DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis is the process of analysing the data collected and transforming it into useful information for the purpose of conducting valid research (Greener, 2011). As this research study is qualitative in nature, the data was transcribed, summarised, categorised, and thematic analysis applied. Data was validated by presenting the transcribed documents to the respective participants to verify the correctness of the transcriptions.

Coding was done by examining the transcriptions for keywords and concepts. The code was then categorised. The data was presented in relation to the interview questions and sub-research questions and specific findings were drawn. The findings were then used to develop themes. Thematic analysis is used to identify, examine, and record the data collected in coded format (Aronson, 1994; Ritchie, Lewis, Nicholls & Ormston, 2014). It identifies, examines, and records the patterns in data. Lewis (2011) states that themes are in the form of patterns across the data, which is important for a phenomenon that is associated to a specific research question. In this research, the themes were categorised according to the research

questions and sub-research questions as the basis for the discussion of the results in Chapter Five.

Lewis (2011:47) mentions that thematic analyses are performed in six phases of process coding in order to have meaningful patterns. The phases are as follows: i) familiarisation with the data: ii) generating initial codes, iii) searching for themes among the codes, iii) reviewing the themes, iv) defining and naming the themes, and v) producing the final report.

3.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Babbie (2010:64) defines ethics as “a general agreement that is shared by researchers about what is proper and what is improper in the conduct of a scientific inquiry”. Ethics is a form of agreement between the researcher and the participants regarding the good and proper conduct of research, so that the participants could have the interest and confidence to participate in the research.

Greener (2011:64) as well as Leedy and Ormrod (2010:101) identify some of the ethical issues that a researcher needs to be aware of and also to inform the participants before they participate in the study:

 Voluntary participation: The participants will voluntarily participate and have every right to withdraw at any time from the research.

 No harm to the participants: This research does not require any form of experiments, in other words it will not cause any harm to the participants.

 Anonymity: This research will treat all the respondents as anonymous.

 Confidentiality: This research will not identify any participants in any way.

 Deception: This research will be conducted with honesty and truth; the participants must be informed what the research is meant for and what it expects to achieve.

 Beneficence: The participating companies will benefit from this research by using the outcome as a guide towards an effective implementation of an HRIS.

 Justice: There will be equal distribution of risk and benefits among the participants, thus, no discrimination.

 Informed consent: The participants will be informed of what the research is all about and they will decide if they want to participate.

 Right to privacy: The participants will be given their right to privacy in this research.

The researcher made sure that the mentioned issues were strictly complied with and informed consent was obtained from the authorities as well as individual participants of the selected retail outlets.

Ethical issues relating to sensitive information from organisations such as the retail outlets are usually seen as a threat to the privacy of the companies. This research kept all the information collected from the companies and its participants as strictly confidential. The names of the companies and that of the participants were not mentioned, and the semi-structured questionnaires and other documents were encoded for confidentiality. This research did not disrupt the normal working conditions of the companies and participants involved.

3.8 SUMMARY

Chapter Three explained the research methodology and design portrayed by the processes that were followed to conduct a conclusive research study. The research was conducted using a qualitative research method in order to have an interpretive perspective of the social phenomenon. The philosophical approaches used assisted the researcher in determining the impact of HRISs in a real life situation through ontology, epistemology and methodology. The ontological approach has been identified as subjectivist and the epistemological stance as interpretive.

An inductive approach was followed due to the selected interpretive paradigm to guide the researcher in proposing a guideline for effective HRIS implementation in the retail sector. A multiple case study was used as the research strategy, involving two retail organisations. The unit of analysis was the HRISs used in the two companies, with 21 participants from these companies being the unit of observation.

The participants were non-randomly and purposively selected.

The data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire that was prepared to align with the research questions, and interviews were conducted individually with the participants. The interviews were transcribed, summarised, categorised, and thematically analysed; the transcribed data was validated by the participants before being used. Ethical considerations were all discussed at length in this chapter.

Documents relating to both retail outlets were retrieved from their websites to support the research.

The details of the interviews and the number of purposively chosen participants are explained in detail in the next chapter where the data collected are analysed to identify the findings and themes for discussion.