TIPO DE CAMBIO PROMEDIO ANUAL

The translation of information and the reporting of discoveries are required to follow moral rules (Polonsky, 1998). The researcher consciously maintained objectivity in collecting and analysing data so that individual biases were not

METHODOLOGY

94 allowed to influence the information gathered or the results found through examination and analysis. The steps and rules of ethical research prescribed by the University of Bolton3 _{were followed. These are described in the link given in}

footnote 4.

The respondents in this study were provided with information about its purpose, as well as what would happen with its findings once the study was completed. In order to remain aligned with ethical standards, as mentioned above in Section 3.4.1, confidentiality of identifying information, such as personal names, company names, project names, etc. was assured. Additionally, all original data and participant information remained (and remains) in the possession of the author who has sole access, following the suggestion of Cooper and Schindler (2013). As the recording of information aids in the compiling of complete documentation and facilitates analysis, verbal and written consent for recording the interviews was requested in advance (according to Fisher, 2010). The author made certain to clarify no transcripts would be revealed to the public without prior written permission. If there are publications of all or parts of the present research, any references to participants will be anonymous.

Another detail concerning ethics is the voluntary nature of participation. The participants were volunteers and agreed to provide the answers they supplied in the interviews, the “Project Management Questionnaire” and “Project Management 10 Project Details.” Although each participant was asked to complete all questions, the author reminded them that 1) it was voluntary and 2) if any question was uncomfortable to answer, for any reason, the participants had the option to skip such questions (See Appendix A2).

3.10 Conclusion

In this chapter, a detailed account of the research method from which this study was conducted has been presented. This chapter explained the research plan for this study, the target population and characteristics of the actual participants, methods of gathering information, analyses for each type of data, and

METHODOLOGY

95 the use of triangulation to consider the validation of each result in the context of other results.

The research design used an abbreviated version of an IT project based on the four project dimensions (also referred to as knowledge areas) of communication management, requirements gathering, risk management and project support transition. Two commonly used ITPM tools for managing each dimension were included.

The data comes from a non-probability sample of twenty-nine highly

qualified IT project managers. Participants with the required experience and

expertise were identified within the researcher’s professional network. Each participant agreed to a meeting of approximately two hours within which he/she filled out a survey to measure Leadership Self-Efficacy, a survey of ITPM tool use and project dimension outcomes for projects he/she had managed, and complete an audio recorded interview addressing topics in management of four dimensions of IT projects and IT project management in general.

Survey data was analysed with logistic regression to find the impact or LSE and each of eight ITPM tools on the odds of successful project dimension outcomes.

In order to compare and analyse the data from multiple sources, the results obtained from the data analyses were viewed and interpreted through the process of triangulation (Creswell and Plano-Clark, 2011).

The exploration of background research did not uncover previously conducted data-based studies showing statistical evidence of a relationship between Leadership Self-Efficacy and project success or between ITPM tools and project success. The present research attempts to bridge that gap by providing a reproducible research model that yields statistical evidence that can serve as a base model for future research.

The findings of the research conducted in each aspect of this study will be introduced and analysed in Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven. Then, in Chapter Eight, the triangulation of the results is shown; a detailed discussion of these results and their interpretations follows in Chapter Nine.

Transcripts: Qualitative Analysis

96

4 CHAPTER FOUR: Recorded Interview Transcripts:

Qualitative Analysis

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents and discusses the qualitative analysis of the data gathered from the semi-guided recorded interviews with the 29 participants. As explained in the previous chapter, participants volunteered to participant in the study, were informed about the topics and recordings, and consents for recording were obtained. Some of the interviews were conducted at the participant’s place of employment; others were conducted in public places such as coffee shops; the researcher travelled to meet the participant at the agreed upon location. Regarding preparation, the interviewees were informed by their own reports of 10 projects that that he or she had managed during their career in that the researcher had requested each participant to bring these reports to the interview as reference material for 1) the planned semi-guided conversation about their ITPM experiences and 2) also while filling out the 10 Project Details Survey (to be discussed in the following chapter, chapter 5). The semi-guided conversation was, for the most part, a relatively spontaneous conversation, and participants did not necessarily refer to these reports.4 _{All answers and comments by participants}

were voluntary.

As mentioned earlier, these participants were all known to the researcher through his professional network, which facilitated access to these busy ITPM experts and also to easy open discussion since all of them had had similar experiences over the years of their career and had concerns for and an interest in improving the IT project success rate and in increasing effectiveness in project management for themselves and for future project managers. In these conversations, the researcher restricted himself to the interviewer role by introducing the topics and sometimes asking for elaboration in order to keep the focus on the interviewee’s responses. The interviews contain many hours of

4_{These reports themselves are not considered part of the data of this study, but rather} part of the preparation for the interviews and 10 Project Details survey, to encourage participants to refresh their memories and facilitate conversation drawing on real personal experience. The degree of preparation for the interview, using these reports, by each participant likely varies. Many participants did refer to particular project reports during the interview.

Transcripts: Qualitative Analysis

97 expert perspectives on IT project management, examples of issues that often pose obstacles, resources and tools that IT project managers need to be effective, examples of adaptations, suggestions for improving resources, views related to training and development and thoughts regarding leadership in the ITPM role.