Data analysis

Dealing with the data required approaches which addressed facets of participant group and individual responses and to seeking authenticity through triangulation. Data analysis methods needed to be flexible and adaptive to the kind of information which was being collected, the way in which it was collected and the sources from which it was collected. This led to a version of thematic content analysis which was

sympathetic to the constructivist stance of this research (Brooks, et al., 2015; King & Horrocks, 2010).

The process of data analysis took place in several stages which overlapped:  local documents (Appendix 6) were mapped against the elements in the

mentoring framework, the elements were used as the initial themes – interpretative coding

 each interview transcript was reviewed and annotated (Appendices 17 and 18) – descriptive coding

 interview transcript annotations were used to produce summary notes relating to each participant’s interview (Appendix 19 and 20)

 interview transcripts were mapped against the mentoring framework elements, using the elements as one set of thematic categorisation (Tables 11) –

interpretative coding

 interview transcripts were coded using some pre-identified categories and categories were derived during the coding process – interpretative coding

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 participant observation data was coded with categories being developed during the coding process and contributed to contextual depth – descriptive and interpretative coding

Presentations of the data analysis are:

 Cameo profiles of a CCT and a mentor (Appendix 21, pp291-292)

 A table which sets out information from initiative originators against each element of the mentoring framework (Table 6, pp.128-130)

 A commentary about the findings set out in Table 6 and the presumptions behind the initiative origination (pp. 131-135)

 A table which sets out comparative information about each element using responses from the local documents and from responses from CCTs and mentors (Table 11, p.179-185)

 A commentary about the results which are set out in Table 11. This commentary identifies the elements which are used to examine the supplementary interview questions (4.7, pp.185-211)

 Persistent discovered themes, which interweave mentor and CCT responses (4.5, pp.170-177) and which were evident in the thematic analysis using the elements and the analysis in which themes were derived during the coding process. These are overarching, integrative themes (Brooks, et al., 2015)  Responses to the supplementary research questions (4.3, 4.4, pp.139-170 and

5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, pp.212-220)

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3.8.1 Data analysis: structure

Summarising individual semi-structured interview transcripts and identifying points of interest: I had manually taken verbatim notes of each mentor and CCT response

during the semi-structured interviews. I transcribed the notes from the interviews. My own note-taking practice allowed for some word and sentence completion but where there was uncertainty about what was intended the note remained without addition and a gap was left in the transcribed text. Where they occurred, participants’ pauses and requests for clarification were indicated in the notes. Each of the resulting transcripts (example at Appendix 17 and 19) was summarised (43 transcripts in total) and a summary note was appended to each From these summary notes, I identified points of interest which were highlighted (Appendix 18 and 20).

Developing themes, collated background data and persistent discovered themes:

each of the interview transcripts was ported into NVivo 10 as a source. Thematic content analysis was used, initially coding each question then coding across questions. This generated many categories. This was both helpful and unwieldy. This was

because it became clear that there were different types of data which were arising from the analysis and they needed to be considered, organised and distilled. The research was not centrally about frequency of responses (which information is mentioned most or least often) but is more to do with what is happening or

understood in the mentoring initiative and why this might be (King & Horrocks, 2010; Braun & Clarke, 2006). Some categorisation develops around persistent discovered

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themes which were common to CCTs and mentors but which affected them differently. The themes were

 What CCTs expected of volunteers  How CCTs saw their own professionality  Financing – views from mentors and CCTs

Contextual information

Some questions gave contextual information about the participant. I used this

information to create cameo descriptions of a mentor and a CCT (Appendix 21). These were helpful as they personified data where it was in danger of becoming unduly abstract. Information was used to give an indication of degree of a response or range of a response. The information about degree added emphasis to responses. The information about range was used to construct tables (e.g. Table 5, Table 7, Table 8). Additional contextual data was collected through participant observation. This

included data collected in scheduled meetings and activities within the researcher’s placement locality in eastern Uganda and during termly review meetings in Kampala. Participant observation forms were designed to allow for timed or interval noting as the researcher would be completing the observation alongside fulfilling the placement activities. This varied once where a continuous video record was taken of one of the termly review meetings where mentors were reporting on the aspects of their work which they had thought to be successful. This information underpinned mentor and CCT responses about the work which comprised the mentoring initiative.

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The wealth of information from the interviews and from the participant observation was providing a vivid backcloth to the mentoring initiative but some focusing was required. Concentrating on specific features within the initiative required a different series of analyses but using the same method.

Using Dawson’s mentoring framework and NVivo 10: the local documents were

closely searched for information which related to each of the framework elements. This resulted in a table which set out what the mentoring initiative originators had envisaged in the year and a half before the initiative began, before the first person was placed (Table 6). It also resulted in a series of assumptions which appeared to be implicit in the initiative documents. Each of the CCT and mentor semi-structured interviews was coded against Dawson’s framework. In this respect, the elements were operating as pre-set organisational themes. The summarised outcomes were set into a composite table (Table 11) which included the local document analysis. A commentary on each element was recorded (page 160).

Addressing individual elements: objectives (Element 1), resources and tools (Element 10) and rewards (Element 13), are set out and are used as proxies for expectations, work and success and were subject to further coding.

Reviewing the composite mapped table (Table 11) resulted in elements where there was similarity or difference between the responses from mentors and CCTs and the information from the local documents. There were three elements where the range of

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responses or understandings seemed to be particularly varied. These were objectives (Element 1), resources and tools (Element 10) and rewards (Element 13). They also presented as suitable proxies for expectations, work and success which are the foci of the supplementary research questions. This resulted in some further categorisation within each of these three elements. The accounts of these resulting categories with information derived from other data analysis stages are set out (4.3, 4.4, pp.139-170).