Procedure for conducting interviews

The initial interviewee was selected from a contact list obtained from the MICTSETA that the researcher verified in terms of identifying participants who met the sampling criteria. An interview invitation was issued to each participant and on acceptance the researcher secured an appointment that was confirmed either in writing, or telephonically. The invitation provided a brief explanation of the research topic in order to familiarise participants with the aims of the study and a consent form (Appendix A) that included a protocol procedure which was to be followed when conducting the interview, including permission to digitally record interviews.

Building ―rapport‖ (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree 2006; Odendahl & Shaw 2001) and credibility of the study before the interview were necessary in order to: i) make each participant understand how invaluable their contributions would be in facilitating change; ii) let them understand that the study was confined to fulfilling the researcher‘s academic obligations; and iii) get an indication of their possible interest in participating.

To minimise the level of disturbance, all the face-to-face interviews were conducted in seclusion at the premises of the respective ICT enterprises and lasted between 45 and 90 minutes.

Interviews were mainly conducted in English but also allowed for the use of vernacular (isiXhosa in this case) with the aim of encouraging each participant to articulate points of view clearly. All vernacular passages were translated into English, except in instances were actual word(s) uttered by participant ―in vivo code‖ (Strauss 1987:33) had to be reserved.

4.6.3.2 Data management strategy

 Data capturing

The researcher developed a filing system for electronic and hard copy documents. File folders were opened for every document or record generated and an index file was used to facilitate ease of access to documents or records. The stored documents and records included: standard template for invitations, interview guide, transcripts, consent forms, participant contact register, backup digitally recorded interview CDs, memos, personal notes, as well as correspondence between participants and the researcher, e.g. member check requests.

 Document tracking procedure

All data collected was anonymously recorded and stored by replacing the participants' names with ascending code numbers (1 – 14) in the order of the initial interviews. Data was organised into different files in a chronological index file, that is all data was organised in the order of the date on which data was collected. This system made it possible to keep track of participants interviewed and enabled the researcher to access files easily, especially for the purpose of establishing when data saturation was reached in order to terminate further theoretical sampling.

4.7 SUMMARY

This chapter explains why the use of a multi-grounded research design is important. The aim of the design was to develop a substantive theory about SMME women-driven entrepreneurship in the ICT sector. This chapter presents an overview of the design of the study that provided its structure by using the guiding principles of an MGT method. The systematic procedures followed in the MGT approach included clearly identified phases.

Section A comprised data collection procedures, that is the selection of participants and sampling procedures that included choosing the sample, determining the sample size, and sampling criteria which were initially purposeful sampling used for piloting the interview guide from which categories were drawn to sample theoretically in subsequent interviews.

Section B covered data collection procedures that included the preparation of the interview guide that comprised closed-ended and open-ended questions as part of a semi-structured approach that facilitated in-depth questioning that was favourable for the face-to-face approach. Theoretical sampling guided by emerging categories led the researcher in the direction of interviewing industry experts whose statements were compared and contrasted to previous ones to enhance credibility.

In chapter 5 data was analysed and interpreted at various levels of generating the empirically-driven and deductively driven substantive theory.

CHAPTER 5

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

―Any researcher who wishes to become proficient at doing qualitative analysis must learn to code well and easily. The excellence of the research rests in large part on the excellence of the coding‖ (Strauss 1987:27)

5.1 INTRODUCTION

According to MGT procedures, data analysis is empirically-driven ―inductivism‖ and theory-driven ―deductivism‖ (Goldkhul & Cronholm 2010:192). The balance between data and theory solidifies the construction of theory. Goldkhul and Cronholm (2010:192) maintain this approach builds on the strengths of both GT and MGT.

The process of data analysis in both MGT and GT methods does not occur in isolation from data collection and ―data analysis is not a routine-like process. It is a creative and iterative process including both categorization and validation‖ (Goldkhul & Cronholm 2010:190). While a researcher is collecting and analysing data, theory is also ―generated‖ (Goldkhul & Conholm 2010). In the process of collecting and analysing data, theoretical sampling provides an opportunity to enrich emerging categories that are constantly compared with previous concepts to validate or to achieve an improved and deepened understanding that leads to theory generation.

Figure 5.1: Iterative process of data collection and analysis to produce substantive theory Concurrent data generation and analysis Constant comparison analysis between interviews 1 & 2 Analyse data Theoretical sampling Constant comparison analysis between statements Theoretical saturation Interview 1 Data saturation Interview 2 Analyse data

The interpretation of data in accordance with MGT procedures occurs at the level of pattern coding, as well as during explicit grounding and theory condensation. Interpretations, Strauss and Corbin (1998:160) maintain, ―Must include the perspectives and voices of the people whom we study‖. In view of the epistemology orientation of this study, the researcher had the responsibility to ensure that the voices of participants were kept audible and that interpretation reflected an ―interplay‖ (Strauss & Corbin 1990:19) between a participant‘s account of experiences (Bryman 2001: 265), and the researcher‘s interpretive processes of analysis during which both co-construct a meaningful account that better described the state and action taken as a result of the condition(s) at that time.

In MGT, specific analytical procedures akin to GT are employed to facilitate the process of generating the substantive empirical theory. The analytical levels comprise inductive coding (open coding), conceptual refinement (not found in GT), and pattern (axial coding) to generate the empirical substantive theory. These analytical process levels in summary can be explained in the following logical sequence: i) full transcription, familiarisation, and initial interpretation including member check procedure (Strauss & Corbin 1998:48); ii) identification of early codes and conceptual labelling (Strauss & Corbin 1998:123); iii) generating and relating substantive categories, properties – characteristics or attributes and dimensions – and the location of a property along the continuum or range (Strauss & Corbin 2008: 159-160); iv) constant comparison (Strauss & Corbin 1998: 223) between the first interview and the subsequent interviews; v) saturation of categories (Bowen 2008; Charmaz 2012:11); vi) systematic and cumulative theoretical sampling (Strauss & Corbin 1998:210), the demonstration of an iterative process of data collection and analysis (Strauss & Corbin 1998:58) that promote greater ―sensitivity‖ (Corbin & Strauss 2008:32) to data, thus enabling the researcher to revise interview questions as the analysis progresses; and vii) theory condensation where more than one category is identified (Goldkhul 2010:196).

SECTION A

5.2 PHASE ONE: THEORY GENERATION – EMPIRICALLY DRIVEN ANALYSIS (INDUCTIVE) - EXPLAINED