Methods for data generation

The use of research methods refers to the techniques or procedures for data generation and analysis related to the specific research purpose and question(s) (Crotty, 1998, 3). In this research, data triangulation was used in order to explore the research phenomenon in depth and discover new dimensions and perspectives to the research problems (Dubois & Gadde, 2002). Data triangulation refers to using multiple data sources in order to clarify meaning and verify the validity of an observation or interpretation. In this research, three main sources of data were used: unstructured customer interviews, customer feedback data, and semi-structured interviews with firm representatives. In addition, a customer online survey was conducted to screen out suitable informants with different backgrounds for the unstructured interviews; i.e. to increase the diversity of the empirical data.

4.4.1 Unstructured customer interviews

Interviews can be regarded as the main method for generating empirical data in qualitative research (Carson et al., 2001, 73). In the context of this research, interviewees for the unstructured customer interviews were chosen firstly on the basis of their willingness to participate in additional interviews and secondly on the basis of the background information generated from the online survey. Interviewees’ willingness to participate in unstructured interviews was asked at the end of the survey targeted at the users of the service, after which their contact information was collected. Following the guidelines of theoretical sampling24, the interviewees were selected in a way that would contribute to getting a rich and diverse set of informants with different levels of, for example, user experience. In addition, gender, age, and household size were considered when forming an appropriate set of interviewees (see Table 10). Altogether, 17 unstructured interviews with varying users of the service were conducted. One of the interviews was excluded from the final empirical data set due to the likelihood of bias; the interviewee had worked as

24

The purpose of theoretical sampling is to generate data from particular people that will “maximize opportunities to develop concepts in terms of their properties and dimensions, uncover variations, and identify relationships between concepts” (Corbin & Strauss, 2008, 143; see also Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2000, 27–28). Theoretical sampling is seen as improving the quality of results of interpretive research (Carson et al., 2001, 67).

a customer service employee for the case firm. After each interview the saturation point of the interview data was considered (see e.g. Corbin&Strauss, 2008, 143).

Table 10. Summary of the conducted customer interviews

Pseudo- nym

Gender

& age Occupation

Date of the interview User experience House- hold size Length

Maria F55 Practical nurse 31.8.2009 >3 months 2 44 min Emilia F61 Acquisition

engineer 2.9.2009 >3 months 1 55 min Sofia F21 Student 7.9.2009 >3 months 1 52 min Juhani M37 IT-engineer 28.9.2009 >3 months 4 56 min Olivia F34 Cosmetician 1.10.2009 >3 months 3 44 min Johannes M48 Librarian 1.10.2009 First timer 4 58 min Aino F42 Career planner 1.10.2009 > 3 months 2 52 min Matilda F53 Instrument

caretaker 1.10.2009 > 3 months 2 48 min Amanda F48 Spokesman 2.10.2009 1–3 months 4 65 min Helmi F30 Clerical

employee 2.10.2009 > 3 months 2 40 min Aurora F55 Practical nurse 2.10.2009 First timer 2 37 min Ilona F40 Sales manager 4.11.2009 1–3 months 2 41 min Mikael M19 Sales assistant 4.11.2009 1–3 months 2 43 min Katariina F64 Secretary 4.11.2009 > 3 months 2 46 min Johanna F30 Teacher 5.11.2009 1–3 months 2 45 min Julia F47 Designer 5.11.2009 First timer 2 42 min

In the interviews, the researcher had only a general topic for discussion, i.e. the case study service. No particular predetermined list of questions that absolutely needed to be addressed was used; only a few guiding perspectives to the research phenomenon were written down prior to the interview (see Appendix A). Interviews were conducted in several different places including an interviewee’s home, universities and shopping malls (see Table 11).

Table 11. Interview locations

Place of interview Number of

interviews

Hanken School of Economics (Helsinki) 5 Turku School of Economics (Turku) 3 Interviewee’s workplace (Tampere, Turku, Turku) 3 University of Tampere (Tampere) 2 ABC Service Station (Salo) 1 Interviewee’s home (Tampere) 1 Shopping Mall Plaza (Salo) 1

In all cases, the researcher focused on creating a relaxed, open and trustworthy atmosphere in order to gain better access to data. In practice, this was achieved, for example, by buying the interviewee a cup of coffee and talking with him or her for a while before the actual interview took place. The interviews were recorded, but notes were also taken during the interviews to be able to return to some particularly interesting aspect the interviewee had mentioned later in the interview. In general, the interviewees were interested in contributing to the subject field and were motivated to talk about themselves and their relation to the service. During the interviews, the researcher focused on encouraging the informants to elaborate and talk freely about the topics related to the research phenomenon25. Altogether, the unstructured interview method yielded intensive, rich and well-grounded descriptions of the research phenomenon, which is in line with Corbin and Morse’s (2003) preference to unstructured interviews where no predetermined set of questions dictates the interview. All the interviewees were rewarded by giving them alternatively either two movie tickets or a small bag of grocery items.

Unstructured customer interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed resulting in altogether 12 hours and 48 minutes of recorded interview material and 171 pages of transcribed text (Arial, font size 12, single line spacing). Some parts of the transcriptions were included in the research report as citations. They were translated into English by using a qualified translator.

25

4.4.2 Customer feedback data

Customer feedback data was generated in two stages. The first set of customer feedback data was generated through the web site of the service application that was used as the case study of the research. By clicking the feedback link located on the main page of the service customers were able to give feedback about the service by reporting what they considered was good in the service and what they thought should be developed. A time period of three months in the beginning of the year 2009 (January 22nd–April 27th) yielded 249 pieces of customer feedback data. The second set of feedback data was generated as part of the customer online survey. In this case, the respondents were encouraged to share their opinions about what they considered was especially good or bad in the service or what they thought should be developed further. Respondents were allowed to give general feedback about the service as well. The second set of customer feedback data was generated during three months in the autumn 2009 (August 5th–November 2nd) and yielded a total amount of 207 pieces of feedback. These two sets contain altogether 456 pieces of customer feedback data.

4.4.3 Semi-structured interviews with firm representatives

Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with firm representatives including both the service provider (Tuulia International Ltd) and the food retailer (Kesko Food). Two of the interviews were conducted in a group setting and one as an individual interview (see Table 12). Semi-structured interviews were used both in order to gain a detailed description of the process of the firm providing customers with information resulting from reverse use of customer data and understanding the firm perspective to the research phenomenon. The primary focus was first of all on getting a detailed description of both the process of providing customers with such a service as well as understanding the reasons behind it.

In the interview with Tuulia International’s representatives the interest was first of all in the process of converting the original idea into a real-world service application. The interview was conducted for case descriptive purposes only. The aim was to get a detailed descprition of the case study at hand, to understand the

case itself, which would also aid in gaining an in-depth understanding of the research phenomenon.

In terms of the two interviews with Kesko’s representatives, the overarching goal was to understand the research phenomenon of reverse use of customer data from the firm perspective; to address the reasons why a firm chooses to refine and give customer data back to customers. Consequently, this also included strategic dimensions and aspects related to the firm’s value proposition and its implementation. The interviewees had personal hand-on experience of the service and the necessary knowledge and experience to answer the questions and contribute to the data generation process.

Table 12. A summary of the interviews with firm representatives

Data source Date Length

Group interview with representatives of

Kesko Corporations 17.3.2009 100 min Interview with representative of Kesko

Corporation 19.5.2009 79 min Group Interview with representatives of

Tuulia International26 19.5.2009 91 min

Interviews with firm representatives were semi-structured because the focus was on achieving a detailed description of the ‘facts’ behind the service. However, the aim was to create an open and relaxed atmosphere and by no means to strictly follow the predetermined set of questions. The interview was semi-structured only in order to receive insight to the particular questions that needed to be addressed. In practice, the interviews opened new insights to the research phenomenon beyond the predetermined questions. Figure 6 illustrates how the data generation process progressed.

26 _{The interview with the representatives of Tuulia International was conducted for case descriptive}

Figure 6. The data generation process

The use of multiple data sources contributed to gaining a well-grounded description of the research phenomenon. As a whole they provided a good basis for the data analysis process.