Concurrencia de las circunstancias modificativas de la responsabilidad criminal

One weakness of interviews lies in the analysis process, which can be time-consuming (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003) and problematic (Bell, 2010) because of the overwhelming amount of conversation data. Management of qualitative data, albeit a formidable task, is a vital component in the early stages of analysis and can make the analysis of a huge set of data go more smoothly and efficiently.

Managing interview data (See Table 5.4 for a summary of the data management and analysis process) started with downloading, renaming and systematically arranging all audio material in one huge file, saved in several locations for safe-keeping. This was followed by the conversion of raw data into text. There are different techniques for

creating a written record of audiotaped interviews (Holliday, 2007), mainly selective and verbatim transcription. Some authors assert that the latter type is not necessary especially in content or thematic analysis, which aim at identifying common ideas and interpreting meanings from the data (Halcomb & Davidson, 2006). All the same, verbatim transcription was selected and employed because it was the best technique to capture the message the way it was exactly spoken. Considering the criticality of the current research, as the interviewees consisted of a group of highly educated government officials and educational managers, their contribution had to be taken wholesale and in a comprehensive way. Furthermore, since code switching between Arabic and English constantly occurred during most of the interviews, verbatim transcription guaranteed that nothing got lost in translation. More importantly, verbatim transcription established a feeling of personal closeness with the data that led to conducting a keener analysis. Having said that, the use of field notes during and immediately after interviews, a technique frequently considered and is sometimes reported as superior to solely relying on verbatim transcription of verbal data (Wengraf, 2001), was not considered since it posed some kind of threat. Interviewing top political figures in the country and people with high positions in higher education meant that an absolutely accurate record based on evidence was a safe strategy to follow.

It is worth mentioning that for ethical and confidentiality purposes, each participant was assigned a pseudonym represented by the letter P for participant followed by the number of interview. Numbering was not done hierarchically nor randomly, but according to interview sequence for easy referencing. For example, the first interview participant was coded P01 and interview/ participant 17 was coded P17.

Data Analysis Tools

Manual coding was chosen over NVivo for the same reasons listed in the section about Questionnaire Data Analysis. Microsoft Office was used to develop a coding framework in which all codes and categories were later transferred and organised for the presentation and discussion of results.

Table 5. 4 Interview Data Management and Analysis Process

Process Description

1. Raw Data Preparation & Arrangement

All audio files were transferred into one file and renamed chronologically according to the date of interview, no information was given for the participants’ identity. Copies of the file were saved in different locations to minimise loss.

2. Transcribing

Recorded Interviews

Verbatim transcription was used to transcribe the recorded interviews.

Once all transcription was completed, a re-check was done. Each and every transcribed interview was re- checked for any slips or missed information.

3. Filing Transcribed Data

Each transcribed interview was named as per step #1 and saved separately. Then all material was arranged in one file.

Copies of the file were saved in several locations.

4. Conducting a Sample Analysis

A preliminary analysis of the textual data was carried out to come closer to the data and understand the wealth and richness of material. This step was important in the subsequent steps, particularly developing the codes for analysis.

5. Performing Pass One of the Analysis

Each interview was independently coded and analysed using:

a. qualitative content analysis

b. discourse analysis informed by Foucauldian tools

6. Performing Pass Two of the Analysis 7. Presentation and

Reporting of Results

The findings were summarised and presented to answer research questions.

Approaches to Interview Data Analysis

In the beginning, only a qualitative content analysis technique was planned. Nevertheless, conducting a preliminary sample interview analysis revealed that this approach was not enough to capture the complexity and richness of the data. Consequently, each transcribed interview was processed at two different levels of depth,

the first using content analysis and the second much deeper layer involved a discourse analysis using Foucauldian categories.

Pass One: Content Analysis

Content analysis, a basic tool that is widely used in qualitative research (Holsti, 1969; Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Krippendorff, 2013; Weber, 1990) to manage and reduce textual data into more manageable categories and themes was initially planned to scrutinise the interviews and address the second sub-question. This approach, which is broadly defined as “any technique for making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of messages” (Holsti, 1969, p. 14) perfectly fit the study design. Initially, predefined codes (general themes) were generated based on the research topic. However, emergent categories and topics (more specific themes) were also allowed to flow directly from the data. This is a conventional inductive approach used when existing research literature on a phenomenon is limited (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005), which was the case in the present study. The many categories and themes that were developed from applying pass one analysis will be presented and discussed in Chapter Seven: Findings II (Content Analysis of Interview Data).

However, the multifaceted rich data had a much deeper layer that qualitative content analysis was not able to achieve by merely breaking the text into small units of themes (Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013). Thus, finding another pass that could explore the statements of the respondents and identify the ways their identities and the power they possessed were manifested in their dialogue or the ‘discourse’ was vital to increase the rigour of the analysis and provide a more dynamic and detailed account of the data. Accordingly, discourse analysis informed by Foucauldian tools was selected and adapted to focus on the important issues of power and knowledge.

Pass Two: Discourse Analysis Applying Foucauldian Categories

Realising the complex roles performed by the participants as decision-makers and managers with an authority that ranged from low to highest political level of power, an archaeological exploration of how these people negotiated the use of Western methods in HE was expected to reveal a range of approaches and values that relayed the participants’ identities and their complex roles within the larger discourse of Omani HE policymaking, HE management and HE reform. To that end, an in-depth analysis that

focuses on the relationship between power and knowledge was needed to produce richer findings, an aim that led the researcher towards adapting Foucauldian tools.

Foucauldian discourse analysis has been reported as being a significantly useful tool in terms of allowing a focus on the processes and practices in difficult policy planning issues (Sharp & Richardson, 2001). His tools have been adapted and used in various fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, law, history, medicine, ecology, public relations, management and education (Danaher, Schirato, & Webb, 2000).

Two specific studies (Bourke, Lidstone, & Ryan, 2013; Thompson & Mockler, 2016) that borrow from Michel Foucault’s (1972) archaeological analysis tools were found to be useful to guide the present analysis in that they also explore policymaking issues, but in relation to the specific Australian educational field.

In the first study, Bourke et al. (2013) employed open-ended questions to interview twenty teachers from Queensland, Australia, and investigate their experiences regarding the redefinition of professionalism within a discourse of prevailing performativity in the Australian educational landscape. Subjugating the statements of the teachers to Foucauldian archaeological analysis, the authors found that those teachers’ reactions to the performative climate varied between compliance and resistance. It seemed that the teachers played different “truth games” of professionalism, enacting their roles in six ways of some acceptance but increasing resistance: unresisting acceptance, passive resistance, subtle resistance, assertive resistance and aspirational resistance. The authors concluded that their archaeological excavation provided evidence for “the counter- discourses to the currently internationally pervasive performative climate” (Bourke et al., 2013, p. 1).

The second study by Thompson and Mockler (2016) also adopted a Foucauldian approach of discursive production to investigate and analyse how Australian school principals perceived and negotiated the processes and technologies of the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The authors conducted open- ended interviews with thirteen primary and secondary school principals from three different states in Australia. A Foucauldian archaeological exploration of the principals’

responses revealed that they perceived NAPLAN through three techniques: affordances, tensions and paradoxes, which reflected their complex roles as principals.

Piecing together the approach to analysis and categories or themes from the above two papers, the current discourse analysis undertook a similar, but adapted path. A different set of categories emerged apropos the context and type of respondents. The findings revealed that within the discourse of adopting Western methods in Omani education, the respondents employed dialogues of defence, disapproval, compliance and tension, which will be presented and discussed in Chapter Eight: Findings III (Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Interview Data).

There is no space and no necessity for an extended discussion of Foucault’s analysis here since the study is not an epistemology on Michel Foucault. I have adopted his ideas because a practical use of his categories and techniques yields a more penetrating and revealing account of the subject treated. I have used the above Australian models unproblematically and without sustained critical treatment simply because they guide me to use Foucault’s ideas and yield deeper insights and analysis of the issues and motivations at stake.