Validez de Constructo

The data collection plan and techniques discussed in section 4.4 above were designed to measure the extent of HRD implementation in the two case study institutions given that this research work hypothesises that poorly implemented HRD policy accounts for the observed underdevelopment of human resources in Polytechnics. To test this hypothesis, the extent of implementation of staff development policy in the case study Polytechnics had to be determined. Relying heavily on the works of Van Horn and Van Meter’s theory on policy implementation supported by Lipsky’s (2010) work on street-level bureaucracy, the following measures were developed to determine the extent of implementation of staff development/HRD policy.

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1. Policy standards and objectives: whether the HRD development programmes for

the Polytechnics are defined and are such that will engender the development and growth of academics.

2. The staff (Academic and Top Management staff) evaluation of the resources

available for the implementation of HRD development programmes: this is

meant to gauge the perception of academic staff as well as senior management staff on the adequacy or otherwise of resources available for the implementation of HRD in their institution.

3. Adequacy of staff development programmes: to determine how adequate the

staff development programmes provided are.

4. Knowledge of staff development policy: whether the academic staff are

informed on the provisions of the staff development policy.

5. Level of satisfaction with staff development policy: to ascertain the level of

satisfaction with staff development policy.

6. Whether there is a mechanism for timely implementation of staff development

policy: to ascertain the existence of a mechanism for timely implementation of

staff development policy.

7. Openness of HRD policy environment: to gauge the perception of the academic

staff on the level of openness or otherwise of the HRD policy.

8. Characteristics of the implementing agencies: this is to examine the level of

Commitment of Polytechnic administrators to HRD policy implementation.

4.11 Data analysis

When a researcher embarks on field work for multiple case studies, the major difficulty is in the way and manner the large amount of data from different sources such as interviews, questionnaires, documentation, archival records which is usually of a highly complex nature can be condensed to arrive at meaningful conclusions. The quantitative data derived from the questionnaires administered to academic staff was analysed using

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statistical tools such as graphs and frequency tables in order to show clear responses from respondents.

Qualitative data obtained from academic staff, senior management and critical stakeholders semi-structured interview transcripts were transcribed by the researcher in real time. Thereafter the researcher used iterative thematic analysis to analyse the semi- structured interviews (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Guest et al., 2011). Thematic analysis entails a description of the perceptions and experiences of participants through inductive, iterative, content-driven analysis searching for themes (Guest, et al., 2011). Rubin and Rubin (2011:202) maintained that “when you are done interviewing, you then examine all the interviews together to pull out coherent and consistent descriptions, themes, and theories that speak to your research questions”. The researcher made use of the voice of academic staff, senior management staff and critical stakeholders to describe issues relating to academic staff development in the case study Polytechnics. Important themes were identified by the researcher, while searching for common threads and underlying ideas, and focusing on the meaning of interviewees and commonalities and diversities of experiences.

The researcher obtained data for the research work with an open mind with the hope that the analysis will facilitate a process of reflection and discovery. It is important to note that the researcher is a lecturer in one of the case study institutions and was a trade union activist in most of the period. Therefore, the researcher had some insights based on his experiences and communication with academic staff and senior management staff in his capacity as a lecturer and a trade union activist. The researcher considered this previous experience as supportive of his research. More so, the academic staff were aware of the researcher’s supportive attitude in his capacity as a trade union activist towards the development of academic staff.

Nevertheless, the qualitative analysis was guided by the data with the researcher sifting data into themed areas. The researcher identified common elements and grouped them to discern patterns within the data. This is indicative of a typical iterative qualitative process. What the researcher did was to in the words of Rubin and Rubin, (2011: 38) “let ideas emerge from the interviews, from the lives and examples of the interviewees, rather

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than to categorize answers initially according to pre-existing categories from an academic literature”

In the final analysis, the quantitative result was integrated with the qualitative findings. Mixed method integration was described in the section that stated the rationale for the mixed methods in pragmatism. What the researcher did was to link inference strands from the different segments of the study. The finding of the research work is reported in chapter six.

4.12 Ethical approval

Before the commencement of the fieldwork, letters were written to the management of the case study institutions to obtain their agreement for the researcher to interview management staff and academic staff for which approval was given by both institutions (see Appendix D). A letter of approval from the case study Polytechnics was part of the requirements of the ethical approval committee of the Business School, University 0f Salford. With the approval from both institutions handy, the researcher filed ethical approval application for the research work for which written ethical approval was obtained from the ethical approval committee of the Business School, University of Salford for the researcher to commence fieldwork. Ethical approval is necessary for the protection of the participants and their rights.

Two sets of forms were prepared by the researcher namely: the information sheet and the informed consent form. The information sheet incorporated an introduction to the study and its purpose as well as an explanation about the selection of the research subjects and the procedures that will be followed.

Informed written consent was obtained from each participant before the study which provided adequate information for the participants as to the voluntary nature of the study and the liberty to withdraw from participating in the research at any time (see appendix E). The voluntary withdrawal clause was meant to protect the right of the participant to self-determination (Burns & Grove 2011). The informed consent form also contained information as to the timing of the interview as well as statement to the effect that comments or input made during the interview would be treated confidentially. The participants were then asked to sign the forms indicating that they understood what the

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study entailed. Participants were assured that the information obtained within the study will be treated as confidential and stored securely.

Within qualitative research, total anonymity is not possible, as the interviewer will be aware of the participant (Burns & Grove 2011). To ensure anonymity, the data was transcribed fully by the researcher. During the process of transcribing the interview data, the researcher avoided the use of the real names of the participants, rather pseudonyms was used. The researcher adopted the use of pseudonym for the participants in order to maintain anonymity for the duration of the rest of the process in order to protect the participants and records.

4.13 Chapter Summary

This chapter has presented an overview of the research methodology with a more thorough overview of the philosophical underpinning of the research, in which pragmatism was chosen, after due consideration of its appropriateness to the study’s research questions and aims. This chapter has discussed the fact that both inductive and deductive methods were selected and the reasons for this selection have been discussed. The rationale for the choice of the two case study Polytechnics has equally been justified. The way in which the data for this research work was collected was discussed in detail as well as the approach for the collection of data through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The study adopted a dual case study and the reason for this selection was justified. Mention was made of the intention to triangulate data by document review and archival records. Also, the researcher highlighted how the data collected for the research work was analysed. On a final note, the chapter addressed ethical issues involved in the study. In the next chapter, the research findings are presented.

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CHAPTER FIVE Research Findings 5.0 Chapter introduction

The major objective of this chapter is to present the results of the key informant interviews and the data obtained from the questionnaires administered to academic staff in the case study institutions in order to fulfil the triangulation approach adopted for the study. Using transcribed manuscripts from the recorded interviews, the meanings of comments made by respondents were analysed in order to provide answers to the research questions for the study. The findings from the key informant interviews are presented in a narrative and descriptive form. Put in another way, the results are presented in the form of a verbal description of trends and themes, with quotations being taken verbatim from the interview transcriptions.

A qualitative and quantitative investigation was undertaken into two Polytechnics: Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria and the Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, each of which was regarded as a separate case study. Background information was obtained on each of the case studies in order to create a clear picture of the data context. The finding of the semi-structured interview for senior management staff in both case study polytechnics will be presented together as well as those of the academic staff of both institutions.

The next section presents the findings of semi-structured interview findings with Senior Management Staff of the Yaba College of Technology and the Federal Polytechnic Idah.

5.1 Semi-structured interview findings with Senior Management Staff of the Yaba