3.3 Research Methodology
3.3.4 The interview
An interview is ―a purposeful discussion between two or more people‖, according to Kahn and Cannell (1957) in Saunders et al. (2007). Interviews were used in order to gather data in the most appropriate, effective and efficient way. Interviews are one of the most common qualitative methods of data collection (Ezzy, 2002). Interviews involve asking questions, listening, showing enthusiasm and genuine interest, and at the same time recording the verbal responses and taking notes (see Appendix I for the sample interview notes). A detailed interview guide (Appendix B) consisting of open-ended questions was formulated.
Questions to management addressed issues of the status quo and the strategic plans of the City regarding the application of Information Systems within the Cape Town Municipality. In addition, the questions also inquired what benefits and what benefits management programmes are in place for the residents. Lastly, the questions inquired what the Municipality management is doing to ensure maximum benefits delivery to the residents. A friendly gatekeeper, viz. the CIO of the Municipality, was identified to guide and assist the researcher to navigate through the bureaucracy and thus secure the time of managers for interviews (see Appendix H for the introductory letter to the case study organisation). The interviewer also dressed formally and avoided jargon to accommodate all the respondents and create an appropriate rapport.
The rationale for the use of personal interviews to collect evidence comprised the following:
Interviews gave me room to elaborate on ambiguous questions as well as responses received (Brink, 1996).
Interviews allowed me to probe on any interesting aspect and get in-depth information.
By face-to-face interaction in an environment that was conducive, the interviewees were free to share intrinsic opinions, profound thoughts, and tacit knowledge. Face-to- face interaction built rapport and higher levels of motivation amongst participants (Cavana et al., 2001).
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Interviews involved close contact between the research participants, resulting in an interactive and developmental relationship, which facilitated the exploration of emergent issues.
Interviews also allowed flexibility with interviewees: some had a high level of literacy while others felt uncomfortable with questionnaires (Neuman, 2011).
I wanted a relatively high response from the sample; therefore, I followed Neuman (2011), who advised that interviews result in a high response rate.
The interviews were semi-structured where the interviewer put certain themes, i.e.
objectives, indicators, and metrics for ERP benefits and benefit management, forward. An introductory letter was sent to each interviewee before the interview to give a glimpse of the questions. This enabled research and preparation and enhanced the richness of the responses (see Appendix J for the introductory letter to each interviewee). The interview guide was used to ensure that the interviewees were kept focussed on the key questions.
3.3.4.1 Designing the interview Schedule
Open-response questions were designed to obtain data that could not be acquired by any other instrument. Charmaz (2006) suggests four principles that can be followed when designing an interview.
According to the principles of Charmaz (2006), the first level question should be general and comfortable to answer. For example, ―In your view, why should any municipality consider an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system?‖ The level that followed probed further, with special attention now given to the case study. For example, ―Taking the City of Cape Town‘s ERP system, what were the key motivational factors for its implementation?‖
I then sought to understand the experiences from the view of the participant as well as relating and validating the views that may have been important to the participant. For example,
“Generally, an ERP system is focussed on streamlining internal business processes. You have mentioned one or two of them. However, my research‟s objective is to understand ERPs in relation to the benefits that are derived either directly or indirectly by the organisation‟s customers or - in this case the citizens. In your view, what are the ways in which the ERP will benefit residents of the City?”
In accordance with Charmaz (2006), the final level must solicit positive responses to end the interview on a positive note. For example:
“Keeping in mind the objective of the study, viz. to investigate how the citizen benefits from ERP implementations – is there anything else you would like to share with me?”
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The above recommendations formed the basis of my interview guide, with very little adjustment for the middle managers who were interviewed in the second phase.
The interview guide (see Appendix B) shows that questions were tailored to fit the interviewee‘s degree of involvement and level of management. At the same time, follow-up questions were carefully constructed based on the respondent‘s response. The follow-up questions in the second phase with middle managers were necessary to shed more light on the operational realities rather than the ideal, which is planned by the top management. The underlying objective in taking this approach was to ascertain if there is any difference between what was planned and the outcome that was finally realised in terms of ERP system implementation and benefit realisation. The interview guide is attached (see Appendix B) and elaborates the objectives of the designed questions.
3.3.4.2 Conducting the Interviews
The first two interviews with the CIO were exploratory. These interviews verified my research problem and changed some of my research questions. The next step was to schedule the interviews with the selected individuals. Even though many difficulties were faced in scheduling the interviews with the respondents, I managed to gather a sufficient body of evidence. Only one interviewee was not available despite many attempts to secure an appointment, viz. the former CIO of the Municipality who actually managed the ERP system implementation. Since the interviews were with top managers who are always busy with the running of their respective offices, a very high level of patience was needed to accommodate meeting cancellations and re-schedules. A number of e-mails were written as correspondence. The research supervisor of the project played a crucial role in ensuring the necessary introductions with the gatekeeper and in being present for the first two interviews.
All the respondents were initially contacted through e-mails, with a brief background of the research accompanying the request for the meeting. Some of the respondents received these from those who had recommended them as potential respondents. After the respondents had accepted, a list of general interview questions that acted as the interview guide was sent to enable them to prepare in line with the objectives of the study. This made it easier as follow-ups were made to confirm availability as a rapport had already been established. The interview guide was used to guide the conversation with very little intervention where the respondents were found to be moving off the topic. The interviews were approximately an hour in duration. Field notes were also taken intensively, both as a backup to the tape recordings and to record the non-verbal cues in keeping with the qualitative paradigm research (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). The interviews took place from May to August of 2012.
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In line with these principles informed by Charmaz (2006), the issues of anonymity and confidentiality were initially emphasised, especially given that the conversations had to be recorded. This created a relaxed atmosphere in which the respondents expressed themselves freely. The respondents were also advised that they were free to choose to answer only questions they were comfortable with (refer to Appendix B). Therefore, only pseudonyms are used in reporting the findings. A list of the actual positions of the respondents is given in Appendix A.