2.5 Study Parameters, Data Collection and Analysis Methods
In this section of the thesis, the application of mimesis to this study is examined (2.5.1), in order to establish boundaries around the parameters of the research and explain the reasoning behind the selection of data collection sites and interviewees (2.5.2). This section also includes an examination of the data analysis methods used (2.5.3), in order to allow readers to understand how the data were interrogated, grouped and then interpreted in the thesis (2.5.4).
2.5.1 Mimesis’ Application to this Study
Mimesis, and especially Ricoeur’s threefold mimesis model, is applicable to this research because it acknowledges that texts are social constructs that contain the views and biases of their authors. This approach seeks to deconstruct these latent characteristics of text and expose them to further interrogation. Ricoeur’s threefold mimetic model facilitates the exploration of the standards development process and helps answer the question of whether the perspectives of the authors of those standards might impede the transferability of the standards to other contexts. Further, this model will enable a better understanding of how users have interpreted and applied these standards.
The TDR standards studied in this thesis were developed, tested and written in the developed world. There is a presumption that they are objective resources and are sufficiently generalised to be transferable to any context. Mimesis will be used to identify these implicit presumptions in standards. However, the mimetic process is not simply concerned with the construction of texts but also with their reception, because the act of reading, like the act of writing, is mediated by frames of understanding and by social realities. Simply reading a text is not enough. A reader also needs to decode the implicit signs, symbols and conventions in that text, or the information it contains might
be misinterpreted or lost. Using mimesis in this research will help to determine whether latent meanings and assumptions are barriers which may prevent practitioners in East Africa from fully operationalising TDR standards in their context.
Ricoeur’s threefold mimetical model (M1, M2 and M3) will be used to facilitate the comparative analysis of research findings and deconstruct the standards
development process to identify whether any text external factors (i.e. presumptions, cultural biases) have been built into these texts. Further, this methodology will enable an examination of the interpretative processes involved in the reception of standards (M3) and the effect this interpretation might have on operationalising the standards in various contexts. Using mimesis and Ricoeur’s model will facilitate a structured analysis of the thesis data to provide an understanding of the transferability of TDR standards.
2.5.2 Study Parameters and Data Collection Sites
This study is bounded in two main ways, firstly by geography then according to mimetic groupings. Below is an explanation of the process used to define these geographic parameters and to select the standards to be analysed, followed by a breakdown of interviewees and collection sites by mimetic grouping.
The research itself has been divided into two major groups: developed world and East African Community. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) was used to define what is understood by ‘developed world.’
The HDI is a comparative measure of life expectancy, education and quality of life in countries around the world. The HDI is divided into four categories: very high human development, high human development, medium human development and low human
development.161 These categories allow a greater degree of flexibility in measuring development but countries ranked as very high human development are considered developed nations.162 This definition is adopted for the purposes of this study and includes all countries identified in Chapter 1 as developed world study locales.
The East African Community (EAC), whose countries all fall into the low human development HDI category, was selected for the study of the transferability of TDR standards for a number of reasons. During the author’s doctoral studies, she was also working with the International Records Management Trust (IRMT) on large-scale research projects in this region, helping her gain a well-rounded understanding of the state of recordkeeping. That work also helped her better comprehend the realities faced by national archives in the region and their abilities to influence digital recordkeeping processes and preserve digital records. More practically, the author’s work with IRMT permitted her to identify EAC data collection sites with greater ease.
The choice of EAC countries was not made only on the basis of practicality. The author looked closely at the state of development in the EAC and in other parts of Africa, noting that the EAC shares many characteristics with other countries on the African continent, such as proliferation of mobile technology and the rapid growth of the technology sector, along with poor infrastructure and lack of trained personnel. The precise state of development varies country by country in the region and across the continent, but it was determined that focusing this study on the EAC would provide a
161 United National Development Programme, Human Development Report 2014: Sustaining Human Progress- Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience. (New York: UNDP, 2014)., 161.
162 Lynge Nielsen, ‘Classifications of Countries Based on Their Level of Development: How It Is Done and How It Could Be Done’ (World Bank, 2011), accessed 18 January 2015,
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2011/wp1131.pdf., 19.
meaningful overview of many of the common problems faced elsewhere in Africa and in other parts of the developing world.
For the purposes of this study, several TDR good practice guidelines and
standards were assessed to determine which should constitute the focus of this thesis, including the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) (ISO 14721:2013), Repository Audit and Certification (RAC) (ISO 16363: 2012), Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA), Network of Expertise in Long-term Storage of Digital Resources (nestor), Data Seal of Approval (DANS) and Trusted Repositories: Audit and Certification (TRAC). Of the guidelines and standards studied, only two, OAIS and RAC, are recognised formally as International Standards: ISO 14721: 2012 (OAIS) and ISO 16363: 2012 (RAC). Consequently, these two standards have a higher profile and are more likely to be adopted by organisations around the world. Moreover, both these standards are widely accepted within the archival and information studies communities as good practice measures for the design, implementation and maintenance of TDRs.
It was believed that these standards, of all those TDR standards currently in place, were having and would continue to have the greatest impact in both the developed and developing world. Further as ISO standards they are more likely to be used to assess the success or failure of TDR operations. Therefore it was determined that these two standards would be the chosen texts for analysis in this research.
Data collection sites were selected based on Ricoeur’s threefold mimetic model, as shown in Table 2.1.
TABLE 2.1: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RICOEUR’S THREEFOLD MIMETIC METHODOLOGY