Data Collection for Case Study Research

4.8.1. Sources of Data

Data collection is a critical stage in any academic research. As Yin (2009) states,

“case study evidence may come from six sources: documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant-observation, and physical artefacts. Using these six sources calls for mastering different data collection procedures. Throughout, a major objective is to collect data about actual human events and behaviour. This objective differs from (but complements) the typical survey objective of capturing perceptions, attitude, and verbal reports about events and behaviour (rather than direct evidence about the events and behaviour)”. Main sources of data collection are documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, and physical artefacts.

This is to say that there are two main ways to obtain data: secondary and primary data. Secondary data come from “data that have already been collected for some other purpose” (Saunders et al., 2009 p. 256). On the other hand, primary data is collected specifically for the defined purpose.

In the first step of the research, secondary data was collected for the literature review and for the main research. Sources of secondary data were a combination of academic books and journals as well as government and research reports and the websites of the targeted universities. Due to the fact that all Saudi universities and the vast majority of British universities are government funded, it makes sense to collect some information from government bodies regarding plans, policies and procedures for quality enhancement at Saudi and British universities. According to Saunders et al. (2009), this information will be within the type of ‘Documentary’ secondary data, which includes written (and sometimes non-written) materials and documents about the organisations.

With primary data there are a variety of methods. The method that was used in this study was the semi-structured interview. The interviewees were two interrelated groups of academics and senior managers from both Saudi Arabia and the UK. Given that this research has 11 propositions, 11 questions were developed to cover each of these propositions separately. According to Saunders et al. (2009), “the use of interviews can help to gather valid and reliable data that are relevant to your

research question(s) and objectives.” So, in this kind of research question, interviews were the most suitable way to obtain the information required.

The purpose of these interviews was to examine the validity and accuracy of the 11 developed propositions based on the literature review, so the points of view of academics and senior managers would be sought in these interviews regarding the most influential elements that contribute to the establishment and development of quality in education in general and in higher education in particular. Their expressed ideas would be used to test, one by one, the developed propositions.

An interview guide was developed to accommodate the required information about the author, the research aims, confidentiality and, more importantly, 11 questions that were categorised into four groups. The interview guide would help potential interviewees to become familiar with the research and decide whether or not to participate in the interview. Furthermore, the interview guide would increase the possibility of getting completely relevant and accurate information from the interviewees because they would have a chance to read the questions a few days before the interview and prepare their answers.

The benefits of these six sources of evidence can be maximised if three principles are followed for all six sources and, when used properly, can help to deal with the problems of establishing the construct validity and reliability of the case study evidence. All three are demonstrated in the following graph.

Figure 4.3. Pillars of Data Collection

Source: developed by the author based on Yin (2009) Triangulation of Data and Methods

Organised Case Study Database

Well-traced Chain of Data/Evidence

4.8.2. Organised Case Study Database

The second pillar Yin (2009) highlights has to do with “the way of organising and documenting the data collected for case studies. Here, case studies have much to borrow from the practices followed by the other research methods. The lack of a formal database for most case studies is a major shortcoming of case study research and needs to be corrected. There are numerous ways of accomplishing the task, as long as you and other investigators are aware of the need and are willing to commit the additional effort required to build the database. At the same time, the existence of an adequate database does not preclude the need to present sufficient evidence within the case study report itself. Every report should still contain enough data so that the reader of the report can draw independent conclusions about the case study”.

4.8.3. Well-traced Chain of Data/Evidence

The other pillar “to increase the reliability of the information in a case study is to maintain a chain of evidence. Such a principle is based on a notion similar to that used in forensic investigations. The principle is to allow an external observer - in this situation, the reader of the case study - to follow the derivation of any evidence from initial research questions to ultimate case study conclusions. Moreover, this external observer should be able to trace the steps in either direction (from conclusions back to initial research questions or from questions to conclusions). As with criminological evidence, the process should be tight enough that evidence presented in ‘court’ - the case study report - is assuredly the same evidence that was collected at the scene of the ‘crime’ during the data collection process.

Conversely, no original evidence should have been lost, through carelessness or bias, and therefore fail to receive appropriate attention in considering the ‘facts’ of a case.

If these objectives are achieved, a case study also will have addressed the methodological problem of determining construct validity, thereby increasing the overall quality of the case study” (Yin, 2009).

4.8.4. Process of Data Collection

Data would be collected through the following process:

I. Selecting a suitable research philosophy, research design, and research methodology;

II. Deciding on a relevant research population and participants;

III. Choosing an appropriate research instrument by considering research design, and research methodology;

IV. Applying for ‘ethical approval’ of the research before starting data collection;

V. Emailing the interview guide to all targeted participants in this research and arranging the date, time and place of interview prior to interview;

VI. Conducting interviews: start by clarifying the aim and objectives of the research and highlighting the fact that participation in interviews is voluntary, so interviewees can withdraw from the interview at any stage and any time;

VII. Tape-recording all interviews or note-taking if any of the interviewees are unhappy to be tape-recorded;

VIII. Giving a unique code to each recorded interview in such a way that these interviewees can be recognisable only by the researcher to respect the anonymity of the participants;

IX. Transcribing the recordings into written text;

X. Emailing the written text of interviews separately to each relevant interviewee to have their final permission to use the collected data;