Planes de Emergencia y Contingencia

The process of analysis and writing was ongoing and non-linear but for the purpose of describing the steps and strategies used in the current study, they will be

presented as phases. The central questions that guided the analysis and writing of the findings were:

 What is going on here?

 How is it understood by the participants and what are the consequences of that understanding?

 How does it contribute to my emerging understanding and explanatory framework? and

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3.5.3.1 Transcribing and recording early insights

With participants‟ permission, all interviews were audio-recorded. The duration in minutes of the taped portion of the interviews ranged from 52 to 135 (M = 88.08, SD

= 24.49), 46 to 114 (M = 70.55, SD = 21.05; and 54 to 90 (M = 69.60, SD = 11.65) for initial victim, follow-up victim and police interviews respectively. Analytical insight can be gained at any time from the very commencement of data collection (Patton, 2002). In order to capture early insights and ideas to pursue, I kept a notebook in which I recorded reflections on my experience of the interviews and early impressions of the interview material. Initially, the notebook was also used to record ideas that arose as I began transcribing each interview. Thus the initial phase of the analysis occurred during the transcribing of interview tapes. Transcribing the interviews, although laborious, is another means of studying and staying close to the data (Charmaz, 1995, 2006). Riessman (2008) asserts that interpretation begins as the transcript is created, and that it is in fact a representation of the interaction between participant and interviewer, a further acknowledgement of the constructed nature of research findings. As I made notes, I inserted footnotes in the actual

transcript document so that I could refer directly to the relevant data when reviewing the notebook. Eventually, I relied on the footnotes rather than the notebook. I

recorded ideas for possible codes, noted similarities and differences between participants, and formulated further questions for subsequent interviews. It was not unusual to have added 20 to 30 footnotes to a transcript. Footnotes ranged from a few pertinent words to remind me to follow up on a point to a deeper reflection on an issue or event described by a participant. These reflective notes informed coding and subsequent memo-writing. Some of the police and victim follow-up interviews were transcribed by a professional research transcriber. I reviewed the audio files with the typed transcripts, correcting any errors or omissions, whilst also making footnotes relevant to coding. Examples of footnotes from the initial and follow-up interviews with Rita are provided in Figures 3.1 and 3.2.

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Figure 3.1. Sample footnote demonstrating reflection on a transcript passage and consideration of a possible code.

Figure 3.2. Sample of footnote noting the similarity between two participants in relation to the cold call and feeling deterred categories

Again, there is a real problem with follow-up. It seems that they don‘t take the time to discern the nature of her need. They just concentrate on her literal request i.e. for a copy of the statement rather than on her actual need, which is to get protection and find out about the intervention order. This results in her being left to fend for herself. This is similar to Jenny‘s experience when she went to the SOCA unit. They did not address her needs but only focused on the relevance of her being at the SOCA unit. It seems if they can find an excuse to fob her off then they will. Getting help from the local station is a real problem. It seems they will only take action if the nature of the approach ―fits the system‖. They will help if someone calls 000 or if someone attends to report a crime (where there is some evidence that it is serious). There seems to be a need for something that hooks them in, something that facilitates forming a working alliance. At the home, it is being caught up in their drama, witnessing the emotion, seeing the wrecked furniture. At the station it is seeing a bruised, battered and visibly distressed victim. A cool calm victim, making steps to get protection after careful thought is just fobbed off. Do the police have an instinctive barrier that they put up to protect them from getting involved with every person who walks through the door? Do they start off keen and helpful but then learn to protect themselves?

Her initial aim is that they would help him see that his behaviour needs to be dealt with. She has been conditioned to believe that she is at fault, and she has internalised this to a degree but there is still some recognition that he has a problem. However, she knows that she cannot convince him of this or influence his perspective. She wants someone in a position of power, a position of influence to bring about a change in his perspective. She is looking for advocacy!! CODE ADVOCACY

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3.5.3.2 Initial coding

The next phase of analysis involved initial or open coding. I started with a combination of line-by-line or sentence-by-sentence coding, depending on the content of each line. Several police and victim transcripts were subjected to the meticulous scrutiny of this form of coding. It facilitated the identification of actions, processes and feelings rather than identifying broader themes. Thereafter, I

continued open coding using slightly larger segments of data corresponding to one or more complete sentences or natural conversation breaks (Corbin, 2009).

Wherever possible emic or in vivo (Charmaz, 2006) codes were applied to the data. These use the participants own terms and language (their voice) to label codes. An example of line-by-line coding is provided in figure 3.3

Figure 3.3. Line-by-line coding of victim-participant transcript.

Etic codes were kept to a minimum at this stage to ensure the analysis was inductive and to avoid the use of preconceived concepts and misinterpretation (MacQueen, McLellan, Kay & Milstein, 1998). Other codes arose directly from the interview questions (Dey, 1993). For example, victims were directly asked how they

71 accounted for their partners‟ violence when it first began. Explaining abuse was the resultant code. Initial explanations were later compared to explanations after police engagement.

In the early stages I concentrated on labelling data without considering the Landenburger (1989) stages or trying to categorise women according to a relationship stage. For example, all the help-seeking codes (e.g. seeking respite, seeking safety, seeking ego support) were derived directly from the data. It was not until I attempted to organise the seeking codes and come to a deeper understanding of what was happening that I examined whether the victims‟ help-seeking needs could be better understood in light of the stage model, as indeed they were. According to Charmaz (2006), early interests are a vantage point or point of departure. They must be tested to ensure they fit the data, and the researcher must remain open to looking at the data in other ways. One of the great benefits of grounded theory, and of all qualitative studies, is that we are not restricted to the study of preconceived, rigidly predetermined (i.e. operationalized) variables. Nevertheless, the influence of relationship stage was a central element of the research question. It is my belief the Landenburger model helped elucidate the findings in a deeper way. For example, all women making a crisis call were seeking safety but there were subtle differences and it is in these variations that the model was most illuminating. I believe it enhanced my theoretical sensitivity rather than detracted from it. I also made sure I looked at other ways of interpreting the data. For example, I examined the pertinence of hope in victims‟ help-seeking

endeavours.

3.5.3.3 Focused and axial coding

With one hour of tape equating to approximately 20 transcript pages, I had copious data. I entered the data into NVIVO qualitative data software to help manage the sorting and coding of larger segments of data. So as not to lose important

information contained in the footnotes, they were copied to the main transcript between a “notes” and “end” heading. Subsequently a free node was generated using the software auto code function. This facilitated bringing all the footnotes together in one node (notes) with automatic access to the relevant section of the

72 original transcript. In this fashion, the footnotes formed a journal of the early

interpretative process, which assisted in selecting codes for further analysis in the focused coding. Although the software was helpful, I returned to the hard copy transcripts for the bulk of the coding.

To further explore emerging concepts and to check the utility of codes and

categories, I examined each victim participant‟s case and created a flow-chart of her interactions with police, detailing the preceding event, reason for calling, action taken, and outcomes. Using existing codes I was able to compare earlier interactions with later ones within the one case, and make comparisons across cases. This

process facilitated axial coding and was fundamental to developing a framework that linked major categories.

Figure 3.4. Sample of flow-chart used to facilitate within-case comparison of incidents.

73 Flow-charts were then summarised in an analysis table displaying the victim‟s relationship stage, the trigger event, help-seeking aim, presence of alliance, police actions, and outcomes perceived by victims (Appendix M). Similarly, the positive and negative cases described by each police participant were constantly compared to refine codes and categories related to police values, assessments and actions.

3.5.3.4 Writing as analysis

Concepts were further explored and expanded through the process of writing. Charmaz (2000) described memo writing as an intermediary step between coding and developing the first draft of a completed analysis. It assists in exploring codes and elucidating the links between them. I found the most beneficial aspect of memo writing to be the very fact that it makes you start writing in a more structured way, which necessitates more conceptual thinking. Codes are discrete, and footnotes are disjointed and almost random in comparison to memo writing. Writing deepens interpretation and understanding, and contributes to the analysis. Initially I wrote individual memos for theoretical categories but as I started to connect them I progressed to writing drafts of chapter sections. Figure 3.5 contains a preliminary, brief memo exploring feeling deterred.

Memo writing was an exploratory exercise in itself, experimenting with what worked best. The process of memo writing that I eventually adopted was based on examples from Charmaz (2006) and involved taking the relevant code or category and exploring it by asking and answering conceptual questions, whilst inserting actual data extracts that illuminated the resulting interpretations. For example, in relation to the category, taking her seriously, I asked, what is the implicit meaning when victims invoke this term. I collated data from various participants to illuminate the concept and compare their use of the term. I explored how taking her seriously

was constructed and acted upon. I asked further questions: how do they know when they are and when they are not taken seriously? Under which conditions is she taken seriously? What conclusions does she draw from their response, how does she feel and act subsequently, and what are the outcomes? How does taking her seriously

74 compared to data and codes from the police transcripts, specifically the taking it on board code. I also incorporated visual means of conceptualising relationships between codes and categories. I found concept maps, contingency tables, and property lists assisted in the interpretative process.

Figure 3.5. Memo describing connections between codes within feeling deterred.

I need a term or category for how the women feel when they go to the police for help and get redirected to Court.

I am talking about women who do the cold calling, as opposed to crisis calling. They have made a conscious decision to leave or they have left and are trying to assert their right to be left alone. These women are being proactive not reactive. They are the ones most ready for change and independence. However, it is still an enormous task for them to approach the police. It takes all their emotional energy. Some are fortified by anger, which is time limited. The window of opportunity and their ability to engage with the justice system is therefore fragile. They need the police to be responsive, decisive and supportive. They need the police to take action on their behalf because once they get to the police that is about the limit of their reserves. However because there is no crisis, no imminent danger, police redirect them to Court to apply for an intervention order. The police believe their story and affirm that they need protection but they don‘t take action to procure that protection for them. Most women give up at this point. They don‘t have the fortitude to keep going. They feel like once again it‘s up to them to do everything. If the police reject them, don‘t have time for them, don‘t think their problem is serious enough, then they rationalise that a Magistrate is going to be even less likely to take up their cause. They feel embarrassed and believe they have wasted police time. Instead of applying for an intervention order they remain in the

relationship, believing that this is their lot in life. They may feel utterly hopeless and depressed at this stage. Those who have already left try to deal with his harassment themselves. They start management strategies that have parallels with the strategies previously used while they were in the relationship.

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