Assessing the value of regional government suggests a range of different strategies to measure them. Yin (2003) identifies a suite of research strategies for undertaking research, each with its own strengths and limitations (Table 5-1). They can be used to undertake exploratory, descriptive or explanatory research. Each is conditioned by the type of research question posed, the extent of control the investigator has over actual behavioural events and the degree of focus on contemporary as opposed to historical events (Yin, 2003: 5).
Table 5-1: Relevant situations for different research strategies Strategy Form of Research
Question
Requires Control of Behavioural Events?
Focuses on Contemporary Events?
Experiment How, why? Yes Yes
Survey Who, what, where, how many, how much?
No Yes
Archival analysis
Who, what, where, how many, how much?
No Yes/No
History How, why? No No
Case study How, why? No Yes
Source: Yin, 2003: 5.
The interest of this research is very much on contemporary events, but, as with much of social sciences research, experimental strategy is not possible as the ability to control behavioural events is beyond the reach of researchers. This leaves surveys, archival analysis and case studies as possible choices for research strategies. Each has advantages and limitations, but they are not mutually exclusive; rather, a suite of research strategies to provide a range of qualitative and quantitative data so triangulated observations can be employed that can be used to assess the public value of regional government. The strategies can also be, to some extent, nested as surveys and archival analysis can be used to inform a case study. Given the scope of the subject of enquiry, it was decided to utilise all three strategies; employing a case study approach to regional government in New Zealand to keep the research practicable, while employing archival (or documentary) analysis and a survey to inform the case study.
2.1 Case study
The case study is a recognised way of undertaking social science research where in-depth examination of a single event or subject is used instead of the use of large samples and rigorous assessment of a small set of variables (Yin, 2003). The use of a case study also allows selection of a case that can provide richer information as they ‗activate more basic mechanisms and more actors in the situation studied, compared to a random or average case where the emphasis is on representativeness‘ (Flyvbjerg, 2006). The case study method has been criticised on a range of grounds, particularly on its inability to falsify findings. Such criticisms have been addressed by a several researchers (e.g. Yin, 2003; Flyvbjeg, 2006). These criticisms have less relevance for exploratory research where the purpose is to provide a base for constructing hypotheses rather than falsifying them. Nevertheless care must be taken when extrapolating from a specific case to make generalisation for the wider population from which the case is drawn. In practical terms, the case study research strategy is useful in designing a research programme, such as the one reported here, that is feasible.
As described in chapter 3, New Zealand has a range of regional-level institutions, including democratically elected regional government as well as decentralised national government department and Crown entities with a regional presence. Ideally, research on regional level government would examine the whole range of sub-national entities to obtain a comprehensive picture and understanding. However, such an undertaking is beyond the scope of the research here. Instead, the research was undertaken within a case-study framework, examining only a particular part of contemporary regional government in New Zealand. Chosen with care, the case study can be used as an exemplar in considering other forms of regional government and administration, such as public health and economic development. Accordingly, a subsection of this wider regional government and administration was examined in detail, acting as a surrogate for the others. The criteria used for selection were devolved authority and representation across regions.
The present study focuses on devolved government; that is sub-national government with democratically elected office-holders, rather than devolved administration. As discussed in chapter 3, regional councils are the only regional-level organisations that meet both requirements. District health boards have elected and appointed representatives, while most (95%) of their finance comes from central government. A challenge is that regional councils are in practice still largely ad hoc multiple special-purpose authorities reflecting their recent antecedent history. They have a range of functions, including environmental management, biosecurity, public transport, flood protection and river management. The intensity of these functions varies between councils (chapter 3). For example, the Southland Regional Council has delegated public transport provision to Invercargill City Council, while it is a major function (over 40% of annual expenditure) of Auckland Regional Council. This variation makes direct comparison between councils difficult. Comparison between regional councils and unitary authorities, which also have added territorial authority functions, is even more difficult.
All regional councils and unitary authorities have significant mandatory regulatory functions under the Resource Management Act 1991, providing a common base for comparison. Environmental resource management also demonstrates a multi-layered government dimension, as the regional function situates within a larger hierarchical planning framework from the national level, which in turn is situated within an international policy context. As well, environmental issues also have an ongoing public interest and topical salience, making
this choice both relevant and facilitating data gathering. On this basis environmental management was used as a surrogate for other regional council functions. However, any wider application of the findings to other functions and policy domains needs to be tempered with awareness that these other functions and policies may have different spatial and political characteristics.
2.2 Data collection strategy
The research strategy to implement the case study had two parts. The literature on sub- national government, discussed in chapter 2, and regional environmental management in New Zealand in chapters 3 and 4 provides a basis for determining expected performance of regional councils‘ management of environmental resources. Published data on regional and national government performance were examined to ascertain whether this performance was being achieved. These data were corroborated with findings from a survey of the perceptions of environmental resource management practitioners and stakeholders to provide a qualitative assessment of this performance.
A combination of research instruments that allowed for triangulation of findings was favoured, as a single method or technique is unlikely to deliver unequivocal and robust data. For example, although environmental management is an important regional council function, there is no standard metric or comprehensive data on New Zealand‘s environmental management performance at either national or regional level. Indeed this lacuna has been a long-standing criticism of New Zealand management. While individual councils have undertaken their own state of the environment reports, there is no standardised measurement, data collection, analysis or presentation (see OECD, 1996, 2007; Sumits & Morrison, 2001). Accordingly, direct quantitative analysis of environmental policy outcomes is not possible.
The public sector collects and reports on data from a wide range of sources for a variety of reasons, including institutional performance monitoring and to inform public sector decision-making, as well as for the wider public good. Many data are published in national and local government reports and planning documents. Baseline data on local government and the wider population both nationally and by region are collected by Statistics New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs collates triennial local government elections data. As well, specialist data sets have been assembled by the Ministry for the Environment to assist environmental managers were used to provide regional level information. These datasets and documents can provide quantitative data for assessing council performance. Perceptions of environmental resource management practitioners and stakeholders was obtained using a structured questionnaire, while specific information to elaborate on or corroborate some of the survey data can be obtained from open interviews of selected key respondents. The survey allowed people with particular skills, knowledge and experience to inform the assessment, particularly where public data are not available. A survey was particularly important for this research given the lack of published information with which to compare performance of the different councils and the relationships between different layers of government and stakeholders. It was also useful for exploring respondents‘ views on alternative government models. The details of each research strategy are given below.