Analysis of Qualitative Data

5.11.1.1 Content Analysis

The contextualisation of research and search for meanings that may influence behaviours makes content analysis an appropriate analytical methodology. The data obtained was analysed using content analysis which is defined by Krippendorff (2004) as “…a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or

other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use” (p.18; author’s italics). The

content was coded and broken down into manageable categories of keywords, phrases or themes. The researcher then analysed the presence, meanings and relationships of such words and concepts, making inferences about the messages within the texts, the writer(s), the audience, and the culture and time of which they were a part (ibid.).

5.11.1.2 Text Analysis Procedures

The study incorporated text data from three sources: interviews, observations and documents. Interviews and participant observations are researcher-instigated data and therefore subject to the limitations and opportunities of the research environment whereas documents are naturally occurring data, influenced by the social context in which they were constructed (Perakyla, 2005). Three major tools of text analysis are used in this study. The first is the historical and Foucaultian way of analyzing and interpreting texts (Perakyla, 2005, p.872); the second is conversation analysis (Sacks et al., 1974) and the third is critical discourse analysis which seeks to understand power and dominance in relationships (Van Dijk, 1993).

In describing the use of the Foucaultian method used by Armstrong (2002), Perakyla (2005) indicated that the focus is on the ‘propositional content’ (not the linguistic forms) of the texts, “…trying to pin down the assumptions and presuppositions that the texts incorporated” (Perakyla, 2005, p.872). One technique is to analyse the text by examining the characteristic language, especially the use of rhetoric which is “…how texts (spoken and written) persuade their readers and hearers” (Silverman, 2004, p.73; author's italics). The interview allowed the researcher to overcome distance in “…space and in time; past events or faraway experiences, by studying people who took part in them” (Perakyla, 2005, p.869).

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Conversation analysis studies offer “…qualitative descriptions of interactional structures (e.g., turn taking, relations between adjacent utterances) and practices (e.g. telling and receiving news, making assessments)” (Perakyla, 2005, p.875; author's parentheses ). This method “…is attributed to [Harvey] Sacks who started to study the very structures of the interaction itself” (Schegloff, 1992, p.xviii). Interviews were recorded and transcribed to include the structures of the interaction such as pauses and linguistic devices (Silverman, 2004, p.73). The researcher included incidents in the participant observation memos where they were evident during the interview process. The coded memos along with the text analysis provided insights into how public and private actors functioned in the PPP arrangement. The methods were also mutually re- enforcing with respect to the theoretical propositions and were used separately, following the advice of Perakyla (2005) who indicated that “…rather than combining different methods…we should perhaps let each method do its job in its own way…and then, only at the end of that, let their results cross-illuminate each other” (p.881).

5.11.1.3 Text Coding

Data collected from the three sources were all converted to text and used in the analysis and case reports. Interviews were transcribed and checked for accuracy. Data from archival documents from each site were summarised in a single document in text format. Audio files from the process of participant observation were also transcribed and a single document in text format was produced. All data collected were included in the process of analysis.

The data analysis was facilitated to a limited extent by the use of data analysis software. Data analysis software are tools available to the researcher and it is important to describe exactly how they are used to support the process. The qualitative data analysis software, NVivo 8, was used to code and categorize text from the interviews, archival records and participant observation memos, thereby aiding the process of triangulation. Nvivo 8 is a code and retrieve programme that facilitates theory and conceptual building. Codes and patterns were developed into causal networks using explanatory effects matrices in order to develop an integrated understanding of the case (Miles and Huberman, 1994).

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In the open coding process, codes were not limited to those generated from the theoretical and conceptual framework. Other codes were developed where they appeared to fit the research questions or present a possible causal link to events. This was necessary in order to capture the meanings in the language and the way in which public and private actors interpreted the interactions. It was important that the use of the software did not transform the data analysis into a rigid coding by words as suggested by (Kelle, 1997). While it would have been simple to identify word frequencies or coding stripes, and even sort by sector to find recurring concepts, the process of analysis at this point varied to generate the most appropriate and useful axial codes.

The study sought to determine how the governance relationship between public and private partners in the PPP arrangement contributed to the survival of the business schools. The study attempted to do this by emphasizing the unit of analysis as the relationship between public and private sector directors with respect to the key strategies of the schools. The main strategies identified by the KOAs in the interview processes were extracted (Research Question 2) and through data reduction, selective codes were generated to reflect each strategy. These were considered to be core categories that are enduring in the schools (Borgatti, 2006). These selective codes formed the basis for axial coding.

The process of axial coding was used to identify important concepts that embodied the relationship among the codes. Axial coding “…is the process of relating codes (categories and properties) to each other, via a combination of inductive and deductive thinking” (Borgatti, 2006, website). The conceptual framework served as a guide to relate open codes to the key strategies (selectively coded). Borgatti (2006) explains that through axial coding relationships are developed using a causal relationships in a framework that includes a description of the phenomenon, causal conditions, context intervening conditions, action strategies and consequences. This framework was not used and instead, the conceptual framework, which is also based on causal relationships for the purpose of explanation, was used to guide the process of axial coding. This process led to the identification of findings of the study which were explained using the theoretical propositions.

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5.11.1.4 Social Network Analysis

In this study, four social networks were mapped and analysed as an integral part of providing answers to the research question. The initial task of the analysis was to map the professional networks of KOAs to determine their density and then to assess the impact that this could have on the PPP and relationships between sub-groups of actors in the network. The second network examined in this study of PPPs was that of actors and relationships that were instrumental in the establishment of the schools. The historical network architecture was mapped to determine the density of public and private actors at the start of the school. The network was extended as far as possible to include actors and ties that could be identified from the interviews and documents. Two other networks were constructed to determine the density of actor sub-groups which contributed to the strategy of the PPPs. The social network research method adopted by Krackhardt (1987) was used in this study to determine the weighted perceptions of colleagues of the contribution of public and private actors to the strategy of the school. In this case, data collection deviated from the usual who to whom matrices and included the perceptions of actors with respect to the contribution of their own group and that of the other groups in the study (ibid.).

5.11.1.5 Presentation of Social Networks

In the networks included in the case, nodes representing actors with mainly university experience are coloured yellow whereas green nodes denote actors with both public and private sector experience; private sector actors are denoted by blue nodes. The designation ‘KOA’ means the actor is considered a key organisational actor in the business school. The unique challenges to ethical conduct in social network research required that the research adopt measures to protect the anonymity of actors (Borgatti and Molina, 2003; Borgatti and Molina, 2005). Actors are given anonymity in three different ways in the study. Actors are referred to as ‘respondents’ and by sector experience, where ‘Pub’ represents ‘public,’ ‘Priv’ represents ‘private’ and Pub/Private represents an actor having both public and private experience. Names are fictitious and are only used where they contribute to the analysis. Names have no relationship to gender as this is not a factor in this study. The masculine form of the third person is used where references are made to actors.

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The combination of qualitative and social network analysis is not without precedence and advances in network methodology have provided the opportunity to utilise the appropriate combination of tools to study the social relationships between actors and answer the research question on how the relationship between public and private sector actors in the governance of business schools in the Caribbean influences their contribution to strategy and impacts the outcomes for the schools (Breiger, 2004).