The research design and research methods of the study were addressed in this chapter. To begin with, the research approach was introduced, followed by the research framework, research procedure, population and sample, data collection, data analysis and lastly issues of reliability and validity.
Research Approach
This study adopted a qualitative approach because it utilized foreign government representatives’ own perceived needs and experience in their work environment and professional careers, in order to identify the competencies needed to become more efficient and effective in this profession. As Corbin and Strauss (2008) suggest, considering that the study was under the assumption that not all these competencies were clearly understood and some had not yet been identified, making a further in depth exploration necessary, a qualitative approach was appropriate.
Furthermore, a qualitative method was chosen over quantitative method because it gave the research the opportunity to obtain a deeper and more detailed description of foreign government representative’s personal characteristics, while at the same time being able to explore specific and unusual cases (Johnson & Christensen, 2000). Thus the study utilized three qualitative methods for gathering the data, (1) document review, (2) participatory observation and (3) personal interviews.
Additionally, as this study discussed foreign government representatives in Taiwan, this research was an exploratory study focusing on Taiwan. Through analyzing the situation of foreign government representatives in Taiwan, the purpose of this study was to explore and identify the individual competency needs and competency development process for these individuals, and to a degree, to rest of practitioners of this profession in the rest of the East Asia sphere. Still the generalization of the findings of this study to other countries in the region should be managed with caution and take into consideration the specific social, political and cultural context of each nation.
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Research Framework
The research framework of this study was constructed based on the previously covered relevant literature. The research problem within the theoretical framework is identified, as is the purposes and questions of the study. The problem refers to the fact that in modern times foreign government representatives has been overlooked and unnoticed within the body of contemporary academic research, and their specific and individual competency needs have remained unaddressed.
This study was designed to examine the learning process of foreign government representatives, as well as the dynamics of their work environment and job responsibilities, in an effort to identify the individual competency needs of these individuals, as well as how these competencies had been developed and acquired, in order to present an integrated competency study for this profession.
One of the assumptions of the study was that formal academic education is the foundation from which the competency development process takes place. Another assumption was that the competency development stage was driven by two different possible learning processes. The first of these was social learning theory, which proposes a process for learning in which individuals learn from observing others; this is done in a social setting. The second of these processes is intentional change theory, in which an individual’s self-direction and discovery lead to competency development.
In addition, competencies were further categorized under the assumption that individual competencies can be organized in three different levels: (1) foundational level competencies; (2) areas of expertise (AOEs), or focus level; and (3) roles, or execution level. This three tier categorization is derived from the ASTD Competency model, which was previously explained in detail in chapter 2. At the same time, the previous assumptions are embedded in the overall context of the foreign government representative field. As a result, the research framework is better illustrated bellow:
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Figure 3.1. Research framework
Research Procedure
In this section the different steps and stages of the research are explained. The first step was to identify the research topic; this was done through discussion with thesis advisor until the final topic, direction and purpose of the research were confirmed. Following, based on the purpose of the study, literature review on competencies and foreign government representatives was conducted. From the literature and with guidance of thesis advisor the research framework and the appropriate methodology to reach the research purpose were determined. Next, the researcher began the participatory observation stage; this stage enabled the researcher to familiarize itself with the subjects and the environment.
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Following, the interview questions were design using a combination of competency, diplomacy and expatriate workers literature, as well as additional information obtained in the observation stage as a guideline; after completion the interview questions went through the peer review and expert review processes. Later on, since the observation stage was an ongoing process, the researcher had access to undertake document review, conduct a pretest interview and modify the interview questions.
Consequently, succeeding this process, the final interviews were undertaken. After being collected, the data began to be synthesized, analyzed and interpreted. Finally, the research results, findings, conclusions and implications were written down in a comprehensible manner.
Figure 3.2 illustrates the complete research procedure:
Fig 3.2. Research procedure
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Sampling Process
The units of analysis for the study were the individuals working in foreign mission offices in Taiwan. Foreign mission offices included official embassies and commercial, trade and cultural offices, hence both official diplomats and non-diplomat representatives were selected for the sample. Finally, the sample was composed by ten foreign government representatives covering different ranks within their organizations. Out of the ten participants, six were individuals working in official embassies and four were individuals working in commercial or cultural offices.
This study carried out a non-probability way to select the sample. Judgmental sampling was appropriate since it allowed the researcher to choose a particular case illustrating the features of the research interest (Silverman, 2005); given the nature of the research, judgmental sampling was suitable for two main reasons:
1. The units of analysis had to possess a specific nationality, and share a special status, experience and expertise.
2. The goal of the sample was not to be a generalization of the population (Mertens, 2005), instead the study focused on the particular competency needs of foreign government representatives in Taiwan.
In addition, a snow-ball sampling was used to select the sample; As Mertens (2005) explained, when using snowball sampling, the researcher begins with key informants of a community who recommend other people based on their knowledge. Through the cooperation and referral of two foreign mission offices the researcher gained access to the rest of the sample.
Three criteria were used for the selection of the participants:
1. The participants must had a foreign nationality; this excluded any Taiwanese employees assigned to work in foreign mission offices.
2. The participants must carry out diplomatic, commercial or cultural duties; this excluded any support personnel employed in foreign mission offices.
3. The participants must have been holding their positions in Taiwan for at least one year.
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Research Participants
For the sample to be more representative of foreign mission holders in Taiwan, the research participants were from ten different foreign mission offices, covering different regions of the world in order to have a more global representation. The sample included one representatives of each of the following ten countries: Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and Nicaragua from official embassies; Brazil, France, Mexico and Peru from commercial offices. With the intention of preserving their anonymity, the name, specific nationality, rank or position of the participants was not reveled in this study. Background information including age, gender and work experience about each interviewee is presented in the following table, with their respective one-letter pseudonyms which were used throughout the study:
Table 3.1.
Background Information of Participants
Name Gender Age Work experience in Taiwan
Subject A F 25-30 2 years
Subject B F 35-40 3 years
Subject C M 55-60 4 years
Subject D M 40-45 3.5 years
Subject E M 40-45 3 years
Subject F M 35-40 2 year
Subject G M 55-60 3 years
Subject H M 40-45 2.5 years
Subject I M 35-40 2 years
Subject J F 55-60 1.5 years
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Data Collection
As Corbin and Strauss (2008) suggested, “one of the virtues of qualitative research is that there are many sources of data” (p.27). This study used three methods for data collection:
participant observation, document review and personal interviews, which are explained in more detail bellow.
Participatory Observation
First, a fieldwork stage of participatory observation was conducted. Participatory observation refers to a period of intense interaction between the research and the research participants (Bogdan & Taylor, 1975). This stage of observation was possible since the researcher was granted an internship in one foreign mission office, which allowed the researcher to get familiarized with the job content and work environment, while developing closer relations with the research participants. This period of acclimatization helped the researcher to not be seen so much as an intruder and to find ways to gain access to information in a more unobtrusive manner.
During this stage data from personal experiences, observation and casual conversations were systematically collected thought an observation journal and field notes. Bogdan and Taylor (1975) explained that field notes must also include a record of the researchers’ feeling and interpretations; this should be distinguished from the rest of the data and should be given the name of observer’s comments or reflective field notes.
The participatory observation stage was conducted for over a month and a half, from February 21th 2012, to April 12th 2012, period during which the researcher served as an non-paid intern two times a week, every Tuesday and Thursday, in the Nicaraguan embassy accredited in the Republic of China (Taiwan), located in the Shillin District of Taipei city, exactly situated in the third floor of the Diplomatic Quarter building. The following figure illustrates the physical setting and environment in which the participatory observation stage took was carried out.
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Figure 3.3. Observation setting As an intern, the actual role of the researcher was of personal assistant of the ambassador,
which was the highest authority and the head of the foreign mission. The activities assigned to the researcher were diverse and challenging; because of this the researcher was in constant interaction and communication with the administrative attaché and the ambassador. After each day, data was recorded in the observation journal, which is included in Appendix A at the end of this document.
Document Review
At the same time, while being on the inside of a foreign mission office, the researcher was able to have access to information in the form of reports and official documents. Thus, the second method of data collection, document review took place. Official government documents, statements from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the foreign mission’s country, as well as from Taiwan, statements from the Diplomatic Corps of Taiwan, and other reports that helped answer parts of the research questions were taken into consideration. Because of the sensitivity of some of these documents, the researcher omitted revealing their content in this study, extracting and analyzing only the relevant parts which were related to the research purpose.
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Personal Interviews
Since the observation period was possible through an internship, this fact made the observation stage an ongoing process, which gave the researcher the chance to design the interview questions, proceed through expert review, conduct a pretest interview and modify the interview questions in preparation for the final stage. The final stage was to conduct semi-structured in depth interviews with open-ended questions. Johnson and Christensen (2000) mentioned how conducting interviews allows the researcher to get to know the world of another person, in this case the participants, and gain a deeper understanding of a person’s perspectives.
Also, adopting this method provided the researcher with the opportunity to prepare the questions ahead of time; this guideline helped ensure that all the relevant topics for the study were covered in the interview. On the other hand, semi-structured interviews gave the participants the freedom to express their views in their own terms and gave the researcher the chance to further investigate on an area, this was appropriate due to the exploratory nature of the study.
As previously mentioned the interview questions were developed through the combination of competency, diplomacy and expatriate workers literature, as well as information obtained in the observation stage, as a guideline. Furthermore to carry out the interviews the researcher used an adaptation of Spencer and Spencer (1993) behavioral event interview, which in its self is an adaptation of the critical incident technique. By doing so the interviewees talked about relevant areas of the job based on their previous experience. Chell (1998) described the critical incident techniqueas “a qualitative interview procedure which facilitates the investigation of significant occurrences (events, incidents, processes, or issues) identified by the respondent, the way they are managed, and the outcomes in terms of perceived effects”(p. 6). Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault (1990) explained that an incident is defined as critical if it makes a significant contribution, either positively or negatively to an activity; thus a critical incident should describe a situation that was important in determining the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the outcome. It was appropriate to use this technique since it had been previously used as a method of identifying job requirements and determining competencies for a vast number of professionals in various disciplines (Gremler, 2006). In more detail, and following the guidelines suggested by Spencer and Spencer (1993) the structure of the interview design was composed by the following elements:
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1. Career path: in this section the interviewee’s could share their education background, training and previous work experiences.
2. Job responsibilities: in this section the interviewee’s could share their job roles, tasks, duties, objectives and responsibilities.
3. Behavioral events: in this section the interviewee’s could share examples and real on the job experiences and important situations, which resulted in either a positive or a negative outcome in their performance.
4. Characteristics needed to do the job: in this section the interviewee’s could share their own views on what it takes to do their job successfully.
Following these guidelines as well as the literature, the researcher designed a ten opened-ended questions interview, which was complemented by another five possible follow up questions. After completion, the questions went first through peer review, since the questions were corrected by fellow researchers, with living experience in Taiwan and backgrounds in human resource development and business management, as well as by thesis advisor.
The next step was for the interview questions to go through expert review, which was feasible since the research was in constant interaction with foreign government representatives due to the internship, making it possible for one expert on the topic to help adjust the interview question; the background of the expert reviewer was in international relations and diplomacy, with more than four years working as part of the diplomatic corps of Taiwan. Later, as mentioned in the research procedure a pilot interview was conducted. The researcher interviewed a lower ranking official working at the foreign mission in which the internship was being done, keeping in mind that the highest ranking official of this office was going to be selected as a final research participant.
After this pilot interview and following the recommendations of the interviewee, parts of the interview were modified. These modifications had more to do with the elimination of redundant questions, which lead to responses that did not enriched the data being collected, thus just prolonging the interview time. Other modifications had to do with changing the order in which the question were asked, so that the interview would run more smoothly. After the
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previous designing, reviewing, adjusting and modification process the interview questions were ready to be used in the final stage of the data collection phase, which consisted in conducting ten semi-structured in depth interviews. The final interview was composed of eight questions and five possible follow-up questions:
Table 3.2.
Interview Questions
Question Type Purpose
Could you please hare your education background and training experience(if any)
Career path Competency development stage
What has been the most significant experience that has marked and helped form your character as a foreign representative?
Behavioral event Competency development stage
How did you prepare yourself professionally to come to Taiwan?
Behavioral event Competency development stage
Could you describe your job objectives? How is a typical day at work?
Job responsibilities Job analysis
Could you talk about how has your learning
experience evolved since your first days on the job?
Behavioral events Competency development stage
What was the most difficult task for you to learn?
How did you overcome it?
Behavioral event Competency development stage
What are the challenges of working in a Chinese environment?
Job responsibilities Determine perceived challenges
(continued)
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Question Type Purpose
In your opinion what the skills and/or attributes someone must have to become a good foreign government representative? Could you give an example of how do you build
relationship with the Taiwanese community?
Behavioral event Identify competencies How do you describe the importance of foreign
language skills for your position?
Could you give an example of how do you work with people from different cultural backgrounds?
Behavioral events Identify competencies How often do you adapt you communication style? Characteristics
needed to do the job
Identify competencies
To what extent do you need to know about trade issues?
Job responsibilities Identify competencies
To explain table 3.2 in more detail, the type of question referred to the behavioral event interview guidelines (Spencer & Spencer, 1993). The purpose of the question had to do with what part of the research questions was it aimed at answering. Finally, the follow up questions were an anticipation of the possible responses of the last question: “In your opinion what are the skills and/or attributes someone must have to become a good foreign representative?”
and were based on diplomacy and expatriate workers literature. Additionally, background information of each participant was gathered before the interview, this information was previously presented in Table 3.1.
Because of the sensitivity of their profession, the researcher sent the questions to the participants prior to the interview, to assure the questions were not compromising for their job.
The interviews were scheduled two weeks after the initial observation stage began, from the 6th
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to the 22nd of March of 2012. Originally the study aimed to extend the number of participants to twelve, but because of time constrains and unwillingness on behalf of some participants, it was reduced to ten. Besides this fact, the interviews were carried without any other major inconvenience. Since the interviews had a duration of 30-50 minutes, and contained open-ened questions, the researcher asked and was granted permission for using a tape-recorder, in order to enhance the accuracy of the data collection.
Background of the Researcher
In addition, the data did not only consisted of the observations or the interviewee’s testimony, but also the researchers’ assumptions and bias which shaped the way in which such data was to be interpreted. As Mertens (2005) points out, unlike quantitative study, in a qualitative study the researcher is the instrument for collecting the data, since “the researcher decides which question to ask and in what order, what to observe, what to write down”(p. 247).
Therefore the background of the researcher had to be taken into account. On a personal level, the
Therefore the background of the researcher had to be taken into account. On a personal level, the