Method development and Data collection

The pilot study data was collected over a period of three weeks, between the dates of 3^th March, 2014, to 24^th March, 2014, utilising the selected methods presented in Table 6.

Participant observations, casual conversations and unstructured interviews with open-ended questions were employed. The primary goal of the pilot study was to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of the chosen research methods and help refine, narrow down and further focus the study problem and its sub-problems. So, the researcher made arrangements to travel from Luton (the researcher‘s place of residence during her PhD programme at the University of Bedfordshire) to Sofia (her home city) to carry out the first phase of the fieldwork. The data collection methods that proved most appropriate were casual conversations, and unstructured interviews. The following sections proceed to reveal the development and formation of the methods and their application.

Participant observations

The total time participant observations were carried out cannot be estimated, however, the process of observing a group of potential study participants commenced from the very first day of the researcher‘s stay in Sofia, when she arranged to meet with some of her friends to talk about future interview arrangements, in addition to catching up. The descriptive observations‘ aim was to describe the participants, their behaviour and the events that took place in order to provide rich conceptuality to the problem. Spradley (1980) cited in Robson (2011:325), distinguishes nine dimensions, which guided the researcher‘s narrative account during observation:

Space: Layout of the physical setting; rooms, outdoor spaces, etc.

Actors: The names and relevant details of the people involved Activities: The various activities of the actors.

Objects: Physical elements, furniture etc.

Acts: Specific individual actions.

Events: Particular occasions, e.g., meetings Time: The sequence of events.

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Goals: What actors are attempting to accomplish.

Feelings: Emotions in particular contexts.

At first, the researcher attempted recording what she saw, following the dimensions listed above on the spot, using field notes. This technique proved futile, as this inhibited the normal behaviour of the group (the first time the researcher meets with four of her friends for dinner, at the very beginning of the pilot study phase) as the researcher kept going back and forth to the bathroom to scribble in her journal. As this technique interfered with the natural dynamic of the group‘s communication, the researcher decided to record the observation as soon as feasibly possible, later in her own home. This in turn, had an effect on the number of items recalled in relation to the overwhelming complexity of the surroundings and the number of observed occasions. Nevertheless, the early attempts of participant observations, led the researcher to the conclusion that a more subjective method, which is inherently more epistemologically significant, should be utilised to aid the understanding of Sofian women‘s leisure. Participant observations were initially used as a supportive, complementary method, but were eventually dismissed because of its inherent reactivity (McCall, 1984:273), which did not serve the purpose of the study. For instance, on one hand, the technique of being a completely detached, objective observer was perceived by the participants (and the researcher as well) as artificial, antisocial behaviour, as the researcher sat silent and did not take part in the conversation. On the other hand, the technique of being fully involved, participant observer was also inappropriate (as described above) which, again, resulted in disruption of the natural communication and dynamics of the group. Finally, due to time limitations, and financial resource matters, prolonged observations were not possible.

Consequently, the personal narrative was identified as a more suitable way to describe and interpret the meanings of Sofian women‘s leisure and work vis-à-vis the Bulgarian socio-culture as it involves not only description of observation, but the researcher‘s biography, related bias, inherent cultural assumptions and experiences. Chapter 5 presents the researcher‘s accounts of her experience in the field in the form of personal narrative.

Appendix 18 shows an extract from researcher‘s pilot study observations.

100 Casual conversations

In the previous chapter, the rationale for utilising casual conversations as a method of empirical data collection was presented. In the pilot study stage, the researcher utilised the themes examined in detail in Chapter 3, section 3.6, as this method proved to be a relevant source of information and this technique was not changed in the main phase unlike participant observations because it produced relevant for the study problem information.

Appendix 19 presents an extract from researcher‘s casual conversations record.

Unstructured interviews

Face-to-face, unstructured interviews were identified as an appropriate method to explore issues of women‘s leisure and work. Minichiello et al. (1990) defined them as interviews in which neither the question nor the answer categories are predetermined. Saunders et al.

(2000) suggests that this method is useful if the purpose of research is to discover why individuals make certain decisions or hold particular view or opinions. Understanding women‘s leisure problematics was central to the research inquiry at this point, so face-to-face interviews with the three women, were carried out to gain insight into their everyday worlds, and possibly uncover issues on which to focus the investigation further. Another reason for using this particular unstructured approach, at this stage, as opposed to a semi-structured one is because of their advantage of flexibility, which allows for a detailed description of lived experiences, and may uncover past experiences, which may affect the participant‘s views (Broom, 2005; Robson, 2011).

As this is an emergent study with an exploratory nature, the researcher identified areas of interest and designed a research agenda as an interview guide. Because of the flexibility of this approach, the researcher plays a critical role as she generate questions in response to the context and to move the conversation in a direction of the study focus (Minichiello et al., 1990). This process is consistent with the emergent design of the study and its feminist methodology. It was done on one hand, in order to address the research problem and

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problem, an on the other to explore and be mindful of new emerging ideas or issues that might arise from the process of communication with the informants. The interview template for the pilot study consisted of background/demographic related questions, for revealing

‗past experiences‘, ‗views/opinions‘, and ‗knowledge‘, as advised by (Byrne, 2004). The open-ended unstructured interviews featured questions such as: ‗Tell me about yourself?‘;

‗Who is (participant‘s name)?‘ and ‗What is the most important thing in your life right now?‘.

In addition, women were asked about their adolescent years in school and their past leisure practice, choices and experiences. Refer to Appendix 20 for the interview template and agenda. Furthermore, Appendix 21 presents an excerpt from an unstructured interview with one of the pilot study participants. As discussed above, the interview guide was prepared on the bases of the problematic areas of women‘s lives identified by the literature and based on the assumptions adopted by the researcher, shown in Appendix 2.