LA SUPER-GALAXIA UNIVERSAL Y LA ESFERA CIRCUNDANTE

The researcher became both an insider and outsider to the research context because of the similar and different personal experiences and attributes she shares with the research participants. On the one hand, she was an insider because of her residence in Trincomalee for nearly eight years that included the peak years of the civil conflict and the Boxing Day Tsunami. This gave her firsthand experience of their effects and the mostly indirect consequences faced by its multicultural population; and an understanding of the local society along with its resulting socio-economic changes to some extent. She also shares one of the main languages (Sinhala) spoken in the area

and possesses a reasonable understanding of spoken Tamil. To some extent, she was aware of the ethnic composition, socio-economic status of certain sites, the administrative structure and political conditions in the research area. Additionally, she was sensitive to the cultural and ritual practices and beliefs (about food, dress codes, religious practices and marriage and dowry practices) of each of the three ethnic groups within the setting.

Yet, she did not share every aspect of life with all her research participants due to her ‘ascriptive attributes’ (Lofland et al. 2006, p. 23) such as being a female born and raised in Kandy- one of the main cities in the central region of the country- and belonging to the majority ethnic (Sinhalese) and religious groups (Buddhist) and serving as a lecturer at one of the higher educational institutes in the research area. She had not undergone many of the challenging or even catastrophic life experiences of her participants such as living in refugee camps, fleeing to other parts of the country or other countries such as India and resettling in this area after a significant period of absence. They have also experienced the consequences and aftermath of the civil conflict for nearly thirty years of their lives (Neuman 2011).

In general, the researcher was welcomed to homes of research participants and was offered refreshments at many. She always attempted to appear and behave appropriately and acted courteously towards the participants. Before commencing interviews and FGDs, she tried to reduce the distance between the interviewees and herself and build rapport with them by mentioning her personal involvement with the area and the experiences she had undergone in the area. In some cases, the researcher was aware and familiar with their workplaces or areas where they have lived previously (Neuman 2011, p. 450). As the researcher was culturally sensitive to the context, she did not call the participants by their names but addressed them as ‘younger/elder sister’ or ‘aunt’ as customary in Sri Lankan culture and the general way of showing you accept them as equals in social status and respect people based on their age. These practices helped create a nonthreatening climate and establish rapport with research participants during the fieldwork (Lofland et al. 2006, p. 68). It was also easy to build rapport with them because on many occasions, research participants were inquisitive of the researcher’s choice of their area as the research site. This was because the researcher was studying abroad at the time and her own hometown was very far from the research setting.

The researcher’s stay in a developed country (in Australia as a student) for some time after living most of her life in a patriarchal society in a developing country also made an impact on the study, It enabled her to be engaged in dual vision or different perceptions on issues such as gender and power imbalances embedded in certain practices and beliefs of participants’ everyday life that could have otherwise gone unnoticed or unexamined (Shklarov 2007 cited in Liamputtong 2013, p. 335).

4.2.10 Data analysis methods

The data collected for this study via field observation, interviews and FGDs and documents were qualitative and analysed as detailed below.

4.2.10.1 The grounded theory method

The Grounded theory method (Corbin & Strauss 2008; Glaser & Strauss 1967; Strauss & Corbin 1990) is a systematic method of data analysis and constructing theories grounded in the data. It is a systematic set of procedures followed to code data into named categories to discover patterns among them (Corbin & Strauss 2008). The method was used in this study to analyse the transcribed interviews, FGDs and field notes made during the non-participant observation. Charmaz (2011, p. 363) claims that grounded theory coding strategies allow data to be taken apart and explained as to their constitution while data can be sorted, synthesized and summarized. Therefore, these strategies demonstrate ‘how people enact injustice and inequality’ in society (2011, p. 367). This theory takes an inductive approach because it does not start with ‘prior assumptions about hypotheses’ testing (Gray 2009, p. 502).

4.2.10.1.1 Preparation of transcripts

Interviews were transcribed in Sinhala or translated from Tamil into Sinhala by the interpreters. Interviews conducted in English were directly transcribed in English. All interviews were transcribed verbatim using Express-Scribe Transcription software. After completing each transcript, the respective tape recording was listened to review the transcripts. Transcripts were prepared by the researcher herself which allowed her to closely listen to the interviewees’ responses, make an initial data analysis, preliminarily identify the common themes embedded in them and understand the interview situation with its emotional and social aspects. These steps aided in improving the reliability of the transcripts of audio and video data (Lofland et al. 2006, p. 107; Silverman 2006, pp. 287-8).

4.2.10.1.2 Data analysis process

Initially, the researcher read through several interview transcripts and field notes to be familiarisation and identify the possible common categories or themes that could be generated from data. Then, as open coding or initial coding - ‘breaking data apart and delineating concepts to stand for blocks of raw data’ (Corbin & Strauss 2008, p. 195), these categories were conceptually named. For instance, ‘mobile payment methods’, ‘SMS use behaviours’, ‘reasons for using a mobile phone’, ‘current mobile handset’, ‘past experiences with mobile phones’, ‘landline telephones’, ‘opinions on mobile loans’, ‘constraints on using mobiles’ were some of the common themes identified. In all, nearly 40 common themes were identified from the initial coding.

Then, axial coding was carried out to examine the connections between categories and sub-categories of opinions within the themes (Corbin & Strauss 1990, p. 13). Sub categories then identified as related to a specific category (1990). For instance, the category ‘current mobile handset’ included sub categories such as ‘where/ when/ why it was bought, with /by whom, its price, and brand’. At this selective coding stage, the categories were compared to identify a core category and to come up with a theory or main theme for the study (Corbin & Strauss 2008).

Research memos to self were written by the researcher at the end of each interview based on the observations and reflections of the researcher during an interview. Nvivo- a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS)- was used to facilitate the data analysis process of the study in constructing themes/codes by coding texts, retrieving them, writing memos and linking them with codes and data (Bazeley & Jackson 2013; QSR international 2015).

4.2.10.2 Presenting the results /writing the report

Research findings were represented as a ‘realist tale’ (Weerakkody 2015, p. 55) or a standard qualitative research report, objectively by the researcher but taking the point of view of the participants to depict the findings under the previously identified themes and subthemes. Direct quotes from the interviewees were used as relevant to illustrate the themes, before analysing and drawing conclusions from the overall findings (Van Maanen 1988; Weerakkody 2015). Tables, figures and visual images such as photographs are used appropriately to illustrate and give more clarity to the findings.