L IMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCHER

Two main limitations were identified as potential hindrances to the researchers work in this study; language and the concept of access to critical information. These are discussed next.

Language limitations

Relating to the limitations caused by the researcher’s language skills in French, pilot interviews were used as a means of minimizing any negative effects. The researcher’s relatively wide acquaintance base in Quebec provided opportunities to get help in translating questions in an optimal manner and to discuss and develop the terminology used, as to make sure the appropriate meanings were be maintained in the questions.

According to Yin (2003, 79), pilot studies can help in developing the relevant lines of the questions and also in clarifying certain concepts.

The researcher’s language competence affects access to both insightful data in interviews, and to potential informants in the first place. Language skills are important in building trust and rapport in order to establish relationships with interviewees in cross-cultural interviews. These issues likely remain unnoticed to the monolingual researcher, conducting interviews only in English. Language is thus more than a technical problem; it shapes the research process in various ways. In a mainly non-English context, a multilingual approach to data collection and interviewing is likely to result in more valid and trustworthy information. (Marschan-Piekkari & Reis 2004, 226-231) The researcher’s competence in English and French made data collection easier, and probably reduced outsider effects i.a. through allowing interviewing in both languages. According to Welch & Piekkari (2006), when using the interviewee’s language the researcher may be taken more seriously and considered less foreign.

Generally, Quebecers speak English on a fair level, but for some the skills are limited.

Should these people be required to answer questions in English, their responses would probably be negatively affected because of the lack of expertise needed to assess certain

topics in the language, and to go into detail in explanations. As Chapman (2001) points out, when interviewees are talking in a second language, the narrative is stopped by a friction created by problems of translation and expression. Thus, depending on the interviewee’s preferences, interviews were held in either English or French; in the latter case the questions were translated into French and the obtained answers into English.

However, in the majority of the interviews, the respondents did not use purely one language, but mixed English and French; they may have started to reply in English but switched to French when they felt more comfortable describing the issue in their first language.. The interview with Office de la Langue Française was held entirely in French, mostly due to the issues regarding access, discussed in the next section.

Access and the ‘outsider’ effect

Rousseau & Fried (2001) recommend in their discussion on organizational context that researchers provide rich descriptions of process of gaining access. Chapman et al. define the concept of access in research as who and what you are as determinants of what you are readily able to discover and to understand (2004, 292). They suggest that several unchangeable demographic features of the researcher act as constraints to and opportunities in his/her work, i.a. age, sex, and nationality. Marschan-Piekkari & Reis (2004) add institutional affiliation to the list, which is a particularly meaningful factor in the research process of the present study. In order to minimize the negative effects of being an ‘outsider’, and the resulting impediments to access, the researcher undertook a research traineeship at Université Laval (Quebec) for the duration of the thesis project.

This made access to local data possible, along with facilitating the contacting of local companies, as the research could be associated with an institution familiar to local organizations, and of course allowed to use the university itself as one of the case organizations.

Impediments to access arose also from the topic of the study itself. This was the case when attempting to gain access to Office Québécois de la Langue Française; the body governing the position of French in the province of Quebec. The office was contacted several times by phone during February and March 2011, mostly with no response and on

two occasions, refusal to participate in the research project. After visiting the Quebec City office in person, apologies were made and the employee advised to send a letter describing the project in more detail, after which the office could evaluate whether or not they would agree to an interview. This seemed as a dead end given the usual speed of bureaucracy in Quebec, so more phone calls were made, finally leading to getting hold of the public relations manager at the head office in Montreal. At this point it had become clear that collaboration would be unlikely when describing the project as looking into how the bilingual/French environment can affect international companies. Instead, the research was presented as examining how the French language can be preserved under the effects of international business and English. This made the difference and an interview was agreed to in Montreal.

Out of the cases, only Université Laval and the Office Québécois de la Langue Française are referred to by their real name. With the companies it was decided to keep both the organizations and the people anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the results. This also permitted the respondents to relax about the possible consequences of talking about delicate experiences, and thus allowed for more insightful data to be obtained. Mr. Su from FSA at Université Laval did not require anonymizing by his own view; neither did Mr. Bergeron from OQLF.