G ATHERING THE DATA

In order to gather data answering the research question, a suitable research method needed to be found. In the following, the choice for semi-structured interviews and how these have been conducted will be explained.

4.2.1 Choosing a method

In qualitative research, various methods can apply, such as interviews, ethnographic studies or focus groups. For this thesis, interviews seem to be a suitable method because they allow asking open ended questions to a small sample and exploring individual experiences or opinions regarding the researched phenomenon. Interviews vary, amongst other things, in their degree of structure. In quantitative research they are often highly structured in order to reach a high validity and reliability (Bryman 2008).

Furthermore, they are frequently used when a research is intended to deliver generalizable data (Pole and Lampard 2002). In qualitative research, interviews tend to be more flexible. Unstructured and semi-structured interviews mostly focus on the interviewee’s opinion and experience, aiming to get rich and in-depth data (Bryman 2008). Thus, they rather have the characteristics of conversations, trying to deal in-depth with the individual case (Pole and Lampard 2002). According to Silverman (2000), exploratory studies need to be less structured than confirmatory studies. In a study with a rather small sample size, like this thesis, the focus is not so much on comparing the cases. Thus, the questions do not need to be very standardized and can be rather open.

For this thesis the semi-structured interview, as described by Pole and Lampard (2002) seemed to be a suitable method because its structuring through an interview guide made it possible to keep orientation during the interview. Furthermore, the structuring made sure that important theoretical issues were covered in the conversation and it facilitated the analysis according to categories. On the other hand, the fact that the interview was not completely structured permitted to talk about the individual opinions and experiences of the expatriates in a non constraining way. Due to the explorative character of the research question, many upcoming topics that the expatriates related to the term integration could not be foreseen. Hence, a structured interview might have inhibited the possibility to go deeper into upcoming topics.

Furthermore, the questions in the interview guide could be asked in an order that seemed most suitable for the individual interview.

Just as any other method, interviews have their limitations. According to Pole and Lampard (2002), interviews are socially constructed and therefore constrained by the particular interview situation. They are of an artificial character and can therefore not be expected to “uncover the truth or the essence of individual belief, experience or opinion”

(Pole and Lampard 2002:127).

4.2.2 The Interview guide

Before conducting the interviews, existing literature was studied intensively. The gained insights were used as an inspiration for open questions in order to understand the concept of integration. Relevant theories or related themes were collected and to each of them several questions were developed. Based on these questions, an interview guide was developed which can be found in the appendix in point 8.2.

In order to prepare fluent interviews, the questions were distributed into different categories. However, during the interviews, the order of questions in the interview guide was not strictly followed. Due to the open and semi-structured character of the study, it seemed to make more sense to let the interviewees answer the questions in an unconstrained way, mentioning everything that came into their mind. Many interviewees brought up themes that were planned for a later part of the interview in the beginning so that it seemed appropriate to advance the questions regarding that certain topic. The interview guide was, thus, much more used as a tool to support orientation during the interview and to make sure that all areas of the research are covered (Patton 2002).

Furthermore, as the interviewees came from different cultural backgrounds, possible misunderstandings regarding the interview questions had to be taken into consideration (Patten 2002). Hence, clarifying questions were asked whenever it seemed necessary to check how the interviewees understood the questions and whether the interviewer understood their answer right.

After developing the interview guide, a pre-test was conducted in order to test the interview questions, the questionnaire and the analyzing method. This test resulted in some minor changes, such as an improvement of the questions regarding Berry’s acculturation strategies as they seemed confusing and too numerous. Accordingly, the structure of the interview guide and the formulation of the questions were reconsidered and changed. Furthermore, questions about the martial status, children and mother tongue have been added to the short questionnaire that supported the interview guide.

The questionnaire served to gather background data of the interviewee, for example name, education and profession. This was, first of all, in order not having to ask these questions during the interview, but also to get to a quick overview of the interview person’s background.

As the pre-test gave several interesting insights for this study, this interview was, nevertheless, included and analysed according to the research question.

4.2.3 Conducting the interviews

For the purpose of this thesis, ten expatriates were interviewed. They were approached through different channels. Some were personal contacts of, or had a wider connection to, the author’s network. Others were contacted through the internet, for instance after finding their blog in an expatriate forum. One expatriate was recommended by another interviewee. They were chosen through rather purposive sampling. In this sampling approach, the researcher tries to find cases rich in information (Patton 2002) providing certain attributes demanded by the character of the study (Silverman 2000). For the present study, those attributes were related to the background of the expatriates such as country of origin and age, trying to have a sample covering a broad range of expatriates, but also by their accessibility. All interviews have been conducted in English and were voice recorded. The interviewees were promised anonymity and gave the permission to tape record the interview. Five interviews took place at the interviewees’

homes, three at their workplaces and two at public places like cafés. Each interview took between 30 and 45 minutes.

It seems furthermore relevant to point out that the researcher is an international student at the program of Business, Language and Culture at Copenhagen Business School. Hence, by definition, she is an expatriate herself. This fact might have supported the possibility for the expatriates to speak open about their feelings and opinions on integration in Denmark.

Besides interviews with the expatriates, an expert interview was made with Rasmus Nygaard who works as a coordinator and consultant at the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs. The interview was conducted in order to get additional data regarding the Danish definition of integration and how Denmark deals with integration in general.