As outlined above, the purpose of this phase of the research was to investigate and understand people’s views, behaviours and opinions. Therefore, qualitative research methods were required that would enable rich, in-depth information to be gathered. The insightful information most valuable in this part of the research could be
established through open conversation and the development of contextual
understanding. Particular research methods lend themselves better to obtaining this sort of information and at a greater level of depth. Research methods are reviewed in this section and the most suitable method selected for this research study outlined.
Interviews are a well-established method of conducting research to obtain rich, detailed information (Gillham, 2000). In order to be carried out effectively and obtain this greater level of detail, they are a time-consuming method of data collection (Gillham, 2000). Interviews, therefore, are a less appropriate research method for a large sample of participants (Courage & Baxter, 2005; Gillham, 2000). They are an option to be used with large samples but would require a lot of time, resource and cost which is likely impractical, particularly for a lone researcher.
106 With smaller participant samples, however, interviews are a suitable research
method for empirical study, to obtain a rich understanding of a situation.
The most important form of interviewing in case-based research is semi-structured interviewing (Gillham, 2000). A semi-structured interview is one which has a level of predetermined questioning, usually open-ended, and format prepared, but allows for changes and additional questions during the interview as it progresses. Semi- structured interviewingenables the extraction of reasoning and meaning behind responses, giving researchers the ability to clarify responses. Interview questions which are open-ended also allow the opportunity for probing issues further, as they arise, and digression into issues that the researchers had not pre-empted (Richards, 2005). For these reasons, semi-structured interviews are advantageous for gathering comprehensive data to develop an understanding of a given situation.
Contextual interviews are a type of interview method that allows an in-depth understanding of the participants and situation to be gained. The interviews are conducted in the environment or context in which a product or service occurs. This can elicit more specific details about the situation or phenomenon under investigation and a familiar setting often makes a participant more comfortable discussing their thoughts and behaviours (Stickdorn & Schneider, 2010). By conducting interviews within the contextual environment, it also allows the researcher an opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of the person- environment fit, by observing social and physical factors (Gitlin, 2003).
The contextual setting for this research was social housing tenants’ homes. By situating data collection with tenant participants in their own homes, the researcher may be limited in the amount of exposure to the environment they can have during the interview session (Gitlin, 2003), both in time and access, but it helps people to convey their experiences and personal context in more detail (Stickdorn &
Schneider, 2010). It has been reported that the study of home life requires face-to- face interaction for a comprehensive understanding (Gitlin, 2003). Home visits should be time-limited, however, so as not to be too onerous or intrusive for the participants.
107 Telephone interviewing has become a more popular research method over the past decade (Gillham, 2000) as an alternative to face-to-face interviews, contextual or not. Arguably, this is more so the case due to the advances which have been and continue to be made with technology. The introduction and evolution of mobile phones and smartphones means that a telephone interview can be carried out in any location convenient to either party, allowing for greater flexibility over availability. Where face-to-face interviews are not practical, for example due to geographical location or participants being widely dispersed, conducting an interview over the telephone is appropriate (Gillham, 2000). This removes the contextual richness from an interview setting and can be harder to facilitate; however, richness in the participants’ responses remains. While telephone
interviews can be harder to keep going than with face to face interaction, they can be recorded which allows the researcher to focus on responding (Gillham, 2000) and keeping a natural flow of conversation going, without worrying about extensive note-taking.
Telephone interviews are still a time-consuming method of data collection because of the conversation they allow to take place, providing opportunity to capture depth in the data and emergent issues. However, they are less time consuming than face-to-face interviews, because this method does not involve any need to travel to a location to meet the participant. As such, the cost of face-to-face interviewing is removed by conducting telephone interviews (Gillham, 2000). Telephone interviews work best in small-scale research approached in one of two ways: if the researcher knows the respondents and arranges an interview at a time that suits them or by telephoning first to inform the respondent about the interview and arranging a convenient time to hold the interview phone call (Gillham, 2000).
When preparing interviews, the amount planned to conduct should be considered. With a greater amount of data collected, a greater amount of insights can be obtained and the robustness of the research is enhanced. However, the researcher should be mindful of the data set planned and consider analysis stages for the study to assess the feasibility of the empirical study. Gillham (2000) outlines that for every
108 one hour interview carried out an audio recording of this would require
approximately 10 hours of transcription and a similar amount of time for analysis.
Questionnaires are a less time-consuming method of data collection for both the researcher and the participants. They are a less onerous method for the researcher in terms of practically carrying out the research and subsequent analysis time; there is no requirement for transcription to factor in. For the participants, questionnaires can be quicker to complete than an interview and may be done at their leisure and convenience; they do not have to be completed in one dedicated period of time. However, although questionnaires are less demanding than interviews, people are less likely to respond to a questionnaire. Questionnaires would be suitable in a situation where face-to-face interaction is impractical, more detailed information is not necessary or to gather data from a larger sample in a shorter timeframe. In the exploration phase for this research, a smaller sample set is involved; therefore, interviews are a plausible method of choice. Furthermore, for an exploration study to develop a rich understanding of a situation, detailed information is required and face-to-face interaction is the best means through which to achieve this.
Questionnaires are appropriate when straightforward ‘closed’ questions are to be asked (Gillham, 2000).
Interviews have successfully been used as a qualitative research method with older people in many other studies eg. Kriglstein & Wallner, 2005; Day & Hitchings, 2009. Contextual interviews were selected as the appropriate research method for both the CCC project research and the exploratory research for this thesis, to enable a greater level of understanding to be obtained, through semi-structured questioning and observation of the environment. In cases where face-to-face interaction was less practical, due to geographic location or time availability of the participants, telephone interviews were opted as an alternative research method. This was because they offered the next best opportunity to achieve a substantial level of detail in responses, despite the contextual observational element being removed. Telephone interviewing was more appropriate with the social housing landlords as the contextual aspect was less necessary. This method was used as little as possible
109 with tenants, only when the distance to travel to conduct a face to face interview was far less practical and more costly.
The exploration study comprised of interviews with employees from social housing organisations and social housing tenants, either through a contextual interview or a telephone interview.The study was formed using data collected for the purpose of the CCC project in addition to data collected through methods designed by the researcher purely for this thesis. Over this chapter, the methods designed for the CCC project and the methods designed to inform this thesis are presented separately for clarity what was collaborative work and what was solely the researcher’s responsibility. It is noted that the researcher has a significant role in the collaborative CCC project work in terms of methodology development, data collection and analysis, as well as this doctoral research. The tenant data were analysed as one whole set and the landlord data were analysed as a set, with findings presented for each group. Analysis procedures are discussed further in section 4.3.4.
Due to the different purposes of the CCC project and the research to inform this thesis, the interview guides prepared differed between the CCC tenant participant sample and the rest of the tenant participants. The CCC interviews covered broader issues concerning domestic heating and comfort that were not within the remit of this thesis’ focus with some additional questions specific to the heat pumps in the relevant properties. The interview guide for the remainder and majority of this doctoral research consisted of questions entirely relevant to the service of installing and using heat pumps. The interviews were, however, semi-structured so no interview would be identical, while based on the same format and eliciting the same topics of information. Therefore, the questions for the CCC project sample that elicited relevant information produced information which could be analysed in the wider data set of other social housing landlords.
A third interview guide was prepared for the landlord interviews, as the information to be obtained had different contextual relevance and involved a different
110 CCC tenant interview guide is in Appendix A, the interview protocol for the rest of the tenant interviews for this thesis is located in Appendix B and the landlord interview guide is available in Appendix C.
The following diagram, Figure 15, outlines how the research study was formed; where research was carried out purely for this thesis and where research from the CCC project contributed towards this thesis research.
Figure 15: Samples contributing to the exploration phase research
The research for the CCC project was carried out first and the data analysed for the project deliverable. This gave the researcher an initial opportunity to immerse in the data to begin developing contextual understanding and surface initial
requirements for the heat pump installation service. The remainder of the empirical research was conducted subsequently, validating what had been found in the first set of interviews and further informing the understanding and requirements. The geographic areas involved in the research outlined in Figure 15 above are further explained as the research sample in the following section.
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