Credibility and Dependability

Clarification of the participants’ transcripts was established. If this study was to explore fully their social constructions, then contamination by inappropriate researcher interpretation without caution had to be avoided. Barrett (1987) reminds us that this form of research can be highly subjective, at least in terms of selecting priorities, leading interview focus and paraphrasing of data resulting in it being unintentionally misleading. The aide-memoirefor credibility, insofar as qualitative research is able to be replicated in principal rather than in exactitude, was that a similarity of findings might be achieved by another researcher. However, the Falsification view (Popper, 1959) outlines that every statement is only true until it can be proved false, so striving to document findings which would have the robustness to be replicated by another became a guide, a challenge and, given my distinct managerial position within the institution, a potential limitation to this study. The process was a balancing act: the credibility of the researcher role, given the degree and quality of my access to management and governor staff, the lack of taping equipment and the trust placed in me by participants, all were uppermost in my thoughts and actions throughout this process.

The method used ultimately has clear limitations. As has been said, the direct generalisability of the data, the applicability across other institutions and other student groups, was not obvious. The method has given the opportunity to experience the phenomenon which I was studying, while the detail that I found has had to be organised and I have been acutely aware that, in this fairly complex process, a hundred interpretations were possible. It has been labour intensive, led to less clear decisions in the early stages and has relied on an inductive, exploratory process. Thus the exercise became one of being as detailed as possible and the generalisability of the data became a particularly challenging aspect for a study aimed at producing theoretical and policy guidance.

8.12 Summary

Although reflecting on the role of the individual within an organisation involves analysis on both personal and organisational levels, the real area of interest for me was the dynamics that occur at the crossover and the combined effects of the two.

I have gone some way to describe the quantitative pilot study, and I defend its right of place in this thesis. The effect of the practical defeat of this method on me was profound. Having held faith in quantitative approaches up to this point, I was surprised to find that it sat uncomfortably with my ontological beliefs and, in practical terms, proved inflexible and incomplete, telling only part of the story which I wanted to investigate. I therefore decided that the study required a qualitative approach to give depth of meaning to the experience of the individuals and to provide a multi-faceted approach offering flexibility of process. To provide a theoretical framework, the Social Constructionist approach helped identify shared meanings of experiences, offering the added perspective of investigating the use of the individual agency within the structure of the institution.

I increasingly became aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the dual-role of researcher and university manager. While maintaining strict ethical codes, I aimed to gain the trust of the participants while attempting to maintain transparency and confidentiality for them. If asked by any participant to give them a favour in my University staff role, I took the broad principle of “Do one, do them all”, asking myself if this was something I would do for any student. If not, then I would decline. However it remained an area of complex ambiguity and, necessarily, one of which I was conscious throughout.

After the withdrawal of some students from the university, others who had withdrawn from the study, and Registry achieving a cross representational section of those Mature students registered at the University, I began the data collection with a core group of 16 student and 12 staff participants. (Original minimal numbers had been aimed at 12 students and 6 staff). Short vignettes, sketching an

outline on examples of student members is available in Appendix 12. It however, was thought to be unwise to offer similar vignettes on the staff participants, given the difficulty of retaining anonymity in a small university, with very small numbers in particular staffing areas. I would argue that the nature and depth of the study justifies the tight participant numbers. The nature of the information I wanted to glean was also very personal and could have been perceived by the participants to carry the personal risks associated with disclosure. Intensifying the numbers to be studied kept the focus on the depth and richness, while maintaining the manageability of data in parallel.

The aim of the data collection and analysis was to produce Social Constructionist profiles of Mature students from a variety of perspectives (Chapter 13) alongside offering broader contributions to theoretical, practical, methodological and political debates (Chapter 12). Most of all, it was to open up this area of study, to highlight new areas for exploration from the inside, welcoming other academic researchers to cross over to the other side and view the student experience.

The next Part (IV) of this thesis is divided into three chapters which mirror those of the literature reviews (Part II) but with a discussion of the findings of the data once the outlined method outlined was applied and, in the process, tackled the 13 questions directing the discussions in Chapter 7, (Part III).