3. METHODOLOGY
3.5 Data Gathering and Selected Analysis Tools
In order to gain a global perspective into this research I needed four JCI Senators who are entrepreneurs to participate in this research project. Each of them would represent their area according to how JCI has divided the world. At first idea was to gather data for a wider database and send the planned questionnaire (APPENDIX 1) for everyone at the 75000 person database but the process evaluated when discussions with several members and supervisor showed that the research for master’s level would be too wide in with that range. There was no estimation how many would answer questionnaire and would they be inside the planned limitation of the study. The number of replies could have been anything between 1 to 1000 and more and analyzing that amount of data would have been too time consuming at this level of academic research. Therefore I made a decision to focus only on four entrepreneurs in this process and that was also a difficult task. There was no secondary data available at all at any national senate organization about their members’ business activities so it required to choose more time consuming primary research and search for primary data. At the beginning of the research process I had idea of collecting data in a field research taking place in JCI World Congress (WC) in Kanazawa, Japan from 3rd of November to 8th of November 2015 and I was in contact with the GS of JCI on this matter few months advance. Unfortunately I was not able to reach him due to his busy calendar for participation of World Congress planning and even busier calendar during the congress. It was my first participation on JCI WC and I thought I could have time to do a field research. I was so wrong since even if I planned to do so the concentration was on meeting new people, making friends and enjoying the global atmosphere of nearly 10 000 participants from more than 100 countries. I was able to meet SG only once during the conference and that was during a break on the gala night which was not a proper time or place for our discussions. There was an idea to introduce the topic to the JCI World Senate in Kanazawa World Congress and I asked for an audience into their meeting. Unfortunately there was no reply for my request from the European Senate in time so I needed to start planning the trip only on a hobby point of view.
After coming back empty handed on research point of view it was needed to evaluate the data collection methods and the whole research process if I want to finish the project within planned deadline. I decided to put the focus on search of my personal JCI networks if there would be some Senators that would match with required criteria’s’ or if I would know someone that could guide me forward in the process of finding suitable candidates who would like to participate into this research project.
I used a semi-structured questionnaire (APPENDIX 1) to gather the data. Questions were co-created with the SG of JCI to match the topic of the research.
Generally, the process of searching and selecting area representatives was the most difficult and time consuming phase of this process. As mentioned before there was no data available so it was up to me as a researcher to find those JCI Senators matching the limitations with my personal efforts and with the help of GS of JCI and our combined internal networks of the JCI organization. The process started by identifying the easiest representative who comes from the European area and from Finland. The first business owner matching the set limitative criteria’s is an old friend and from my personal network. I have worked for his company as a sales agent in the past and with one phone call and email I was able to agree a day for us to meet. We met in the office of his company which was based in Jyväskylä, Finland. I am studying in Kuopio which is 160 km away from Jyväskylä and thus I was able to meet him in person. This meeting was held on Monday 14th of March 2016 from 13.00 to 14.00. This meeting was held in Finnish and I translated his answers to English after the meeting since from my own experiences using local language would be easier for both of us and I might get some information outside the questionnaire.
Finding a second area representative I turned my focus on Africa-Middle East. I met a fellow active JCI member from Botswana during the WC Kanazawa as we had the same accommodation in a form of a hostel in the city. He was applying for a position of Vice President of JCI Board of Directors on his area Africa-Middle East and he was selected during the elections. During the week we had many good discussions and became friends in real life as well as connected in the social media so that we can easily communicate after the congress is over. I send him a message through Facebook on March 2016 and asked if he would know someone from his area that would match the set criteria’s. After few weeks from the contact he replied and linked me with a Senator from South Africa who I could contact and ask whether she would be interested to take part of this research concerning JCI network. I have not met her in the events since I have participated only on one European area conference and one WC but after sending her two emails I got reply that she would like to participate and we connected on Facebook as well.
Thus I have two out of four representatives ready to participate. Totally it took three weeks to get the reply from the representative as questions were sent in mid-March 2016 and data was received 5th of April 2016. Microsoft Word document was used as tool for data collection.
Third area under consideration was Asian-Pacific. I went through all the exchanged business cards from the WC to see if I would have met someone that could match the criteria.
Unfortunately there was not so many Senators I had met as most of them were active JCI members. I asked assistance from the SG Mr. Arrey Obenson. He is a busy man and after few sent emails I got reply that we could introduce me to a Senator from Singapore that might be interested to participate. I received an email from SG of JCI and that message was intended for me and the Senator from Singapore. That email came on Tuesday 4th of April 2016 and same day I contacted Singaporean Senator by email checking that he is in the limited target group.
After a green light I knew that third “piece of the puzzle” have been identified. I was surprised how quick information was received. Questions were sent on morning 5th of April at 10.00. I received answers one hour later at 11.00. Question were sent in a Microsoft Word document and we got connected on Facebook for further discussions if needed.
Fourth and final area representative comes from the America. There is no limitation does the person come from North, Central or South America but I hope he or she would be from the United States of America. Messages exchanged with JCI Senate Admin Mr. Earl Sawyer I learned there might not be a Senator from the United States of America that would match with set criteria thus I need to consider other options from the American area like countries from Southern or Middle America. I made contact to several national organizations of JCI Senate including Colombia, Ecuador and Canada but have not received any reply. Also within the Senate of the USA I made a contact to Senate of Florida as I thought there might be some Senators based on the limitation but no luck. Seems like the set limitation is too strict concerning the area of America which is a very surprising.
I have used two types of interviews for the data collection with a semi-structured questionnaire which were focused interview and formal survey interview (Yin 2003). The first type of focused interview was used with the Senator Europe as we met in person and the second type of formal survey interview was used due to fact there is a great distance and most often time difference between me as a researcher and the entrepreneurs taking part of the survey from other areas except Europe. I asked Senator Africa Middle-East (SAM) would a Skype meeting or answering a survey be better concerning the busy calendar and SAM preferred survey even as we live in the same time zone besides being physically in two different continents.
With Senator Asian Pacific (SAP) I used directly formal survey interview by sending the questions by email as time difference with SAP is plus six hours between Finland and Singapore. Due to geographical location and therefore also having different time zone the Senator representing area of America would also be contacted and data gathered using formal survey interview that can be answered when SA has time.
For data analysis main strategy I have chosen to develop a descriptive framework (Yin 2003, 114) as other two main strategies relying on theoretical propositions and thinking rival explanations do not support this research. As a specific analysis tool I chose logic models and more specific individual-level logic model since each of my case is based on the individual and his or her operations as an individual member of the network, as an owner of SME exporting company and his or her impact to local community. Logic models provide understanding to chain of events like a pattern matching or causal relation of cause and effect (Yin 2003, 127).
The forerunner of the logic models was Joseph Wholey in 1979 who created an idea of a model named as “program logic model” (Yin 2003, 127). There are four types of logic models where the only difference is the unit of analysis. I have individual in a central role as unit of analysis therefore I use individual-level logic model instead of organizational or program level logic model.
It is good to remember that the research methodology is a mixed method simple thus some data is numerical and some non-numerical. The time horizon of this research is called as cross-sectional since the research does not continue for a longer period of time when it could be called as longitudinal research and the interviews of this research were conducted over a short period of time (Saunders et. al 2012, 190).