In this chapter the methodology of qualitative study, data collection and analysis of data is being shared. In this research the creation of customer experience and its management after bank merger is being described. Qualitative methodology was chosen as the research method because it suits the best for the nature of the study.
4.1 Qualitative study
The material of the qualitative study constructs of the subjects’ description and its’
relation to the studied phenomena. In qualitative study the material is vivid, the researcher must outline a specific narrow phenomenon to study. It is not possible to interpret everything about the studies phenomena in advance, therefore it is possible that the nature of the study might change as the study proceeds. (Alasuutari 1999) Daymon and Holloway (2011) posit that what characterizes a qualitative study is that it is often holistic and contextual and that the research questions are complex and diverse in nature. Other main characteristics are that the researcher act as a reflector and as an interpreter and that a qualitative study is processual which creates new viewpoints and meanings for the studied phenomena. Creswell (1994) posit that the background ideology in a qualitative study is an inductive process. The study proceeds from private to general and is concerned in multiple simultaneous matters that effect on the result of the study. According to Maison (2019) in qualitative
research is more of a contextual research and one is moving away from the “questions and answers” type of interview. The posed questions are probing and expletory in nature. Qualitative study is concerned with and in-depth understanding of the interviewees experiences on the studied phenomena. The researcher focuses on a qualitative description of reality and is paying attention to a whole spectrum of the studied phenomena and not their actual frequency.
4.2 Case study
The chosen qualitative method for this study is a case study. A case study is an empirical inquiry investigating a contemporary phenomenon in depth in a real-life context. Yin (2009) posit that case studies explains, describe, illustrate and enlighten.
Case study research is said to suit for studies that start with how, who and why. It is good for investigating single or multiple units, usually through interviews or surveys.
Case studies are empirical studies because they are based on knowledge and
experience. In small number of units, the case study researcher is able to look more in depth at the studied phenomenon. According to Bryman & Bell (2003) a case study is typically being used to study a specific case in an intensive manner. Usually the case is an organization, place, person or an event. In this case study, the case company is a one independent bank within the OP Financial group and in total six people were interviewed. One of the interviews was used to describe the context of this research in more detail.
By using case study research one will gain understanding or insight for the chosen subject of the study. It allows the researcher to look at the phenomenon in context. In this study the context is financial industry and bank mergers. In case study research, the research questions are closely connected to their context, which is appealing in business. Research is concerned with the theory and the case study researcher demonstrates how their research contributes to the theory. (Farquhar 2012)
Case study research encounters some prejudice. The researcher must construct and frame the research so that the story is credible. It is said that case study lacks objectivity and rigour. As mentioned case study’s purpose is to get in-depth
understanding of a contemporary phenomenon in context, therefore objectivity is not something that it aimed to achieve. In a case study the researcher is often absorbed in the case and the study can be described as subjective. Rigour as a term is indefinite. In this study, rigour has been tried to achieve through consistent and coherent research design, where suited research strategy is adopted, data collection and analysis of the data has been shared and each phase of the research has been explained and justified.
Moreover, case study faces criticism on the lack of large sample sizes which relates to the lack of generalizability. It is important to note that the case itself does not
contribute as sample one and that the purpose of a case study is not to generalize findings to a population. Some critics also think that case study research is not an example of qualitative study. One can address these critics with a coherent research design and transparent discussion of the findings. Case study research is a strategy and the study methods can be qualitative, quantitative or include both. (Farquhar 2012)
4.3 Primary data collection
Primary data means that the researcher has collected the new data directly from the original sources and for the specific data. When collecting the primary data the aim is to get new insights into the research questions. The advantage of case study research is that it studies research questions in depth and in context, therefore the data
collection procedure should align with it. (Farquhar 2012) One of the main phases of qualitative study is to choose the most fitting cases. One talks about discretionary example, because instead of generalisation the goal is to understand more about some event or phenomena. (Hirsijärvi & Hurme 2008) According to Patton (2002) the purpose of the discretionary example is to find interviewees that could give as diverse information about the study subject as possible. That is why in this study I have talk to case company and asked then to pick interviewees that have experience on the bank merger and can give vivid information about customer experience management as well on the merger. There for the interviewees were not only managers but also employees working in the smaller branches. It was already known that the
experiences differ somewhat between the receiving bank and the merging banks. In a qualitative study to define a material that would be enough is hard to define.
According to Patton (2002) there is no strict numbers limitations for number of interviewees or cases in a qualitative study. The suitable number of interviewees or cases depends on the meaning of study. Therefore, the chosen interviewees and the gathered information drawn from the interviews is more valid than the number of interviews itself. This study is not about generalization but instead getting more in-depth knowledge of the studied phenomenon in the chosen context.
4.4 Semi-structured interview
Semi-structured interview as data collection method was chosen. Semi-structured interview works well with small sample sizes and is suited for studying a specific situation or complementing and validating information derived from other sources.
Furthermore, semi-structured interview is efficient way for the interviewees to talk about their experiences on the phenomenon extensively. (Laforest 2009) Front line employees as well managers were interviewed. This way one was able to get more comprehensive idea of how the customer experience has been managed and how it is really been implemented in every day customer service encounters. According to Eskola & Vastamäki (2010) a semi-structured interview is a perfect fit for studies that aim to find out how people think about some specific phenomenon or matter.
Daymon & Holloway (2011) state that one aims to understand the structures behind the interviewees opinions and beliefs. In this study the aim is to understand the paradigm of the banks customer experience creation and management after a merger.
In a semi-structured interview one focuses on themes instead of detailed questions.
These themes give more space for the voice and thoughts of the interviewees and reduces the effect of the research’s viewpoints. (Hirsijärvi ja Hurme 2008) In a semi-structured interview the researcher can discuss about the studied phenomenon quite freely as the themes ensure that the indented matters will be reviewed. This is also helpful when the data is being analysed. (Eskola & Suoranta 1998)
Daymon & Holloway (2010) state that the biggest advantage is that a semi-structured interview is flexible in nature. Even though the themes have been set in advance the interviewees have the space to lead the conversation to something interesting that has not been thought in advance. Also, the interviewees have a chance to ask more detailed questions from the researcher that can lead to whole new insights of the studied phenomenon.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of interviews needed for a safety
diagnosis. Data saturation is achieved when the interviews do not provide any new or additional information. (Laforest 2009) The data was gathered using an interview sheet (appendix 2 and 3) and the themes were gathered based on the theory (Maklan et al. 2017; Lemon & Verhoef 2007; Rawson et al. 2013; Verhoef at al. 2009;
Verhoef et al. 2009; Parandker & Lokku 2012; Frow & Payne 2007; Ryder 2007;
Johnston & Kong 2011; Hwang & Seo 2016) of the study as well as the study context.
The interviews had four themes and all themes included supporting questions. The four themes were: concept of customer experience, creation of customer experience, merger and customer experience management after a merger. The Governance lead was interviewed already in February 2019, in his hometown and the interview was conducted face to face. The other interviewees were chosen by the case company, they all had a long history working in the group. Five people were interviewed between 8.11.2019 and 17.2.2020 (Table 1). Three of them were managers and two employees. The interviews were conducted and recorded via Microsoft Teams
application, their duration varied from 32 minutes to 46 minutes. The interviewees are being referred as P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6, because the bank and its employees want to remain unknown. Also, most of the interviewees felt that this way they can be more honest in their answers.
Table 1 Interviewees in the case company
4.5. Analysis of data
According to Hirsjärvi et al. (2009) the main points of a study culminate in the analysis of the data. In the analysis phase the research will find out the answers to the research questions. Nevertheless, in quantitative study the researcher does analysis throughout the whole research process. Farquhar (2012) posits that the analysis of quantitative data is evaluated based on how well it answers the research question and how well it integrates with the overall research strategy. The researcher must think deeply about the integration and how this effects on the analysis. (Farquhar 2012)
The data requires transcribing, according to Hirsijärvi and Hurme (2008) one can only transcribe the parts of the data that are actually spoken. Unnecessary parts such as breaks, repetition and tones of voices can be left out. Transcribed data was all in all 57 pages, including the Governance lead’s interview (A4, font 12, line spacing 1,5).
The transcription was conducted shortly after the interviews so that the interviews were still fresh in mind. The transcribed data was analysed by themes; this means that the researcher tries to find attributes that are common to multiple interviewee. Themes are often the ones that are selected for the semi-structured interview, but it might be possible that new themes arise while analysing the transcribed data. Each interview was first transcribed as individual and after that all the transcribed data was carefully read multiple times and answers suiting for each theme was underlined and picked under the suitable theme. (Hirsijärvi & Hurme 2008) Expectations and knowledge of the researcher always effects on the analysis. According to Eskola & Suoranta (1998) data analysis is a combination of expectations and interpretation of the primary data.
Citations are also a curial part of analysing and reporting the data, this way the reader can judge if the researcher has made adequate interpretations of the data. (Eskola &
Suoranta 1998)
Abductive content analysis is used in this study. Abduction in research is seen as the systemized creativity or intuition to develop new knowledge. In abductive reasoning the case displays a convincing conclusion that might not necessary be logical, if its anticipated rule is correct. An empirical event or phenomenon is related to a rule which provides new insight. Nevertheless, abduction can also lead to suggesting general rules. Abduction is not focusing on generalizations. The purpose in this study is to develop new knowledge of a specific event. The knowledge is gathered from a real-life setting by researching observations that might promote or differ from the theory. As the research phenomenon, has been observed in a real-life setting, the purpose of an abductive analysis is to combine the observations and theory, which allows for new theoretical suggestions and final conclusions. (Kovacs & Spens 2005) The analysis of this study started of reading and familiarizing oneself with the
gathered data. The data was rearranged by themes and it was compared with the theory. This way one was able to identify similarities and differences. The data was structured within the research questions and suitable citations were chosen. From the
findings one could build a figure of findings that reflects the studied phenomenon and the new received knowledge visually.