Construction of the Case Studies

Yin (1994) noted that a major practical difficulty of analysis of case study evidence is dealing with the amount and variety of data collected and that a general data analysis strategy is an important part of case study design. The

93 initial focus for this research drew on a wide range of sources and the voluminous case data was sorted into comprehensive, primary resource packages. The collection of data had an initial broad focus on crises with an impact on the tourism industry and involved an extensive search through the crisis literature, with search parameters refining results to target tourism. The temporal focus was wide ranging at the start and was predicated on a big picture outlook to encompass a variety of crises. The period that the research finally focused on was defined by the four cases because, unexpectedly during the course of the early stages of research, the crises included in the study occurred.

The presence and evolution of these crises was impossible to ignore, as was the magnitude of their impact on tourism and current global issues. As concurrent events to the research, the focus and collection of data became an evolving and real-time event resulting in collection of a vast bank of information, giving the data a fresh currency.

For each case study, the respective domestic media sources were combed for relevant news stories that depicted tourism and media activity and effect. For example, in the case of Foot and Mouth Disease, UK media outlets were

targeted, ranging from the prominent media, such as BBC and The Guardian, to the populist media such as The Sun. Extensive multi-media website archives provided rich audio, video and text sources that enriched the case study

narrative. Once an information bank had been developed based on the domestic media outlets, the data mining shifted to the international realm to draw in further information, with a heavy reliance on special report sections built up by

94 the likes of CNN and the BBC. Tourism industry news sites were subscribed to for the three years in which the case study crises occurred and media monitoring services were employed.

As each crisis concluded with the start of recovery activity, the case records were closed and final case study narratives were written for each of the four events. Research and data discovery could have continued but it was necessary owing to time constraints to limit the focus to the crisis period and immediate after-effects. As this study supports, and Darke and Shanks (2000, p. 101) acknowledge, case study research can be difficult to write up due to the volume of data collected and problems with analysing evidence. Regardless, it is widely believed narratives should be presented as an interesting and convincing story, engagingly composed and able to entice the reader‘s interest.

As Patton (2002, p. 450) notes, the basic unit of analysis of a comparative study remains the distinct cases, and the credibility of the overall findings is linked to the quality of the individual cases. Each of the case studies in this research stands alone, allowing the reader to understand it as a unique, holistic event.

The case study chapters use the same structure and framework for presenting the data. At a later point in the analysis, it was then possible to compare and contrast cases; however, initially each case is represented and interpreted as an idiosyncratic manifestation of the phenomenon of interest.

95 3.9. Analysis of the Case Study Data

The goal of analysis in interpretivist studies is to produce an understanding of the contexts of the phenomena and the interactions between them. The interpretive researcher presents an assessment of the actions of others and the strength of the ensuing analysis comes from how the available data is interpreted (Darke and Shanks, 2000, p.100). Myers (1998) discusses some modes of analysis associated with interpretive research, including hermeneutics, narrative (a tale or recital of facts) and metaphor (a way of understanding or experiencing one thing in terms of another). Statistical generalisation is not the goal of case study research as cases, by their disparate nature, are not sampling units. Rather, theoretical or analytical generalisation is appropriate where case study results are used to develop theory or to test previously developed theory (Yin, 1994; Cavaye, 1996). Interpretive case study research is useful for four types of generalisations: development of concepts; generation of theory;

drawing of specific implications; and contribution of rich insight (Walsham, 1995). This research focuses on the latter two outcomes.

Researcher bias can be an issue in the collection and analysis of data. Two types of bias are: the impact of the researcher‘s presence on-site and the researcher‘s own beliefs, values and prior assumptions which may unduly influence the analysis of case study evidence (Darke and Shanks, 2000, p. 100). Interpretive researchers acknowledge the subjectivity of their analysis in that their predispositions, beliefs, values and interests shape their investigations. This

96 subjectivity is seen as a positive in providing the rich narratives, particularly when the perspective of the researcher is understood and accounted for. Effects of bias can be counteracted by using multiple sources of evidence to provide multiple instances from multiple sources.

In this research, a wide range of sources was used including books, periodicals, journals, newspapers, websites and industry commentary. Through a process of inductive analysis, the researcher sought answers through interactions with the data that were not based on a pre-determined framework of investigation. In devising strategies to analyse, compare and interpret the case studies, it was decided to utilise qualitative content analysis to identify patterns and themes.

Content analysis sometimes refers to searching text for recurring words or themes. More generally, however, content analysis is used to refer to any qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a volume of qualitative material and attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings, patterns and relationships (Patton, 2002, p. 453). The core meanings found through content analysis are often called patterns (descriptive findings) or themes (a more categorical form). Alternatively, the process of searching for patterns or themes may be distinguished respectively as pattern analysis or theme analysis. The analytical process is meant to organise and elucidate the story revealed by the data. Indeed a skilled analyst is able to allow the data to tell its story (Ibid).

Amidst the wealth of data collected, the focus remained on telling the story of

97 each case. Through this approach, the timeline of each crisis emerged and was refined to add structure to the data and to aid the ultimate goal of analysis, that is, to identify what the crisis did, what the media did and what tourism did during the crisis.

Guba (1978) recognises the difficulty of the task of converting field notes and observations into systematic categories and admits that no infallible procedure exists. Guba (p. 53) argues that by adopting a sequential approach to analysis, looking at points of convergence and divergence for observations will allow for:

a) recurring patterns and themes to be identified to show both similarities and differences within the case studies; and,

b) these patterns and themes to then be fleshed out to connect with other existing or new information.

Patton (2002, p. 467) notes that qualitative analysis requires both creative and critical faculties to make considered judgments about what is significant and meaningful in the data. He further observes that qualitative analysts do not have statistical tests to advise when an observation or pattern is significant, so they need to draw on intelligence, experience and judgment, taking seriously responses from the studied environment. In the words of Scriven (1993, p.71) :

If we are interested in real significance, we ignore little differences…We ignore them because, although they are very likely real, they are very unlikely to hold up in replications. Fred Mosteller, the great applied

98 statistician, was fond of saying that he did not care much for statistically significant differences, he was more interested in interocular differences, the differences that hit us between the eyes.

In lieu of statistical significance, qualitative findings are judged by their substantive significance. The analyst makes an argument for substantive significance in presenting findings and conclusions, but readers and users of the analysis will make their own value judgements about significance (Patton, 2002, p. 467).