CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS
3.5 Qualitative Study
The qualitative study was used to answer the research sub question: What are the factors influencing the success of BI systems as perceived by BI end users in South African organisations? Because of the newness of the study area (Ponelis, 2011); this phase used short semi-structured interviews to obtain data about BI systems in South Africa from the perspective of end users. The main objective of the semi-structured interviews was to investigate whether factors in the literature also held in practice. The exploratory phase consisted of three steps. Existing literature concerning BI success was sought in journals, books, seminar proceedings, working papers and other sources.
An initial research model of BI success was first developed based on the literature review. The next step was a field study using short semi structured interviews that were conducted with three end users of BI systems in South Africa. The number of interviews was limited to only three because after the third, the interviewer felt that no additional information was been added from the additional interviews. The interviews did not aim to draw any conclusion with regards to the study hypotheses’
but were conducted to validate the identified factors in the initial framework.
3.5.1 Sample Selection
Sampling for the exploratory study phase was based upon theoretical sampling. Sampling for respondents and more data continued until there was theoretical saturation. Saturation is reached when no new data emerges (Botma, Greeff, Mulaudzi & Wright, 2010:200). The main selection criterion for the participants was that participants be end users of BI systems in South Africa for at least five years.
3.5.2 Data Collection
The aim of an interview is to collect, from the interviewee, their world view with regards to the described phenomena A researcher can use several ways to collect data namely face-to-face interviews, interviewing by telephone, and interviewing using the Internet. Structured, semi- structured or unstructured are the different types of interviews (Opdenakker, 2006). Table 3.4 highlights the features of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews.
Table 3.4 : Types of interviews (Gray, 2004)
Structured Semi-structured Unstructured
Quick to capture data Slow and time consuming to capture and
analyse data.
Slower and more time consuming to capture and analyse data.
Use of random sampling The longer the interview the more advisable it is to use random sampling
Opportunity and snowball sampling are often used. In organisations targeting of key informants
Interview schedule followed exactly
Interviewer refers to a guide containing mixture of open and closed questions
Interviewer uses aide-memoir of topics for discussion and improvises
Interviewer-led Sometimes interviewer led, sometimes informant led
Non-directive interviewing Easy to analyse
Quantitative parts easy to analyse
Usually hard to analyse
Tends to a positivist view of knowledge
Mixture of positivist and non-positivist
Non-positivist view of knowledge
Respondents’ anonymity easily guaranteed
Harder to ensure anonymity
Researcher tends to know the informant
This study used semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. A semi-structured interview refers to a series of questions where the sequence can vary and the interviewer can add or reduce questions if needed (Bryman, 2008).
Questions were developed as a guide for the semi-structured interview sessions. The interview questions were formulated with reference to the topic under study (attached in Appendix). The interview guide of the study was divided into two sections. The first section of the questionnaire was about the demographic information of the participants of the study. The second section of the questionnaire was about general BI systems success factors.
Table 3.5 maps the research questions to the question and sub-question that correspond to the interview guide. The interview guide questions are set for the researcher and not the interviewee. The interview guide was developed from factors emerging from the literature review namely information quality, service quality, system quality, user quality, and individual impact. The interviewer was flexible during the interviews to allow new factors to emerge. As indicated, the questions are cues to the interviewer concerning the information that has to be collected.
Table 3.5 : Mapping of research Questions to Interview Guide.
Main Question What are the factors that contribute to the success of BI systems in South Africa?
Interview Guide Questions
Variable(s) and or relationship(s) measured
Statistical Tests
Sub question What are the factors
influencing the success of BI systems as perceived by BI system end users in South African organisations?
Please tell me what you understand by the term Business Intelligence?
Ice Breaker question
Thematic Analysis
What are some of the benefits you are deriving from using BI systems?
Individual Impact
What do you think are the main Information Quality sub- factors that affect the use of BI systems in your
organisation?
Information Quality
What do you think are the main System Quality sub- factors that affect the use of BI systems in
System Quality
Main Question What are the factors that contribute to the success of BI systems in South Africa?
Interview Guide Questions
Variable(s) and or relationship(s) measured
Statistical Tests
your
organisation?
Are there any other factors and sub-factors that you think affect the use of BI systems?
Emerging Factors
What do you think are the main Service Quality sub- factors that affect the use of BI systems in your
organisation?
Service Quality
The interview with the end users was conducted before the development of the online survey. This was to provide feedback from the interviews to inform a suitable questionnaire. Potential interviewees were contacted via e-mail and invited to participate in the interviews. Candidates who agreed to participate received a formal email invitation.
In order for the interviewees to prepare for the semi-structured interviews, they received the interview questions via email before the actual interview. The interviewees were informed about the purpose of the study at the beginning of the interviews. The interviewees were also informed that this study has formal ethical clearance from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and that the interviews were to be conducted in an ethical manner in adherence with UKZN research ethics policy. The semi- structured interviews took 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
3.5.3 Data Analysis
Data analysis for the exploratory phase was done using the thematic analysis technique. Boyatzis (1998) defines thematic analysis as a technique for categorising qualitative data. The data was
categorised in terms of themes and patterns. The analysis of the data started in the interviewing phase.
During the interview process, the researcher recoded the interviews using an audio recorder. After each interview, the researcher transcribed the audio recordings. Respondents were occasionally contacted for clarity.
In order to accurately identify themes and patterns each transcript was read several times. Excel was used to categorise and analyse the themes. This involved manually identifying repetitions and topics that reoccur and also to identify similarities and differences between responses (Ryan & Bernard, 2003). The following describes the stages involved in the analysis of data (Miles & Huberman, 1994;
Berg, 2004):
Stage one – focused on single interview transcripts:
Review all interview transcripts one at a time
Create groupings of key words
Identify associations among factors
Match factors with factors from the literature
Develop raw tables of factors, sub factors and associations of each interview in excel.
Stage two – dealt with cross transcripts:
Recheck all the interview transcripts
Compare the interview transcripts
Group similar factors together
Develop the final tables of factors, sub factors and associations in excel.
3.5.4 Bias
When using interviewing as a data collection method error and bias can easily be introduced at any of the following stages (Fox, 2009:31): asking the questions, recording the answers, coding the answers, and interpreting the answers. Saunders et al. (2009) point out that there are different types of bias to consider namely interviewer and interviewee bias. Interviewer bias is when comments, tone or non-verbal behaviour of the interviewer influences the responses of the interviewee. Similarly, interviewee or response bias is caused by perceptions about the interviewer (Saunders et al., 2009:326).
A number of approaches were taken in order to reduce the bias in this study (Saunders et al., 2009:328), such as making sure that interviewer is knowledgeable about the topic thus increasing the
credibility of the interviewer; the interviewees were supplied with relevant information to give them an opportunity to consider the information. Furthermore, the interviewer explained the research to the interviewee in order to gain the interviewee’s confidence and during the interview process the interviewer maintained a neutral tone of voice, phrasing questions clearly, and using appropriate probing questions. Finally, the interviewer ensured that the attention of the interviewee was maintained at all times.