Virtut ètica de primera persona o postestructuralista?

The combination of interview data, observations and documentary data was subjected to an in depth analysis involving both a form of network analysis intended to assist in the

depiction of the experimental assemblages in terms of the actors and factors involved, and thematic analysis to explore, refine and discuss the themes emerging from the literature review. Combined with the thematic analysis of the macro-level, this analysis created an explanation of why the cases took the form they did, as a product of the actors identified and the relationships between them.

This involved taking a Straussian, rather than Glaserian approach to grounded theory thematic analysis (Henn et al, 2009 and Grbich, 2007) in which there are a set of flexible, predefined ideas and concepts, predominantly rooted in existing literature and personal experiences and observations, For example, originally, the research aims and objectives were all about local contexts, but have now broadened to incorporate contexts and

conditions at different scales, which upon analysis of the data was considered a better way of understanding and representing the experiences and issues around retrofit. Taking

115

periodical breaks from fieldwork to report on data collection process, analyse the section of data collected, and refine concepts and focus, was very important in this process.

The guiding concepts at the start of the thematic analysis were a product of the literature review:

• landscape issues (economic crisis, climate change, energy security)

• Experimentation, knowledge and learning (different forms e.g. technical, procedural,

legal, social and psychological)

• Visions and goals (problem definitions, targets and ambitions, different interests) • Scale and space

• Governance and organisation (networks, organisational form, relationship with

policy, funding, local authority involvement)

• Dealing with technical risks

• Engaging with people, behaviour and motives

These concepts are not independent of each other, but interdependent and overlapping. There are scalar aspects, for example, to the landscape issues and these in turn could be influenced by the interests present in the network which influence the experimental elements of each case. The purpose of using these concepts to guide the thematic analysis is to start to thread them together and form an idea of how they influence each other over time and in particular places. These concepts are under constant review and refinement as data analysis proceeds, otherwise known as ‘fuzzy’ (Ragin, in May, 2011), enabling the descriptions and explanations that emerge to be as close to the data as possible. For example, ideas around visions and priorities were modified to become the aims and priorities of the cases, because visions and goals did not capture the accounts of how the projects and organisations were orientated as hoped.

The intended result of the thematic analysis of the macro-level is both a narrative account of how the policy context has been constructed over time, incorporating landscape issues and UK-specific trends and policy and regulatory tools, as well as a thematic account of that policy context in terms of the issues and conditions it creates for those working within it.

116

The intended result of the thematic analysis for the case studies is a both descriptive and explanatory.

The descriptive element includes establishing, through the combination of data sources, a biographical narrative of how each experimental assemblage came to be, identifying landscape factors and actors that were particularly important, place-specific actors and factors that are involved in the case, and individual/micro level factors including personal interests and motives, all of which contributed to the formation of the initiative. These were then combined into a diagram that shows how those actors and factors involved in the initiative are distributed through the three levels of the assemblage, thus producing a particular approach to retrofit, such as top-down, middle-out or bottom-up.

The explanatory element applies the second multi-level framework developed in chapter 3 above to explain why each initiative ended up the way it did. This part of the analysis identifies and investigates the key interests and internal dynamics of the case, in terms of the ways in which the relationships in the assemblage, and processes of negotiation that occurred within and around the initiative, affected its approach to the key themes listed above, such as its approach to technical risks, its knowledge focus and the scale at which it operates.

This process involved identifying how the actors and factors in the assemblage bring a range of interests to the experiment, which affect its priorities, especially in terms of what it is testing and therefore the knowledge it is producing, from trying out specific policy tools, to testing ways of ‘scaling up’ or engaging with householders, looking for specific technical solutions and learning about processes for delivering services. These relationships, interests and negotiations around knowledge also affect the construction of a space or ‘territory’ of activity, and contribute to strategic decisions.

The data analysis process also sought to critically assess the initiatives in terms of the changes they hoped to and did or did not effect, using the conceptual tools from the socio- technical transitions literature to delineate between different forms of change (or non- change): transformation, transition and reproduction, to identify and discuss the outcomes and effects generated by the initiatives. It looks for evidence of whether the experiment changed aspects of the micro-contexts, the local contexts or national context, or different

117

elements of the retrofit problem or ‘system’, both in terms of physical, built environment elements and in terms of relationships around, governance of or approaches to the problem of retrofit, local policy or any other effects and outcomes both locally and at the micro and macro-context levels. This part of the analysis also identified whether the assemblage or elements of it enabled or constrained different forms of change.

The final part of the analysis produced a framework 2 diagram depicting and recapping on the key interests and inputs to each case at each level, summarising the key areas of negotiation and influence in the assemblage and how these have contributed to the place- specific nature of the experiment and its outcomes. This methodology therefore links back to the theoretical framework in the following ways:

• Its focus on networks of people, organisations and influences - and the use of

snowball sampling and mixed methods to investigate these – was designed to capture the messiness and complexity of the domestic retrofit cases in the spirit of employing an assemblage-based theoretical approach;

• The use of interviews in the emerging local networks around each case, especially

interview questions that the particular motives, values and views of the people involved, exposed the range of interests and influence of the different actors and factors involved. This populated the bottom level of the experimental assemblages framework concerning the influence of the individuals involved, as well as

contributing to a context-sensitive appreciation of how each case came to be and how it was governed;

• The use of interview questions, observations and thematic analysis pertaining to

visions, goals, targets and learning are designed to illuminate the experimental nature of the responses and what various forms this might take as highlighted chapter 3;

• Interviews, observations and documents that produced data on the specific nature

of how each case approached the specific technical and social aspects of domestic retrofit were used as the basis for comparison and also to illuminate the challenges of addressing these in urban contexts, and;

118

• The inclusion of perspectives from policy and national-scale organisationswas

designed to explore the landscape aspect of the experimental assemblages framework and its influence on place-specific urban activities.