Data analysis

4.3.1 Approach to coding and data analysis

The main sources of data and information were analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach. This means that rather than applying a formal coding process to the various textual information and the interview transcripts, which seeks to systematically quantify content in a replicable manner using predetermined categories (Bryman, 2012), a more flexible coding approach was used that emphasises the role of the researcher ‘in the construction of meaning of and in texts’ (Bryman, 2012: 714). Whilst I did undertake a computer programme course in the NVivo software package so to facilitate coding, I found that the process of using that software for the purpose of my research was too time consuming and preferred to manually organise the information. This decision was based upon a recognition, as Rydin notes, that it is not how a particular piece of text is coded ‘but what should be selected for coding in the first place’ that matters (Rydin, 2003:

183). A ‘close reading’ of the textual information was therefore adopted, with the information placed into an excel spreadsheet that was split into various sections so to facilitate its analysis and enable the information to be connected back to the main and sub-research questions. These sections therefore addressed issues and concepts related to the functioning of power in the planning decision-making process (see Chapter 3), with dedicated spreadsheet columns, for example, attending to agency and agenda setting. The spreadsheet also enabled the information, including direct quotes extracted

95 from interviews, to be structured with regard to various interviewee reflections on the relationship between actors, as well as the different rationalisations or knowledge claims that were expressed in support or objection to a particular planning outcome. This was a reflexive process in that the theoretical and conceptual framing, provided in Chapters 2 and 3, guided the structured analysis with further refinement of the selective organisation of the text emerging as I immersed myself in the information gathered.

Indeed, the land uses that constituted the main focus of the thesis - housing, employment, open space, and education – were chosen due to their prominence in the LCS development agenda and negotiations, as well as because of their pertinence to issues of social justice and the potential for these uses to benefit existing local residents in the post-Games regeneration (see Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 which respectively discuss socially just planning outcomes and the socio-economic character of the area surrounding the LCS site). These four land uses also provided the most substantive content of the LCS application and interviewee discussions, with other issues, such as design impact and sustainability, having yet to be fully established within what is an outline application.²³

The flexible coding approach taken also enabled any linkages between issues to be uncovered, which further refined the categorisation process. These categories were then organised thematically, as recommended by Creswell (2003: 194), so to form a

‘qualitative narrative’. The narrative approach was deemed most appropriate as it enabled a coherent and detailed discussion of themes, alongside various sub-themes, multiple perspectives and quotations, and thus provided what Geertz describes as ‘thick descriptions [...] to comprehend an event’ (1973: 6), which in this case was the planning decision-making process for the LCS application. Providing a ‘thick description’ of a decision-making process, and the supporting rationalisations and knowledge claims of individuals, was also deemed important as ‘we can only grasp the nature of interests through deep involvement in practical contexts of everyday life and engagement in the dialogues that constitute these’ (Clegg and Pitsis, 2012: 73). The narrative approach enables the researcher to highlight key ‘tension points’ which, as Flyvbjerg et al. note, are those moments when power relations are perceptible because of ‘dubious practices, contestable knowledge and potential conflict’ (2012: 288).

23 It should also be noted that to have examined all of the LCS’s land uses or related infrastructure in detail would have been simply beyond the scale of a doctoral thesis.

96 In order to provide an accurate account and triangulate data, not only were there a number of data sources used, as noted above, but also the ‘thick description’ approach ensured that various different rationalisations and opposing viewpoints were documented within discussions around the LCS’s development agenda so to provide a fair representation of the argumentative exchange and to minimise any bias that may have occurred from only engaging with one point of view. Allied with this, gaining multiple viewpoints enabled any discrepant or alternative information to be documented so ensure research integrity. It should also be noted that during the ‘close reading’ of the transcripts for the committee meetings and interviews, I regularly revisited the audio recordings that I had taken so to ensure that the interpretation of the textual information aligned with the tone of those speaking. The tone of the speaker can alter the meaning of the information conveyed, for example if an interviewee provides a sarcastic remark, and therefore I believed this, along with support from my personal notes made during the interviews/meetings, to be essential so not to misrepresent any comments and maintain ethical standards.

Finally, I should also state here that hopefully my experience as a local authority planning officer has assisted in the data analysis by enabling a more informed, reflective account of the planning decision-making process and some of the seemingly arcane procedural arrangements that govern decision making and action within planning authorities. Whilst acknowledging the need to maintain a critical position, it is through understanding the constraints on individuals that will have also helped in discerning and documenting important events and information, ensuring not to misrepresent the actions and rationalisations of individuals.

4.3.2 Epistemological considerations: a critical realist and social-constructivist approach

This research takes a critical realist stance towards its object of study. This critical realist epistemological position sets out to ‘recognise the reality [...] of the events and discourses of the social world’ (Bryman, 2012: 29). As such, reality is considered to exist independently of human thought, although the generative structures that create these events and discourses ‘are not spontaneously apparent in the observable patterns of behaviour; they can only be identified through practical and theoretical work of the social sciences’ (Bhaskar, 1989: 2). This position is reflected in the analysis of the rationalisations presented by actors when advancing a particular development agenda for the LCS. For example, reflections are made on ‘professionalism’ as a ‘generative

97 mechanism’ for legitimising certain knowledge claims, with specialist technical knowledge being applied in the planning decision-making process to shape and assess the LCS development.

The role of rationality, knowledge and narratives in constructing and advancing a particular development agenda has been examined in Section 3.2.1. Nevertheless, it should be highlighted here that whilst the research does detail how the LCS development agenda has been socially and politically constructed, it does not assume that such constructions are artificial. That is, the fact that a development agenda is socially defined and produced does not mean that it has not been constrained by a pre-existing material reality. The research does, however, set out to account for the argumentative exchanges and conflicting rationalities advanced in the planning decision-making process for the LCS. In doing so, it therefore endeavours to understand the role of power in decision making by unearthing the political and professional objectives that shaped the nature of the LCS development.