Data collection 89

This case study research adopts: (a) semi-structured interviews and (b) analysis of documents as the main sources of evidence (Marshall & Rossman, 2008; Yin, 2009).

3.5.2.1 Semi-structured interview

Conducting interviews is one of the most important methods of data collection for case study qualitative research (Yin, 2009). Interviews of appropriate respondents provide case study evidence as case studies deal with important events of human affairs and well-informed interviewees are able to provide important insights about such events (Yin, 2009). To conduct semi-structured interviews effectively, an interview guide (Appendix 7) which consists of a list of questions (Krauss, et al., 2009) was developed based on the prior literature review and research questions (Yin, 2009).

The interview questions were pilot tested as recommended by Creswell (2007) and Krauss et al. (2009). Accordingly, the semi-structured interview questions were pilot tested with two former civil servants and one civil servant from Bhutan studying in Australia: one each from QUT, Brisbane; ANU, Canberra; and ECU, Perth to improve the interview methods and format. These respondents were chosen since they have civil service experiences and as informed respondents could provide valuable experience, knowledge and their perceptions of the contribution of civil service HR policies and practices to achieving GNH. Their feedback was helpful and therefore was incorporated to improve the interview questions and methods.

This researcher is an ongoing member of the Bhutan Civil Service Commission, and therefore researcher bias was a potential threat to the investigation.

To avoid potential researcher bias, interview questions were carefully designed to allow interviewees to present their own experiences, feelings and reflections, however, it remains possible that interviewees were guarded in their statements.

From 27 October to 5 December 2012, the researcher was located in Bhutan conducting face to face in-depth semi-structured interviews with the 32 participants in the Ministries, department, and agencies of the civil service and with the nine former civil servants. The dates on which semi-structured interviews were conducted are shown in Table 3.4:

Table 3.4 Dates of interviews conducted

Category Positions Nos

. Agencies and location Dates of interview Former

civil servants

Ministers 2 Ministries, Thimphu 27 Nov - 02 Dec 2012

Minister level 2 Parliamentarian Offices, Thimphu 05 - 22 Nov 2012 Chairperson 1 Constitutional Office, Thimphu 05 Nov 2012

CEOs 2 Corporate Sector, Thimphu 02 - 05 Nov 2012

PhD students  2 Australian universities 17 - 25 Oct 2012

sub total 9

Civil servants

Secretaries 3 Ministries and Agency, Thimphu 30 Oct -14 Nov 2012 Commissioners 4 Constitutional Offices, Thimphu 31 Oct - 08 Nov 2012 Governors 3 Districts (west and south) 07 Nov - 20 Nov 2012 Directors 3 Department and Agency, Thimphu 29 Oct - 19 Nov 2012 Academicians 3 Management Institute, Thimphu 29 Oct - 23 Nov 2012 Chief HR Officers 4 Ministries and Agency, Thimphu 31 Oct - 13 Nov 2012 HR Officers 3 Agency and District: One from east and two from Thimphu 30 Oct - 08 Nov 2012

sub total 23

Total 32

During the interviews, the researcher was mindful of interview protocols. Creswell (2007) and Yin (2009) recommend using friendly and non-threatening questions; while Staples and Dalrymple (2011) suggest that the format and pattern of questions follow a funnel-type model that begins with open-ended questions followed by more structured questions. The researcher informed participants about: (a) the main objective of the research, and how the participants can contribute because of their long experiences associated with the particular phenomenon, (b) the confidentiality of the interviews and data, and (c) their right to withdraw during the interviews if they wished to. When starting each interview, the participant’s informed

consent and permission to audiotape the interviews was obtained. Interview protocol and interview guides are considered very important as they help to ensure consistency during the interview thereby increasing the reliability of the qualitative case study findings (Boyce & Neale, 2006).

The interviews began with open-ended questions as indicated in Table 3.5 allowing the research participants to speak about a range of topics of their choice. This increased their comfort and confidence in the process, and assisted trust- building for sharing their experiences in and knowledge about the civil service. More sensitive questions were subsequently introduced when the participants were more relaxed (King, 1995). The semi-structured questions facilitated emergence of issues thereby enabling the researcher to further prompt and probe depending on the responses of the participants.

Table 3.5 Open-ended questions

Open ended questions: Tell me about your background and work history in the civil service. What are your broad responsibilities?

What are the HR practices that are working well in your agency? Why?

Open ended questions focused on research question: How can HR policies and practices contribute in the civil service to achieve GNH? Give examples

Closed questions focused on sub-research question: Do you think there were external pressures, influences to devolve HR functions or other related civil service reforms in the country? Could you share your views on this.

An open-ended question followed by a semi-structured interview and then followed by probing helps to prevent the researcher from including prior assumptions and promptings (Layder, 1998). Bernard and Ryan (2010)contend that probing is one of the main strategies to conduct interviews successfully. For instance, the researcher asked Respondent 23, “Do you think HR decentralisation in the civil service is working well?” The Respondent said ‘yes’. To probe further, the researcher asked “like what?” Respondent 23 replied, “oh, in many areas of the HR functions decentralised by the RCSC”. The researcher instead of prompting by saying,

“recruitment and selection; promotion”, asked, “Could you give one or two examples of HR functions or activities” which are working well as a result of the devolution and decentralisation of the HR functions in the civil service. The interview protocol/semi-structured questions are presented in Appendix 7.

The interview was audiotaped with the permission of the respondents. According to Kvale (1996) audiotape recording is a common method of recording research interviews. All interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed and the data analysed. The time duration for the interviews ranged from 45 to 130 minutes for each respondent. In case some respondents would not allow audiotaping, the researcher was prepared to take notes to record data obtained through the interview conversation (Layder, 1998). However, audio-taping of all interviews was approved. The advantage of interviews is that a large amount of data can be gathered quickly (Marshall & Rossman, 2006), but they are time-consuming to transcribe and analyse. In addition, the interview method may have researcher bias or inaccurate records of conversations (Yin, 2009). However, efforts have been made to strengthen and corroborate interview evidence with the collection of relevant documents from the departments and ministries during the field visits.

The researcher faced some challenges during the field visit for data collection in Bhutan. Travelling from one district to another posed challenges as it affected the agreed schedule of the interviews. Two participants could not be interviewed as they could not spare time due to commitments overlapping with the scheduled interviews. Thus, 32 participants were interviewed in Bhutan. Further, the researcher felt very uncomfortable to probe to a deeper level of inquiry when interviewing three participants who are at a very senior level. However, the participants were very willing to engage and the desired data were obtained.

3.5.2.2 Access to document resources

As documents are important sources of information for this study, relevant documents were collected during the field visit in Bhutan. Copies of recent bi-annual civil service statistics, Civil Service Act, revised Bhutan Civil Service rules, and the newly enacted constitution of Bhutan were obtained for analysis which helped to triangulate the data to increase the reliability of the finding (Maxwell, 2004). However, some documents were not available although requested, for instance,

documents on corruption, and the findings of a perceptions survey on nepotism and favoritism in the civil service which was conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission. These could not be obtained although the researcher requested access or a copy. It is possible that the decision was made to not release this information to the public domain.