E STRUCTURA DE LA RADIO

Five tests are used to judge the quality of the research design, namely trustworthiness, credibility, dependability and confirmability, conformability and transferability. These tests are carried out in various phases of the research project, namely data collection, data analysis and composition of the research findings. In preparation for these quality assurance tests, the following strategy was developed:

Trustworthiness

A pilot case study was first undertaken to test and refine the planned theoretical propositions, rival explanations, research questions and procedures to be used in the formal case study. The pilot case study provided an opportunity to test the trustworthiness using the tests of credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability. The data from the pilot case study were not used in the formal case study.

In summary, the refinements made as a result of the pilot study included refinements to the research questions, theoretical propositions, rival explanations and semi-structured questionnaire. The refinements made as a result of the pilot study are detailed in the case study research protocol in Appendix 2, where a comparison is made between the original protocol prepared before the pilot study and the refined protocol used for data collection in the seven cases used in this study.

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Credibility

The credibility of the study was established by using the following techniques:

 Prolonged engagement, which means that multiple data collection activities are planned and executed for each case study. Multiple collection activities and prolonged engagement ensure a richer more in-depth set of data. The seven semi- structured interviews were planned to take place over multiple interviews with the participants. Further data was collected from other text based sources for the innovation projects investigated. The prolonged engagement yielded the transcription of seven case studies, contributing to the database of coded quotations that constituted the source of primary data for this study. The database consists of 114,000 words and over 270 pages collected from the seven cases through multiple semi-structured interviews. An electronic copy of the database is included with the appendices in compact disk (CD) media format. Once the data analysis and interpretation in Chapters 4 and 5 had been undertaken, the conceptual framework was presented to the participants for validation and adjustment before presenting the final model.

 Referential adequacy, which means that the triangulation of data was achieved. This is done by collecting several different forms of data that are used to triangulate or corroborate the primary data collection method, which is the series of semi-structured interviews. The additional data sources included documentation, direct observations, other sources such as reviews by external parties, and field notes. Across the seven cases, an additional 34 documents were coded and contributed to the triangulation of the seven case study interview transcription documents. Coded quotations from these 34 documents are included in the database and are identified by coded quotations ranging from P8 to P41. The contribution of the triangulation data documents can also be seen in the data analysis tables for business environment engagement by case in Appendix 4.

 Peer de-briefing was used to check the coding, themes and thought processes applied by the researcher in analysing the data. As the analysis progressed, the study used peer de-briefing to ensure thoroughness and the application of sound logic. Peer de-briefing took place with Dr Elizabeth Archer (research methodology expert) working for UNISA in March 2017. Dr Archer checked the coding conventions, the themes and the way in which they were applied to the database. She agreed with the logic used and was satisfied that the process had followed the expected practices for

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case study analysis. The report is transcribed from the voice recording of the meeting held at her office and can be viewed in Appendix 2.

 Negative case analysis was employed when one or more cases did not fit the patterns identified across all cases of the study. Negative case analysis was used to establish how they differ from the norm. In this research, Case Study Two was identified as a negative case as the innovation developed in this case study was withdrawn from the marketplace several months after its initial launch. Case Study Two was used throughout the data analysis chapters and provided data that demonstrated how the patterns that were not replicated in this case (Case Study Two), but were replicated in the remaining six case studies, contributed to the ultimate failure of the innovative product launched by Case Study Two.

Using the multiple techniques stated above was intended to demonstrate and provide compelling evidence for the credibility of the study.

Dependability and confirmability Dependability

Dependability required that the study provide its audience with the evidence used for the data analysis. The intention for access to the data was that if the audience or other researchers used the same set of data they could reasonably come to same findings. Hence the following data sets are provided:

 Audit trial created using the ATLAS.ti database  Raw data stored in the database

 Data reconstruction and synthesis product  Process notes

The dependability of the case study were ensured by the research database created, which included the following:

 Audit trail: The audit trail was established by the research database created on ATLAS.ti and the case study research protocol document. Using the case study protocol and the ATLAS.ti database, it is possible to retrace all the steps taken by the researcher in this project. The content of the database was grouped into logical sections described on the database contents page. The contents page is intended to help an auditor or reader to navigate the database.

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 Raw data: All raw data are stored in the ATLAS.ti database; only the names of people, companies and innovations were removed and replaced with pseudonyms before the raw data were stored in the database. An electronic copy on CD of the case study database is included with the appendices. The seven case study transcription documents (P1 to P7) that contribute to the case study database are stored securely by the researcher and can be made available on request with the permission of the UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership’s Research Ethics Review Committee.

 Data reconstruction and synthesis product: Data reconstruction and synthesis products are explained in detail, including the set of codes developed; the themes created and their rationale; the analytical techniques (examining plausible rival explanations, the development of a logic model and cross-case analysis) and the way in which they are applied to the codes and themes (see Appendix 2 for the detailed set of codes).

 Process notes: The process notes describe why and how the researcher followed the chosen process and help an auditor follow and make sense of the logic employed. The process notes articulate the researcher’s thinking and are captured in the ATLAS.ti database alongside the data analysis. The detailed and comprehensive account of activities ensures dependability and confirmability (see Appendix 2 for the process notes created by the researcher).

ATLAS.ti is one the Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) packages available to social science researchers. CAQDAS software packages help to simplify and speed up the analysis of qualitative data. Examples of CAQDAS are NUD.IST, ATLAS.ti, AQUAD and Hyper Research. The CAQDAS software helps code and performs rapid analysis of multiple electronic documents, such as text, sound, video and image files. UNISA had purchased a licence to use ATLAS.ti for their post-graduate students and was therefore the software package used by this study. The ATLAS.ti software provided an HTML format audit trail of how the research was conducted helping other researches to understand and follow the steps taken by the researcher.

Conformability

Conformability is confirmed in a number of ways:

 By ensuring that the research objectives, questions and theoretical propositions match: Conformability is tested by determining whether the research objectives relate to the research questions, and whether the theoretical propositions match these

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concepts. The consistency matrix discussed in subsection 3.2.4 is used to check this conformity.

 By determining how relationships exist between the principles under investigation: Conformability entails explaining how a causal relationship exists between actions and that there are no plausible rivals that have caused or significantly influenced the relationship between these actions. Conformability is determined during the data analysis phase; the tactics of pattern matching, cross-case analysis and addressing rival explanations were used to determine the conformability of this study. The conformability is presented in Chapters 4, 5 and 5.

Transferability

Transferability entails ensuring that another researcher following the case study procedures prepared for this study would achieve similar findings and reach similar conclusions when using the same data collected for this study. Transferability ensures that the researcher’s bias does not unduly influence the findings and conclusions. In this study, transferability was ensured by producing a detailed written case study protocol and developing the case study database. The case study database was developed using the ATLAS.ti software program.