Problems of the Qualitative Analysis

During the interview process, the author may come across some obstacles and it is very important for him to foresee those before he goes to the field. The first problem is related to the integration of the quantitative and qualitative part. The crisis of integration refers here to the extent to which combining qualitative and quantitative approaches addresses adequately the research goal. Although the qualitative part is complementary, the focus group interview is also aimed to explore dynamics of local and regional economic development in Turkey. Once some information is extracted from the data analysis, the interviewees are going to be informed about the result of the quantitative part of the study so that there will not be any false leading. The second problem is about the technicality of the quantitative part. Because the author is going to use some statistical analyses and econometric models to explore the research question, the results cannot be simplified for the interviewees. Therefore, the language is going to very simple and some illustrations such as maps and figures are going to be represented to overcome this problem. The last issue is about the politics. There can be some contradictions and paradoxes that come to the fore when the quantitative results show that some provinces might show bad indicators. That can create a comparing attitude in the participant. The participant may argue that their province

should have been better than the picture that the researcher has. The most important thing in such a case is related to the positionality of the researcher. Because the author is exploring the situation from outside, he is not going to get involved in any unplanned discussions that can create such tensions. Also the participants are going to be asked whether they feel comfortable in case they are recorded during the interview. Unfortunately, since the interview processes are contaminated by politics that in terms of people’s willingness to speak, it is expected that some issues of freedom of expression will arise. In that case, the researcher should be ready to take notes while conducting the interview with the participants.

4.8 Conclusion

The whole process shows that there is a strong connection between quantitative and qualitative methods in the current study. These methodological approaches are considered not individually but as complementary. Qualitative research is followed after quantitative research by canvassing initial results and facilitating discussions. Although there is a distinction between quantitative and qualitative research in terms of methodological norms and practices, the current study suggests that such dualism is applied research.

After the collection of the field data, the author returns to Birmingham to begin the analyses. This stage involves transcribing all interviews in Turkish, identifying the most relevant issues and translating those issues into English and beginning to analyse them. The exciting aspect of this combined methodology is that a researcher can

create tailored and/or more complex sampling designs. Also, it is possible for a sampling design to emerge during a study in new ways, depending on how the research evolves. However, there are also some issues that need to be raised in the methodology part. As stated earlier, although there are twenty six NUTS 2 levels in Turkey and the regional development agencies are aimed to be built at this level, only twelve of them are established during the interview process. Therefore, the researcher has to make a decision while choosing his case studies. Since these institutions are newly being established in Turkey, some of them still do not have any project to work on. Also the people that have been working in those development agencies are newly appointed. Therefore, the researcher is aware of the fact that although he is going to talk to the ‘shakers and movers’ in some provinces, they may lack experience or they may not be very familiar with the region that they have been working on. In this respect, the timing of this research study creates some limitations for the researcher. However, since there has not been any similar study done in Turkey before, current research is very valuable to start with. In the following years, this study might be done in other provinces and regions which will have various institutions eventually. In this way, it is very likely to create a bigger picture to understand the dynamics of local and regional economic development in Turkey.

5EXPLORING THE DRIVERS OF REGIONAL GROWTH: SELECTION OF VARIABLES

5.1 Introduction

Seven sets of theoretical prepositions that promote regional economic development were identified in Chapter 3. From seven regional development theories, eight hypothesised drivers of regional growth were identified. They were technological leadership; knowledge creation and access to information; local integration of small firms; institutional support and institutional thickness; human capital; power of large corporations; market accessibility; and local sectoral specialization. In Chapter 4, a general overview of Turkish economic development was examined to identify some of the theories that informed the development of regional economic policy in Turkey. This chapter describes how those hypothesised drivers could be measured in the Turkish context. This chapter explores the selection of a set of variables in Turkey that can be used to examine the relationship between theory and Turkey’s functioning economic geography. The chapter also highlights the problems that are identified in the selection variables and how they are overcome. By the end of this chapter, each driver identified from the theory will be supported by a set of proxy measures that will be calibrated in order to run a regression in the following chapter.