CRITERIOS DE EVALUACIÓN

The main sources of data and information of this study were the semi-structured interviews with the local stakeholders. By following the constructionist approach described in section 4.1, the analysis of the data followed the grounded theory principles.

Grounded Theory (GT) is structured in a way that the researcher asks a question or series of questions which are designed to lead to the development or generation of a theory regarding some aspect of social life.

GT is a qualitative approach that uses a systemic set of methodological tools in order to develop a theory from the study and the analysis of the reality. The researcher, instead of starting from a theoretical assumption to be verified on the field, he/she started from the fieldworks, in order to observe the most relevant elements that emerge from the study of the reality, with the main objective of developing a theory on the topic he/she is studying.

The development of a theory is the result of a scrupulous process that involves the researcher moving in and out of the data collection and analysis processes, a movement that is usually called ‘iteration’.

This ‘iteration’ allows developing a theory with regard to the research questions and, above all, it allows the analyst engaging in theoretical sampling process. As described by Glaser and Strauss (1967, p. 45) ‘theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the researcher jointly collects data, and analyses his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges’.

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Indeed, in the framework of GT, the collection, coding and analysis of data are three processes that are always interrelated: while the researcher is active in collecting data at the same time he/she is also active in coding and interpreting them. This continuous process of asking questions and comparing data is functional to understand the main unexplored issues as well as the main weakness of the analysis, and it allows the researcher to obtain a deep knowledge of the phenomena under study.

This comparative process involving joint data collection and analysis continues until the researcher reaches saturation, the point at which there are no new ideas and insights emerging from the new data.

With regard the analytic phase, the most relevant action is the data coding, which is the process of defining what the data are all about. As observed by Charmaz (1995): ‘unlike quantitative coding, that means applying preconceived codes to the data, qualitative grounded theory coding means creating the codes as you study your data. Since codes emerge from the research, this process may take the researcher to unforeseen and unexpected areas and questions’.

More in details, this process involves three levels or types of coding:

- Open coding - the data are segmented or divided into similar groupings and

forms. Preliminary categories of information about the phenomenon are developed;

- Axial coding - after the open coding, the identified categories are brought into

groupings. These groupings resemble themes and are generally new ways of seeing and understanding the phenomenon under study;

- Selective coding - the categories and themes are organised and integrated in a

way that articulates a coherent understanding or theory of the phenomenon of study.

The process of data collection and coding must be accompanied by the writing of informal analytical notes, commonly called memos. Memo-writing constitutes a crucial method in GT for the following reasons: (i) it prompts researchers to analyse and code data and early in the research process and (ii) it keeps the researcher involved in the analysis, by helping to increase the level of abstraction of the ideas (Charmaz, 1996). In this study memos resulted particularly useful for making comparison between data and data, data and codes, codes and categories, and new ideas were articulated from these comparisons.

Moreover, in the context of the present research, as result of the coding and memo- writing processes, data were sorted and organised in a hierarchical structure, where the different categories and sub-categories were organised in index trees. This sorting

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process was carried out separately for each case study and two index trees were developed (see Annex 2).

The final stage of the analysis of qualitative data collected through the interviews was the writing of the results, by following the structures of categories and subcategories resulted by the sorting process.

The table below summarises the different stages of the GT and their utilisation in this study.

Table 4.3 – The use of Grounded Theory in the research

Stages of Grounded Theory Data collection Semi-structured interviews, transcription

Coding (open-axial-selective)

Data have been coded and then organised in a set of categories and subcategories. The process of data collection and coding continued until the point of theoretical saturation was reached

Memos

Writing of memos about the various categories and properties that emerged from the data as a result of the coding process. This process allowed the identification of links between the various themes/categories.

Sorting All the codified data and memos were organised in categories and subcategories

forming two index trees (one for each case study – see Annex 2)

Writing The structure of the case study writing has been guided by the sorting of data

above