Interpretive analysis and narrative analysis are employed as analytic strategies for this research. An interactive process is involved as a result of grounded theory accepted by the study. What grounded theory offers, as Cloke et al. (2004) explain, ‘is a detailed and empirically rich interpretation of the social situation under investigation deeply anchored… in the understandings of the participants as revealed in interviews or other accounts’ (p. 315).
At this stage, the analytical process is fulfilled with constant interactions between description and explanation. As Coffey and Atkinson (1996) suggest, the research travels from research design to data collection, and repeat this circle three times (shown in the stages of research).
As such, the analysis is embedded within, rather than separated from, the other elements of the research process.
Data can never straightforwardly reflect the world. The goal of the analysis is to construct a narrative that ‘presents persuasive themes and story lines, argues influences, connections and outcomes, and develops wider implications for the discipline in which the study is situated’ (Parker, 2004, p. 163).
To achieve these goals, Cloke et al. (2004) recommend three interpretational strategies (‘enumerating’, ‘explaining’ and ‘understanding’) which are cross-cut by two interpretational processes (‘shifting and sorting’ and ‘representing’). The enumerating strategy converts data into numerical forms and then proceeds to the analysis across all manners ranging from the simplest descriptive data to the most complex geo-computational modelling or mapping visualisation (Cloke et al., 2004). This research has no intent or resource to support such an analysis. Alternatively, human geographers might take an explanatory approach to produce knowledge with regards to the cause-and-effect relations or ‘underlying casual psychologies, cultural expectations, [and] economic tendencies’ (Cloke et al., 2004, p. 211). Although these perspectives are interesting and important in relation to this research, the key focus of the study is to seek ways to understand the complex relationships between space, authenticity and social justice. Therefore, the analytical approach of the research should best be delivered through hermeneutics, which is ‘a form of justification involving the dialogic adjudication of both beliefs and standards of rationality’ (Warnke, 1987, p. 170).
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Two forms of data are generated from the study: texts (interviews and observations) and photographs. To process the texts, this research uses a four-stage qualitative analysis based on a modified version of grounded theory. Photographs are used as back-up resources for the qualitative analysis.
The first stage is called coding. Having read all the transcriptions from beginning to end, this study initially processes the data by linking chunks of text that represent the same phenomenon (Bryman, 2015). The second stage is called thematic coding (Bryman, 2015), or shifting and sorting (Cloke et al., 2004). Following an initial careful reading, the texts are separated into identified sections that are labelled with different ‘codes’. Two types of codes are used in this research: in vivo or ‘emic’ codes – terms that are derived from terms used in the text, and ‘etic’ codes – words or phrases that do not appear in the text itself but are chosen because they represent the themes of the research (Cloke et al., 2004). It is important to mention that all the interviews were conducted in Chinese language. Therefore, codes are translated from Chinese to English for the ease of analysis and writing, and hence all codes are etic in some ways. However, this does not influence the rigour of the research since all codes requires interpretation to a certain extent (Cloke et al., 2004).
The third stage is associated with retrieving and identifying the links between the codes (Cloke et al., 2004). By bringing together all the texts that are coded in the same way, categories can be combined through so-called ‘axial codes’, which can express different kinds of relationships between the codes and themes. Finally, a ‘code map’ can be extracted from the data which then can be used for theory generation.
Crang et al. (1997) warn that the technical capabilities of software tools might overcome the substance of the actual analysis. In the context of the research, the computer-based software is not only unnecessary but also ineffective. The main reason is that this research involves three sets of data from four actor groups, and thus the forms of data would be too complicated for any computer-based software. Also, by conducting the analysis manually, many of the hidden patterns and correlations between the participants and actors have emerged. Most importantly, due to the multiplicity of expressions in Chinese language, the transcripts cannot be simply coded according to emic or etic codes.
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This research has obtained rich data in audio and text forms from the various stages of participant observation and interviews. Table 5.12 demonstrates the codes and themes of data analysis. In order to present the data as detailed as possible, a relatively large number of emic and etic codes were initially collected. A significant part of codes is anticipated to be dropped or merged along the analysis process. Also, some of the codes are expected to overlap across different actor groups or themes.
The themes of the research have emerged as the literature review went along. Five themes are identified; namely: 1) physical practice/activities, dealing with the Firstspace of The Aqua, 2) sense of place, dealing with the Secondspace of The Aqua, 3) lived experience, dealing with the Thirdspace of The Aqua, 4) perception of authenticity, dealing with the relationship between the spatial characteristics of The Aqua and the how actors pursue authenticity, and 5) attitude of justice, highlights the connection between space, authenticity and social justice from the actors’ perspective. In this chapter, the first three themes are covered while the next chapter is constructed based on the other two themes.
The themes are common for all of the four actor groups, however, the codes associated with the themes are located differently among them. This gap turns out to be critical to identify the patterns and conflicts that exist among the complex relationships between different actor groups. Having analysed the power relations between the actor groups through the lens of Thirdspace, a development model is designed as the output of this chapter. The next chapter will return to the development model and will turn it into a theoretical conceptual framework.
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Themes Codes Associated With the Themes
Physical Practice / Activities (Chapter 6)
Mapping, Planning, Conservation, Tax, Authorisation, Sales, Marketing, Maintenance, Service, Road, Air Quality, Retirement, Airport, Real Estate, Investment, Sports, SUV, Castle, Gates, Plants, Pets, Conference, Learning, Regional Development, Organic, Weekend, Food, Wine, Wedding, Golf Course, Horse Riding
Sense of Place (Chapter 6) Retirement, Health, Aesthetics, Design, Rules, Pride, Social Status, Representation, Law, Nature, Future, Professional, Organic Farms, Financial Status, Achievement, Welfare, Holiday, Training, Marriage, Home, Entertainment, Relatives, Polite, Western, Abroad, Civilised, Vast
Lived Experience (Chapter 6) Western Lifestyle, Retirement, Mobile, Healthy, Good Life, Different, Pop Culture, Events, Meaning of Life, Confidence, Security, Self-Development, Education, Socialising with family and friends, Restore the idea of family, Regional Development
Perception of Authenticity (Chapter 7)
Western, ‘Fancy’, Food, Sports, Air, Organic, Yunnan, Culture, Temperature, Expectation, House, Church, Lavender, Photography, Gaze, Architecture, Aesthetics, Themes/Theming, Royalty, Status Symbol, ‘Trailer Park’.
Perception of Justice (Chapter 7)
Ownerships, Land, Accessibility, Price, Fines, Citizenship, Crime, Delivery of development plans, Education, Attitude, Value
Table 5.12 Themes and Codes of Qualitative Analysis Source: author
For the ease of analysis, the codes were highlighted in different colours to represent its connectivity to different actor groups. Although all the codes are somehow associated to all actor groups, some are closer linked to one group than others. Some codes are highlighted in
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multiple colours when the code is shared among multiple actor groups. These colours are identified as:
Planners & the State: yellow;
Developers & Management: bright green;
Second Home Owners & Visitors: turquoise;
Local Communities & Staff: pink. ctors ,andnterparts, the planning of second homes are ds dtory spectively under the directory of construction, d