin 2014). There is clearly a tension between the need to produce research that can be properly scrutinised and assessed, which requires as much information as possible about the case study organisation and the individuals who were interviewed and protecting those individuals from the harm that might occur if their identities were known. Cohen et al argue that researchers have to judge these benefits against possible harms in making these sorts of decisions (Cohen et al 2000). In this case I judged that the potential harm to the interviewees outweighed the advantages of naming their organisations.

3.7 Conclusions

This chapter has set out the methodological approach I used to address my research questions. The literature review suggested that mainstreaming can take different forms depending on context. It highlighted the importance of both the relationship between actors within public bodies and within civil society and the way equality is framed. This led to my decision to take a case study approach to investigate the implementation of the PSED. The case studies allowed me to consider questions of organisational context and to investigate the extent to which civil society actors were able to influence equality work at a local level. Within these case studies I analysed the way equality was framed in official documents and by officers and councillors in order to explore how this framing influenced equality work within each authority. In order to situate the case studies in a broader national context and explore the extent to which the PSED represented reflexive and/or responsive regulation, I analysed a series of consultation documents relating to the Equality Act and more recent equality documents produced by the Coalition Government and interviewed former Ministers and civil servants. I analysed EHRC documents and carried out interviews with current and former EHRC staff to research the EHRC’s role as regulator and the framing of equality within the EHRC.

The next chapter provides background to the PSED and the approach to equality that it represents.

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Chapter 4: The Public Sector Equality Duty: background and