To begin with, the research adopts the idea that a programme or project should be evaluated so that it can offer recommendations for decision-makers (see Cronbach, 1982; Robson, 1993; Walliman, 2005). In tandem with that view, this researcher then digested the aim and objectives of the research and consequently justifies its research design. It is therefore claimed that even though this thesis was pursued as basic research, this researcher believes that this piece of work represents a sample of evaluation research; the nub of this research employs an evaluation procedure, and with the distinctive characteristics of evaluation methods, process and expectations, thus delivers the work of an evaluation research.
According to Cresswell (2009), there are three types of research design, namely quantitative design, qualitative design and mixed-methods. Additionally, he suggested that, in general, the choice of research design depends very much on the research strategies employed for the research. He clarifies this by stating, “Often the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research is framed in terms of using
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words (qualitative) rather than numbers (quantitative), or using close-ended questions (quantitative hypotheses) rather than open-ended questions (qualitative interview questions)” (Cresswell, 2009:p3). Pointing towards his idea, as well as reflecting on the research’s aim, objectives and approaches, it is therefore proposed that this research is of a qualitative design. For this reason, in order to achieve the aim and objectives of this research, this research therefore employs four strategies, which are:
1) Case Study Method; 2) Comparative Method; 3) Realistic Evaluation; and 4) Document Analysis.
5.2.1 Case Study Method
There are several types of qualitative research strategies, for examples, ethnography, grounded theory, case study, phenomenological research and narrative research (see Creswell, 2009:p12-13). This research however adopts the case study method. There are many reasons for this decision; (1) taking into consideration the literature review; and (2) based on the research aim and objectives.
The first reason for a case study strategy was based on the idea proposed by Stufflebeam (2000) which suggested that a fundamental approach to programme assessment is through a case study method. Additionally, Ho’s (1999) work demonstrates that benchmarking of a programme can be carried out through a case study method, while Patton (1990) indicates that a case study may be required when the subject involves a programme. In addition to that, it was also suggested that, a case study strategy can be applied in “city and regional planning” research (Yin, 1994:p1). Secondly, reflecting on the aim and objectives which intend to examine regional park programmes means that this research requires a case study approach. Additionally, it is also believed that the case study method can provide a more compelling result to programme evaluation (Fellows and Liu, 1997; Groat and Wang, 2002; Yin, 2003; Berg, 2007).
Apart from that, in order to study the delivery and performance of a programme, the study requires an in- depth study of the programme. As Yin (2009:p4) puts it, “there is no formula, but your choice depends in large part of your research question(s)”. He added, “the more that questions seek to explain some present circumstances (e.g., “how” or “why” some social phenomenon works), the more that the case study method will be relevant” (Yin, 2009:p4). According to Burns (2000:p460) “the case study is the preferred strategy when ‘how’, ‘who’, ‘why’ or what’ questions are being asked”. These questions reflect the key principle to realistic evaluation applied in this research [we will see these type of questions for this research in this chapter, under Section 5.7]. He then added that “case study is used to gain in-depth
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understanding replete with meaning for the subject, focusing on process rather than outcome, on discovering rather than confirmation” (Burns, 2000:p460).
In relation to the numbers of case studies, the researcher decided on two case studies. Sesnan (2006:p11) points out, “whilst comparative studies can be a very effective way of understanding the public [social aspect] there was evidence that the regeneration landscape in England was already so complex as to make understanding it a major task”. In relation to Sesnan’s (2006) idea, it is therefore believed that studying two urban regeneration programmes is already challenging. Moreover, this relates to a belief by Fellows and Liu (1997:p15-16) mentioning that “the nature of in-depth data collection may limit the number of studies, when research is subject to resource constraints”. They then added, “case studies may be selected on the basis of their being representative with similar conditions to those used in statistical sampling to achieve a representative sample, to demonstrate particular facets of the topic, or to show the spectrum of alternatives”. Based on these ideas, this researcher felt that having just two case studies would be adequate in meeting the research’s goal. However, a brief review of an international practice is provided in Appendix 11.
5.2.2 Comparative Method
As mentioned earlier, besides employing the multiple-case study design, the research will also conduct comparative investigations. The comparative approach is undertaken because the principle of benchmarking itself is to compare. According to Grix (2004), by definition, comparative studies require more than one case study, whether it is the same subject or a number of separate subjects. David and Sutton (2004) explained that the focus of comparative research is to identify differences and similarities between groups, for example, among nation-states. According to May (1993), there are several advantages of undertaking comparative research and one of the aims is to understand and explain the ways in which different societies and cultures experience and act upon social programmes.
5.2.3 Realistic Evaluation
Based on the lessons acquired from the literature review and the envisaged conceptual framework, realistic evaluation will be part of the major operation when assessing both UK case studies. The use of the CMO configurations will be as a framework to examine the outcomes of programmes, its contexts and mechanisms. In this research, regional park programmes are investigated through the benchmarking method. Results from the comparison will be extracted and re-analysed in accordance with the CMO configurations.
80 5.2.4 Document Analysis
Apart from the multiple-case study design, the comparative and realistic analysis, the research will also adopt a Document Analysis approach. This is done for both case studies. The documentary material used for this purpose includes books, reports, websites, electronic documents, policy statements, guidelines and strategies. In relation to this exercise, the approach involves a detailed review of all the related documents obtained.