This chapter displays the method that was utilized in conducting the present study. The chapter begins by describing what the researcher embarked on to study followed by the structure of the research framework. This is followed by a description of the research approach, including the semi-structured and open-ended interview questions, which were adopted to collect in-depth information from the respondents. The sample and participant selection describe the purposive sampling technique utilized for selection of administrative officers, heads of departments, and senior management officers of PMO as participants for the study. This is followed by a description of the data collection method, being the documents’ review and face-to-face interviews and the data analysis, which involved data coding in accordance with the research questions, research framework, and, literature review in interpreting the data. This is followed by the research process describing the flow of the whole research activities. Finally, the research validity and reliability explain the procedures taken to make the research more credible.
Research Framework
The research framework was in line with what the researcher embarked on to study.
The researcher in an attempt to investigate the training and development impact on employees’ performance in the administrative cadre of the PMO in The Gambia had categorized the outcomes into three groups. He developed the outcomes related to three identified stakeholders (administrative officers, PMO, and the Ministries) into key indicators of the training and development impact with reference to Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model. As shown on figure 3.1, that helped ensure content validity based on the outcomes.
One of the outcomes concerned about the administrative officers’ personal development. That is, the training and development meeting the administrative officers’ training needs, improving their skills and attitudes, and making significant changes to their job-related behaviours. The second and third outcomes concerned about the training and development enabling administrative officers contributes effectively to the performance of their various offices and the impact of such performance on PMO and the Ministries in terms of effective service-delivery (PSRICD, December 2009).
Figure 3.1 Conceptual framework
Research Approach
In this study, the researcher adopted a qualitative research approach and thus, intended to utilize a triangulation data collection method. By triangulation, the intention was to gather more in-depth pieces of information from three different sources, which produces richer findings (Patton, 1987). In this regard, the researcher intended to conduct direct observations, documents’ review, and interviews. The interview questions adopted from Sahin (2006) were critically examined to ensure they were in line with the research questions, literature review,
Training and Development
and research framework with reference to Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model. They were further developed to enhance their validity and easy understanding by participants and finally organized into three sets. The first set of questions was for the administrative officers, who had undergone PMO sponsored training and development. Those questions related to the trainees’ needs, and motivation and satisfaction. The other questions related to trainees’
learning, behavioural change, performance, and their contributions to PMO and the Ministries.
Refer to appendix B for those questions, they were all open-ended. The second set of questions was for the heads of departments at the Ministries. Those questions were organized into themes of reactions, behaviour, and results. The reaction questions inquired about the heads of departments’ work experiences in the administrative cadre, trainees’ reactions during the trainings and whether there were any changes to those reactions after the trainings.
The other questions related to the heads of departments’ observations regarding the trainees’
behavioural change, contributions to their offices, and suggestions for improvement of the training programmes. Those questions were all open-ended. Refer to appendix C for those questions. The third set of questions was for the training providers of PMO, who are also beneficiaries of the training and development. Those questions related to the training needs of trainees, their reactions towards the training programmes, motivation and satisfaction, career progression, development of the trainees’ professional work abilities, their behavioural and attitudinal changes and general performance and contributions to PMO and the Ministries.
Those questions were a mixture of semi-structured and open-ended questions. Refer to appendix D for those questions. The nature of all the questions provided ample room for responses, for instance, allowed the respondents to fully articulate their feelings about the issues asked (Pedrick, Babakus, & Richardson, 1993).
Being a direct observer would have allowed the researcher study his participants without becoming a part of the whole show. Because of his humility, the participants might not even have realized they were being studied (Patton, 1987). The use of this method would have helped gain a close and intimate familiarity with the participants and their practices through an intensive involvement with them in their work environment. Unfortunately, the researcher could not conduct the direct observation method, other than the duration of the interviews due to time constraints and security reasons. The researcher, therefore, ended up utilizing mostly the face-to-face interviews and documents’ review methods.
Accordingly, documents’ review on training and development activities of PMO was applied in addition to the interviews to complete the research. With the review of such
training and development documents and related reports, some content analysis helped construct a more comprehensive understanding of the whole training and development situation at PMO. That served as important sources in enhancing the completeness of the study, including providing an insight into the impact of training and development on the administrative cadre.
A great deal of care was taken to ensure that there was proper content validity of the instrument. That was achieved by making sure that all the questions were in line with the stated outcomes as shown on figure 3.1, with reference to Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model. The researcher developed a well-organized framework that showed the dependent relationships between the outcomes of the training and development, which should be determined by the needs of PMO (that institutions are expected to support), Ministries, and administrative officers.
Sample and Participant Selection
In reality, sampling procedures should be chosen to get participants from the population most suitable for data collection. Despite the existence of several sampling techniques, the population from which the sample is drawn, or the sampling frame, can sometimes be difficult to determine and may lead to wrong sample selection. In order to avoid this problem, an alternative way for curbing sampling bias involves comparing different samples through careful techniques (Karney, Davila, Cohan, Sullivan, Johnson, & Bradbury, 1995). As such, after careful observation of the different sampling options in order to avoid sampling bias, the researcher finally decided to adopt purposive sampling in this study. Purposive sampling is sample selected in line with the appropriateness of the case based on the feature or process of interest of the research (Othman & Rahman, 2011). Accordingly, the participants were selected from the administrative officers of the administrative cadre using purposive sampling technique. This helped ensure proper sampling validity in that the instrument was able to assess the characteristics that were intended to be measured for the particular population (Scott & Johnson, 1972).These officers were trained by PMO and some of them were posted out to the Ministries of the Government, while others had been retained at the PMO. It does not matter where an administrative officer has been posted to. As long as one is an administrative officer and in the administrative cadre, one is directly under the
Management responsibility of PMO. Specifically, four administrative officers who had undergone PMO training and development were selected based on the following criteria:
1. They must have undergone the training programmes not less than a year ago.
2. They should not have changed jobs since a year ago.
3. They should still be officers of the administrative cadre.
The selection criteria gave very little room to variation of those officers in terms of exposure to training and development. Having undergone the trainings not less than a year ago was very important, because that gave sufficient time for any trainee who had undergone an effective training programme to transfer what he or she had learned on the job. Including those officers who had not changed jobs also ensured stability in job responsibilities and that officers were well-established in their positions to put into practice what they learned.
Furthermore, still being officers of the administrative cadre was equally crucial in order to ensure maximum validity of the selection process. Maximum attention was also focused here.
The study sample was also composed of three senior management officers of PMO.
Being the providers as well as beneficiaries of the training and development programmes, it was important to include them into the sample. Furthermore, three heads of departments were selected from the Ministries as participants to the study. After all, having interviewed the trained administrative officers, it was equally crucial to hear from their supervisors. It should be noted that those senior officers had been widely exposed to training and development in their various Institutions. Therefore, including them as respondents helped gain a second opinion on the impact of training and development, beyond that which were reported by the trainees (Aluko, 2009). Actually, two trainees and the three senior management officers were selected as participants at the PMO, one trainee and a head of department were selected at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, and one trainee and a head of department were selected at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. For the Office of the Vice President, a trainee and a head of department were selected, but the trainee backed down from the research at the last moment giving reasons of busy schedules. As such, only the head of department participated in this study for that particular Ministry.
The additional information on table 3.1 below gives the participants’ (interviewees) profile.
Table 3.1
The Profile of Participants
Assigned Name Gender Office Position Experience Interview date Interviewee 1 (NA) F Tourism Trainee 7 yrs July 26, 2012 Interviewee 2 (MA) M PMO Trainee 5 yrs July 24, 2012 Interviewee 3 (LA) M PMO Trainee 7 yrs Aug 02, 2012 Interviewee 4 (OA) M Education Trainee 5 yrs Aug 02, 2012 Interviewee 5 (IA) M State House Trainee 5 yrs Aug 03, 2012 Interviewee 6 (KA) F Tourism H of D 5 yrs Aug 09, 2012 Interviewee 7 (AA) F State House H of D 5 yrs Aug 16, 2012 Interviewee 8 (SI) M Education H of D 9 yrs Aug 13, 2012 Interviewee 9 (SA) F PMO S Mgt. O 7 yrs Aug 10, 2012 Interviewee 10 (PA) M PMO S Mgt. O 8 yrs Aug 17, 2012 Interviewee 11 (FA) M PMO S Mgt. O 3 yrs Aug 20, 2012
Data Collection
Qualitative methods consist of three kinds of data collection (Patton, 1987). These are in-depth, open-ended interviews, direct observations, and documents’ review, all of which were intended to be used to collect data in this study. Unfortunately, the researcher could not wholly conduct the direct observation method for time constraints and security reasons to stay and observe participants at work.
The Permanent Secretary of PMO was hinted on the whole purpose of the research and he granted the permission for the data collection to be conducted and assured his office’s readiness to support the study in any possible way. The interviews were then conducted by the researcher with each of the trained administrative officers, senior management officers of PMO (the training providers as well as beneficiaries of the training and development), and heads of departments at the Ministries as mentioned above. The interview questions adopted from Sahin (2006) were critically examined to ensure their compatibility with the research questions, after dropping the ones that were found to be irrelevant to this research. Some of
the chosen questions were reworded for easy understanding by participants and further examined in line with the research questions, literature review, and research framework.
Furthermore, the interview questions were reviewed by the researcher together with some of his peers, piloted on five middle-level administrative officers and later expert-reviewed by two senior management officers of PMO. The questions were not changed after the pilot study, because the researcher’s peers, pilot group, and expert-reviewers expressed the fact that the questions were easy to understand and accurately related to the research purpose.
Their suggestion was supported by the results of the pilot study on Appendix I, which strengthens the validity of the questions. This rigorous validation process was intended to ensure quality interview questions and interview process.
Participants were individually interviewed in order to solicit in-depth information about the training and development programmes provided by PMO and their possible impact on the administrative cadre. The systematic collection of crucial incidents and anecdotal data is important for understanding the impact of training and informal learning on behaviour, because of the unplanned and opportunistic nature of learning in organizations (Terrion, 2006). The interviews were conducted face-to-face and were held in the participants’
workplaces. To make up for the time limitation as officers were very busy during working hours, the interview questions were sent to them in advance. That gave them better understanding of the contents so that they were able to give more in-depth pieces of information.
The researcher stated clearly the purpose of the study as indicated on the consent letter in appendix A. This contributed a great deal in assuring participants that the research was designed mainly to enhance academic knowledge and contribute positively to national development. This eased some of their fears in participating in the study. It was very difficult at the beginning as some officers were unwilling to participate for fear of being quoted, but with the assurance of confidentiality some were convinced to partake in the study. The consent letter was very helpful in the confidentiality assurance and enabled the interviewees have the purpose in mind during the interviews. After the interviews, the recorded interviews’
data were transcribed and later coded and categorized together with the documents’ review data in accordance with the research questions, literature review, and research framework.
Table 3.2 below gives an explicit overview of the implementation process of the interviews and documents’ review.
Table 3.2
The Implementation Process of the Interviews and Documents’ Review
Stages Interview and Documents’
Review Processes
Documents Reviewed
Prior to the interviews Contacted participants and sent the interview questions to them. The date and meeting places were then arranged and agreed upon.
During the interviews The interviews’ data were recorded and keywords written down on paper and
reorganized by the researcher after the interviews.
After the interviews All the recorded interviews’
data were transcribed on paper for reference purposes. Some follow-ups with interviewees were done for further clarification of issues and responses.
Documents’ review Permission was first sought from the Permanent Secretary of PMO, after which relevant documents were reviewed almost every day during working hours
-Scheme of Service for the Administrative Cadre
- Capacity Building and Economic Management Project Strategy for
Improvement of Recruitment and Reducing Attrition in The Gambian Civil Service
- Draft Training Policy for The Gambian Civil Service
- General Orders, PMO
Data Analysis
Data analysis is very difficult, but at the same time an important part of qualitative research (Basit, 2003). It is difficult due to the fact that it is not technical in nature, but very intuitive and a very creative process of thinking and theorizing. The rationale behind analyzing qualitative data is to determine the categories, relationships, and assumptions in order to clarify the respondents’ view of the topic under investigation (McCracken, 1988).
Analyzing data basically involves reading the interviews’ contents repeatedly, reviewing the literature and documents in order to understand all the contents and respond to the topic in question. According to Wang (2010), analyzing data includes the under-mentioned steps:
1. Transcribing the recorded data into transcriptions
2. Reading the interviews’ contents and relevant documents repeatedly 3. (a). Coding and (b). categorizing
4. Identifying the themes in order to determine the findings
The researcher in this study adopted this technique because it helps make sense of all the contents in responding to theories in the human resource development discipline in the qualitative analysis process including helping to practically answer the research questions.
Accordingly, all the recorded interviews’ data were transcribed as required. The interviews’
contents were then read repeatedly and compared for similarities and differences with PMO’s relevant documents reviewed and then coded. The important statements were noted, underlined, and sorted. The interviewees were given false names as the coding numbers and their statements coded according to the sentences on the transcriptions.
The coding numbers of the trainees start with the letter T followed by their false names.
Next is a number, signifying the set number of the particular questions. For example, trainees’
questions are set 1. The question number comes next followed by the concept’s number reported for that particular question. An example of a coding number for one of the trainees is TOA-1-Q02-1. The coding numbers for the heads of departments start with the letter H, and those of the senior management officers start with S. The questions’ set number for the heads of departments is 2, and that of senior management officers is 3.
The interviewees’ statements conveying the same ideas were sorted into the same groups and key sentences underlined. The statements are represented by the coding numbers of the respondents, who made them. The entire coding for the initial stage of the coding process for the first theme is shown on Figure 3.2 on Appendix G.
Then the coding process proceeded by identifying the categories such as training needs and motivation from the codes. In other words, codes with similar ideas were sorted into the same category in line with the interview questions and linked the categories to the themes explored in this study. Themes like meeting administrative officers’ training needs were extracted from the categories in providing answers to the research questions. The continuation of the later stage of the coding process on Figure 3.3 for the rest of the themes is shown on Appendix H.
Examples of the coding process and the steps taken for the first theme are explicitly shown in part on Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.3 below respectively.
Code Coding Number Transcribed statements
SPA-3-Q03-1 …the training and development is helping in terms of addressing the needs of administrative officers. But it would have been better if it was coordinated based on well-established
HSI-2- Q03-1 Generally, the reactions of the officer towards training and development
SSA-3-Q06-1 Generally, it is our belief that trainees are motivated and satisfied with the programmes they are sent to. This is usually brought to light by interactions
Figure 3.2 Initial stage of the coding process
Step 1: The recorded interviews’ data were transcribed into transcriptions for reference purposes
Coding numbers of the interviewees who made the transcribed/underlined statements
Step 2: The interviews’ contents were read repeatedly, compared, and sorted into groups, and key sentences in line with the research questions were underlined
Theme Category Coding Coding Number Meeting administrative
officers’ training needs
Training needs Needs expression TOA-1-Q02-1 TNA-1-Q02-1 TLA-1-Q02-1 TMA-1-Q02-1 SPA-3-Q03-1 SPA-3-Q03-2 SSA-3-Q03-1 SFA-3-Q03-1 Positive responsiveness SPA-3-Q04-1 SFA-3-Q04-1 SSA-3-Q04-1 SSA-3-Q05-1 SPA-3-Q05-1 SFA-3-Q05-1 HAA-2-Q03-1
Training needs Needs expression TOA-1-Q02-1 TNA-1-Q02-1 TLA-1-Q02-1 TMA-1-Q02-1 SPA-3-Q03-1 SPA-3-Q03-2 SSA-3-Q03-1 SFA-3-Q03-1 Positive responsiveness SPA-3-Q04-1 SFA-3-Q04-1 SSA-3-Q04-1 SSA-3-Q05-1 SPA-3-Q05-1 SFA-3-Q05-1 HAA-2-Q03-1