Data Analysis Phase

The data analysis phase in this research has two purposes. First of all to assess whether there was enough data collected from the data collection phase to frame issues for addressing the research questions. Following this, the data analysis phase

was to analyse the obtained data to answer the research questions and the research’s contribution to the theories on state developmentalism in high technology industry.

Research’s data analysis phase was processed in the following stages;

1. Case study selection: four case studies were selected out of a total of seven case studies by using sub-sectors of Vietnam’s IT industry as a unit of measure (Section 2.2.2 Case Study). As the research employed snow ball sampling as a sampling method, this enabled the research to obtain multiple samples that were clustered in the same sector segments providing sufficient data for each case study.

2. Quantitative data analysis: the data obtained were analysed based on the type of data. Firstly, the quantitative data from archival documents and the survey were statistically analysed on a nominal scale, using descriptive statistics in the form of percentages and means where applicable. The obtained quantitative data were used for comparative and illustrative purposes rather than for testing hypotheses or finding correlations between variables.

3. Qualitative data analysis: regarding the qualitative data, content analysis was employed as an analytical method. Pierce (2008: 263) defines content analysis as the textual analysis of the message communicated via various sources notably readable, audio and visual sources. He also notes the comparative capacity of this method to evaluate the similarity and dissimilarity or agreement and disagreement between informants on the same topic (2008: 264). Politics is generally a sensitive topic, especially in socialist nations. Research regarding Vietnam, especially during the transitional economic stage, can cause difficulties as informants may not necessarily want to provide what they think could be socially unacceptable answers.

Thus, using content analysis allowed the researcher to obtain sensitive information from messages that are communicated through non-spoken sources such as

advertisements and photographs, and also from indirect spoken sources such as speeches, without placing the key informants in difficulties.

The research followed Pierce’s guideline to analyse the content data with two more specific techniques of content analysis: non-frequent technique; and successive approximation technique.

3.1 Non-frequent: the first step in content analysis is to use a non-frequent technique, identifying content evidence from obtained field data. George (2009:

144-145) posits that the non-frequent technique is conducted by observing the consistency of the presence or absence of content features in the context, without a concern over the features frequency values. The content features can be anything that the research defines as research variables such as content characteristics, dichotomous attributes or coding judgements (2009: 144-145). In the case of this research, the content evidence was loosely classified into three groups: the state’s industrial roles; technological upgrading; and other attributes that connect the first two groups together.

3.2 Successive Approximation: after obtaining content evidence using the non-frequent technique, the successive approximation technique of qualitative data analysis was conducted in order to relate the content evidence with research questions and research frameworks (Neuman 2003: 451). The research looked into the content evidence and located them within the research frameworks of three models examining state roles with technology-upgrading process (Chapter 3:

Literature Review). This technique helped the research to evaluate whether the identified content evidence fit well with the theories or act beyond what the related theories suggest. Neuman (2003) suggests the key strategy for this method as ‘[…]

repeatedly move back and forth between data and theory, until the gap between them

shrinks or disappears’ (2003: 458), as by doing so the evidence and theory will structurally shape each other (2003: 451).

2.4.1 Research Constraints and Ethical Considerations

Being a researcher with no direct connection to the country where fieldwork takes place imposes certain limitations. First of all, I was not familiar with the field area, which made the fieldwork more time consuming than originally planned. I paid the price for this when the original research design was not successful, as a great delay occurred in the fieldwork. Secondly, there were language constraints, which were overcome by hiring research assistants when needed and taking a Vietnamese language course. Because of the nature of the research, the key informants use English as the main technical language in their professional lives, and thus most of the interviews were conducted in English. The Vietnamese language ability gained from the three-month-language course came in handy when attending technological conferences or workshops, and when observing local Internet rooms. Thirdly, being an outsider means I had no connections with the informants at all, and there were a number of rejections and a high probability that the informants would not participate if they had no interest in my research or did not benefit from it. To overcome this barrier, I made use of a personal network which I have been developing since the beginning of this research, which brought me in to the proximity of local IT engineers as well as IT firms. Moreover, I established a local affiliation with Dr.

Cao Hao Thi, from the School of Industrial Management, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology who provided me with local connections as well as credentials when contacting the informants during the period of July 2010 to January 2011.⁷ Being an outsider also has its advantages, such as seeing things from a

7 For an original copy refer to Appendix B

different perspective from individuals who are entrenched in the Vietnamese system and the ability to be more objective in my analysis.

Lastly, as a Thai citizen, I am permitted to travel ASEAN member countries such as Vietnam without obtaining a visa for any single three-month period. This saved me time as I did not have to deal with visa procedures. However, owing to the limitations of the three-month visiting period, I had no choice but to enter Vietnam more than once in order to complete my fieldwork, going back to Thailand then returning to Vietnam again.

Regarding ethical considerations, I provided the participants with the details of my research before the data collection took place in order to enable them to make an informed decision about whether or not to participate in my research. During data collection, research participants were all informed and asked for consent when recording devices were operated. Following the guidelines agreed to for ethics purposes, informants in this thesis have been anonymised using pseudonyms, except where they gave explicit permission for their real identities to be specified. The research obtained retrospective ethical approval from the university research ethics community (reference number AREA 11-041).

In conducting participant observation, a mixture of obtrusive and unobtrusive techniques was used based on ethical considerations. Whenever, an event was open to public participants, for example in the case of this research when I accessed the sites or events where non-members had access to information, participants were not informed about my observation (except when this was required). On the other hand, if any forms of communication took place between informants and me they were informed about the research and asked verbally if they agreed to the use of the information for research purposes.

Chapter 3