Formal interviews were recorded and successively transcribed into word documents. As interviews were conducted over a period of three years, data analysis occurred concurrently, rather than consecutively. This particular approach to analysing primary data emanated from the context of Grounded Theory where data generation and analysis occurs simultaneously and in a process of constant comparative analysis (Birks & Mills, 2011; Glaser, 1978). Yet, the practice of concurrent data collection and analysis is not limited to the methodological approach of Grounded Theory, but is theoretically flexible enough to be employed as a credible method within case study research (Halaweh, 2012).
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For instance, following the first field trip in late 2011, a first set of interviews underwent an initial coding process that revealed some tensions and ambiguities between and within the different membership groups, which gained in magnitude over the next couple of years, and ultimately changed the purpose of ChileGlobal as chapter six explains. Once again, the qualitative nature of this inquiry, and the particular coding technique proved useful for its potential to examine, not only the outcomes, but also the preceding processes that lead towards particular outcomes (O'Leary, 2004, p. 116), such as the transformation of the ChileGlobal network.
Subsequent interviews, either through skype or during the second stint of fieldwork followed a similar pattern of simultaneously generating and analysing data. The iterative and recursive approach of ongoing generation and analysing data, while going back and reviewing previously assigned codes led not only to more data intimacy, but also helped to uncover first patterns of associations and relationships between different passages of raw data. Ultimately, the process of generating and analysing data concurrently influenced the way the initial research question to this thesis changed shape and became narrower in focus over time. The coding of transcript and field notes data occurred largely emergent rather than a priori and followed a descriptive rather than evaluative rationale in the sense that text segments were marked with words and phrases that were often used by interview participants, which helped to “break open the data” (Bazeley, 2013, p. 161). Descriptive coding soon evolved into a low order categorisation of codes to ease data management, which was followed by a higher order categorisation and analysis to identify major themes such as socio-cultural norms, institutional change and politicisation.
5.8. Summary
This chapter has outlined some of the primary methodological considerations and methods that guided this study. Research in the context of migration requires a holistic approach that connects migration trajectories with the broader contemporary social transformation that occur and how these are linked to global trends (Castles, 2012, p. 21). The choice for a single revelatory case study design was deliberate, a response to the qualitative nature of the research questions and informed by the little available knowledge
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about diaspora knowledge networks in the context of Latin America at the time. Moreover, drawing on embedded units of analysis, such as country-specific networks that are related to ChileGlobal, provided the necessary grip and insights into “different salient aspects” (Scholz & Tietje, 2002, p. 10) of the chosen case, ChileGlobal. Taken together, this methodological approach is suited to better understand the production of sites of resistance as will become clearer throughout the remaining chapters of the thesis.
Clearly, the use of online methods and the internet as a research tool is increasing across and throughout disciplines. Focusing on geographically dispersed research populations and involved costs to reach these, internet-mediated studies have proven to be valuable and complementary tools to conventional methods of fieldwork. Within the context of this thesis components such as online lurking were applied as a means to obtain information for purposes of contextualisation, while skype-mediated interviews were conducted because they often were the only feasible and affordable means to generate primary data in a study that is characterised by its poly-sited nature. In line with the conceptual framework that guided this study, this chapter has highlighted how a researcher’s multiple, often overlapping positionalities need to be considered.
This chapter pointed out how biographical events tend to shape the way research is being conducted and thus requires a critical and self-reflexive understanding of a researcher’s inhibitions and dispositions (England, 1994). In the case of this thesis, it meant that I refrained from using personal communications that occurred in publicly accessible online media for not only methodological, but also personal reasons. This does not necessarily constitute a methodological weakness, but rather a choice made based on the specific context of this thesis, Chile’s particular political trajectory and my own biography. Pointing out the methodological considerations means that this chapter concludes part one of this thesis that sought to sketch out how this thesis is conceptually and methodologically framed. The second part and the remaining chapters constitute the empirical component that present and discuss the findings of ChileGlobal’s contribution to development in Chile.
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Chapter Six: A new institutional framework
6.1. Introduction
This chapter describes the institutional transformation of ChileGlobal and suggests that the transformation of ChileGlobal has been the result of overlapping and competing interpretations of how diaspora communities can contribute to national development in Chile. Tracing the institutional trajectory of the network, and providing an institutional layer of description, is important to understand why and how the network has been repositioned. As a consequence of the institutional changes and interpreting Chile’s diaspora as ambassadors and vehicles of promotion, the new framework within which ChileGlobal operated put effectively an end to the aspirations of the network’s founders and initial institutional supporters such as the World Bank’s Knowledge for Development (K4D) programme.
The key actor around introducing and promoting the idea of Diaspora for Development to Chile was the World Bank’s K4D programme, which advocated for a flexible and member focused arrangement of the network. The transformation of ChileGlobal can be attributed to the arrival of a new and powerful concept driven by private consultancy firms and supported by the government. The introduction and subsequent institutionalisation of nation branding and competitive identity problematised Chile’s national image and successfully linked the notion of a positive country image with national development. By extension then, ideas of economic development through nation branding also connected with diaspora communities, as they were interpreted as country ambassadors that supposedly represent a modern Chile based on success and progress. The first two sections of this chapter draw primarily on secondary sources while the remainder of this chapter presents results and analysis from primary sources to better understand how ChileGlobalwas incorporated in Chile’s nation branding institution.
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