Preparation for Data Collection

As Yin (2003, p. 57) points out “the preparation for doing a case study

includes the prior skills of the investigator, the training and preparation for the specific case study, the development of a case study protocol, the screening of candidate case studies, and the conduct of a pilot case study”. Following on in the next sub-sections of this chapter these issues as suggested by Yin are thoroughly explained.

3.9.1 Skills and Training

As Yin (2003) points out case study research is among the hardest types of research to do, and requires a well – trained and experienced investigator to conduct a high – quality case study because of the continuous interaction between the theoretical issues being studied and the data being collected also providing a certain list of required skills as follows:

• “A good case study investigator should be able to ask good questions and interpret the answers.

• An investigator should be a good listener and not trapped by his/her own ideologies or preconceptions.

• An investigator should be adaptive and flexible, so that newly encountered situations can be seen as opportunities, not threats.

• An investigator must have a firm grasp of the issues being studied, whether this is theoretical or policy orientation, even if an exploratory mode. Such a grasp reduces the relevant events and information to be sought to manageable proportions.

• A person should be unbiased by preconceived notions, including those derived from theory. Thus, a person should be sensitive and responsive to contradictory evidence”. (Yin 2003, p. 57)

The author of this study has acquired many of the above mentioned skills through previous training and experience while others were obtained by attending a number of development seminars at the University of Salford.

First of all, the author has great experience of the Greek Local Government Sector since:

• From 2005 until 2010 he was head of the department of private, public investments in the regional authority of Evrytania and was the project manager of the quality management system that the regional authority had

• From 2010 until 2014 he was the General Secretary of the Municipality of Karpenissi having the responsibility of human resource management, planning and development along with the issues of quality, economy, effectiveness and efficiency of the Municipality

• From 2014 and so he is the vice – president of the Regional Authority of Sterea Ellada, having the responsibility of the governance of the sub- regional authority of Evrytania.

Additionally, since 2008 the author has been a qualified trainer for implementing the Common Assessment Framework and the Management by Objectives technique in the Greek Public Sector, since he had successfully followed a two weeks seminar in the Greek National School of Public Administration and Local Government. Since then the author has taught in a lot of seminars regarding the implementation of CAF in the Greek Public Sector.

Finally, the author during the first years of the PhD study at the University of Salford attended the following seminars for training and skills’ development:

• Evidence and PhD Research

• Objectivity, Bias and Partisanship

• Case Study Research

• In depth interviews

3.9.2 The Screening of Candidate Case Studies

The screening of the candidate case studies was presented previously in this chapter when the selection of the cases used for this research was justified (section 3.7.1.3)

3.9.3 The Conduct of a pilot case study

The need for a pilot study was explained earlier in this chapter (section 3.7.1.3). The author in the pilot study checked the document named “Municipality’s Profile regarding CAF” and the semi-structured interview questionnaire. The pilot study carried out on the 3rd _{of June 2015, at}

Municipality G with the project leader of Municipality’s CAF implementation. To be more specific, in the pilot study, regarding the interview questionnaire, the author checked the following:

• The wording of the questions

• The questions themselves

• The time needed to conduct the interview The outcomes of this pilot study were that:

• There were minor changes to the wording of question 6.2, in the Greek version of the questionnaire where the word “empowered” confused the interviewee, hence the question rephrased in its Greek version

• There were some questions added:

o Question 5.3 was added in order for the interviewee to express his/her opinion on the outcome of the communication plan

o Questions 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, and 10.16 were added in order for each interviewee to express his/her opinion in similar questions to the questions asked in the General Secretary or the Mayor during the first contact with the case study Municipality. The author, after the suggestions made in the pilot study, thought that this would overall benefit the study since these questions would have helped in order to have as much clear view as possible about the outcomes of the CAF’s implementation in the Municipalities.

o The time needed for the interview was about one hour and a half, as it was scheduled. This duration of the interview was fine, and it was not expected to cause any inconvenience to the rest of the interviewees.

Overall the feedback from the pilot study gave confidence to the author that the substance of the data gathering instruments and the overall process of the data gathering were well structured and designed.

3.9.4 Protocol Development

The case study protocol is essential in increasing the reliability of the case study and it aims at helping the researcher carry out the data collection from the selected cases (Yin 2003). As Yin (2003, p. 67) points out, the case study protocol “is more than a questionnaire or instrument. It contains the instrument

as well as the procedures and general rules to be followed in using the protocol”. The case study protocol should have the following sections:

Table 3.4: Context of the Case Study Protocol

Section Issues covered

An overview of the case study project project objectives and auspices, case study issues, and relevant reading about the topic being investigated Field procedures Presentation for credentials, access

to the case study “sites”, general sources of information, procedural reminders,

Case study questions The specific questions that the case study investigator must keep in mind in collecting the data, “table shells” for specific arrays of data, and the potential sources of information for answering each question

A guide for the case study report Outline, format of the data, use and presentation of other documentation, and bibliographical information) Source: Yin (2003, p.69)

For the purpose of this study the protocols took the forms of the notes for the Mayor or the General Secretary and the notes for the interviewees that

were used prior to the “site” visit to the case study organizations (Appendix 12 and Appendix 13, respectively), These notes were sent to them so that the participants in this study could consent.

Analytically these forms contained:

• The project’s aim, objectives, key research question and the secondary questions

• The plan for gaining access to the organization alongside with the way of accessing the interviewees and the other sources of evidence

• The data collection elements

• Details of the methodology that was going to be used (site visit, the need to search for documents and archival records, the plan for the interviews, the time needed, so on)

• A list for documents needed for the research in order to avoid visiting the case study sites again and again.

• Agreement on the recording of interviews

• The procedures to be followed for recording, transcribing and verifying the interviews

• The procedures to be followed for storing and filing the data collected

• The measures for having confidentiality and anonymity during the entire process

Finally, the case study questions were formed in the form of a semi- structured interview questionnaire which contained the specific questions and issues that the case study investigator had to cover. This detailed interview questionnaire is given in Appendix 16.