Transcription

I began by transcribing the interviews myself but I found the process slow and time-consuming and was concerned about the number of interviews. I decided to engage a former colleague, who has worked for many years in charitable

organisations, to undertake the transcriptions. We agreed to the material being transcribed in note form rather than full transcription. There are a number of concerns about transcription, some of which are exacerbated by the use of both a transcriber and the use of notes. In particular, the transcription of interviews entails translation from rule-bound oral language to written language which has a different set of rules and this produces “decontextualised conversations” (Kvale, 1996, cited in Batten, 2011, p. 99). For the purposes of this research, which focuses

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on a historical perspective and was not site based, the context of the interview is less important than in site-based research. It is however an important issue that required some careful thought. Note taking pares down the conversation to a less elaborate form so that the events are identifiable. It is these events, or ‘doings”, and the interviewee’s perspective on their causes which are the focus of this research. While the researcher can interpret events in context by returning to the original conversation, the transcriber’s lack of contextual involvement may cause

important events to be missed. This de-contextualisation of the connection between interviewer and interviewee means more care must be taken to ensure the transcriber’s notes match the researcher’s understanding of the dialogue. This potential slippage can only be resolved by the researcher checking the transcript against the recordings of the interview, something which was done with all quoted statements in this thesis.

One concern when using a transcriber is that the confidentiality of the material may be put at risk. Ensuring this did not happen was important because the person transcribing material had had involvement in one of the case study organisations. I had a detailed conversation about confidentiality with the subscriber who had experience in academic work, prior to them signing a Massey University Ethics Committee Confidentiality Agreement (Appendix 8).

7.3 Analysis of Data

The process of research described so far has involved a literature review,

identification of the research question and development of a case study approach which focuses on change in three charitable organisations over a period of twenty

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five years. The focus of each case study is on documents, which either explain or indicate organisational or programme change, and interviews which explore this change through the perceptions and understanding of those who were involved in the three organisations at various times during the twenty five years. The data which results from this work is in various forms. Notes have been made from documents, and copies of other documents have been made or scanned to digital storage; financial information has been transferred into spreadsheets; and interviews have been transcribed in shortened note form. The next stage of the research process is analysis of the data. This section will outline a first stage of analysis that employs both qualitative and some quantitative analysis to identify themes. This is followed by an iterative abstractive process which revisits the data from a range of perspectives to identify causal mechanisms and form the basis of theories on the marketisation process.

There is a divergence of opinion among researchers about the most appropriate methods of data analysis in a critical realist approach. Arguing that combining methods is central to retroduction, Downward and Mearman (2007) also caution that care needs to be taken in deciding at which level of abstraction a method may be employed, because multidisciplinary approaches provide the potential for ontological “clashes”(p. 89). When a positivist ontology tolerates generalisation, and a constructionist one argues that all knowledge is particular to human understanding of it in a particular context, the outcome of research may be compromised if one is used to attempt verification of the other. Downward and Mearman (2007) argue that this problem can be overcome within critical realism by using the data produced by different methodologies at different levels of

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abstraction to clarify the phenomena rather than verify it. The contribution of each method is not to validate findings, build one on the basis of the other, or develop conclusions beyond the capability of an individual method, but rather to provide extensive empirical elucidation of a phenomenon and develop theory through elaboration of insight (p. 91).

McEvoy and Richards (2006) also advocate use of mixed methods within a case study approach, using quantitative data to reinforce the findings from qualitative data, “giving the inquiry a greater sense of balance and perspective” (p. 76). However, Downward and Mearman (2007), who advise mixed method

triangulation, criticise case study for having “echoes” of the hypothetico-deductive method, citing its common use of validation of prior theoretical content through analytical generalisation. Downward and Mearman conclude, however, that the case study approach can be used if framed “within more explicit ontological referents” (p. 95). The process outlined by both McEvoy and Richards (2006) and Easton, G. (2010) appears to achieve this by focusing on multiple sources of data collection, the iterative process of abstraction of data, and identification of a range of explanations of phenomena which are tentative in nature. Easton, G. (2010) says that the aim of epistemological closure, “however flawed and temporary” is compatible with the “cut and come again” disposition of case study. It is also “pragmatically desirable” that a number of different explanations are identified so that the particular explanation in the particular circumstances can be produced (p. 124).

While the financial information gathered in this research required some

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method triangulation approach due to the weight of qualitative data. Triangulation can occur in four different ways (Downward and Mearman, 2007), of which the most relevant to this research are the “between-method” of mixed method, and data triangulation which involves gathering data at different times and situations from different subjects (p. 91). The relatively high number of interviewees across the three organisations means that there is considerable scope for qualitative data triangulation in this research. It is a method which resonates well with the “cut and come again” possibilities in case study (Easton, G. 2010, p. 125). Using these

methods, the abstracted data is: “a first step towards conceptualising and theorising the real essence, power and mechanism of an object; and it helps to distinguish external/incidental/contingent from internal/essential/necessary relations between objects and events” (Yeung, 1997, p. 58).

While this abstraction of data leads to a first step in the conceptualisation, and reconceptualisation process of retroduction, the data requires careful theorisation because poor identification of abstracted objects can lead to identification of the wrong relationships (Yeung, 1997, p. 58).

There are many levels in retroduction which provide potential for a haphazard, complex and potentially overwhelming process. For this reason, and because many issues have already been identified in other research, in the first stage of analysis, I took a thematic approach. Using the indicators identified in the literature review to form “frames” for analysis, I identified the existence of these phenomena in the data and gathered the data that related to them. While there are some advantages to a framework approach, including cross-sectional analyses of data, the

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guide systematic analysis (Smith & Frith, 2011, p. 55), there has been criticism of its lack of depth, its focus on theme development rather than generation of theory, and the potential that fragmentation of data will lead to misinterpretation (Smith & Frith 2011, p. 54). These criticisms may point to problems in its use as a total analytical methodology within critical realist ontology. Rather than use this method of data analysis as an end in itself I used it as a first stage in the

retroduction process, maintaining a focus on the open nature of social systems and the holistic nature of phenomena.

I have set out the iterative process which analysis took in relation to each theme identified in (Figure 7.1). The diagram shows how the data derived from each case is separated into quantitative and qualitative components. The data is then filtered through a lens which includes prior information and theoretical understandings of the marketisation process. These combine and conceptual understandings of change emerge. These understandings are linked with other conceptualisations and some are reconceptualised until new theories emerge.

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Figure 7.1 Process of Analysis

Source: author