Using Card-Based Games to Enhance the Value of Semi-Structured Interviews

2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Rowley ◽  
Rosalind Jones ◽  
Magda Vassiliou ◽  
Sonya Hanna

This article reports on the use of the card-based game method in semi-structured interviews in three separate research projects. The essence of the method is simple: cards are created with words or images to represent the concepts or terms that are central to the topics in a semi-structured interview; the cards then act as visual cues to facilitate focus and prompt reflection. Of greater interest is the application of the approach in specific contexts, and the benefits that accrue from its application. This research demonstrates that the card game method can be used to provide qualitative validation of theoretical models, and can be applied variously to elicit and explore definitions, priorities, processes, challenges, issues, difficulties, views on the future and critical success factors. The card game method and other innovative techniques that involve the interviewee in activities have the potential to enhance the value of semi-structured interviews.

Author(s):  
Abuelkassem A.A. Mohammad

The entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt is inadequate and recorded as the highest rate of businessdiscontinuation. Despite this, limited studies have investigated this issue. This study seeks toinvestigate the concept of microentrepreneurship in the hospitality industry by exploring itsmotivations, challenges, risks, benefits, and critical success factors. The current study adopted aqualitative approach and used the semi-structured interview as an instrument for collecting primarydata. A total of 38 semi-structured interviews were conducted with owners of hospitality microbusinessesas well as with academic and official experts in the entrepreneurship field. Collected datawas transcribed, translated, and then analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. The resultsshowed that entrepreneurs were mainly driven by economic motivations to engage in hospitalitymicro business, while limited financial resources represented a serious challenge for many microventures. Appropriate income was also perceived to be a significant advantage of hospitalitymicroentrepreneurship. The findings revealed some key success factors for hospitality microbusinessessuch as innovative or novel business ventures and competence and commitment ofentrepreneurs to manage the business. The study provides valuable practical implications that wouldhelp supporting hospitality micro-enterprises.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-44
Author(s):  
Rajeev Dwivedi ◽  
Fatma Jaffar Karim ◽  
Berislava Starešinić

Abstract Background: The unique, yet complex, new product development (NPD) process represents one of firms’ most significant operations that impose high weightage onto its profitability margins and market reputation. Objectives: The object of the research is to identify critical success factors (CSFs) of a new product development in Dubai firms. Methods/Approach: The paper uses literature as a basis for identifying critical success factors for a new product development, which is supported by a semi-structured interview of senior management-level executives in Dubai. Results: To pinpoint a set of the most influential CSFs, 12 factors for the NPD process are highlighted, based on their reoccurrence patterns in the literature and semi-structured interviews. Impact levels of 12 CSFs on the NPD process are expressed through a presentation from the highest to the lowest recurrent factor. Conclusions: Each CSF’s role in driving the NPD process to success has also been justified using real-time evidence, depicted throughout 4 case studies from different industries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-492
Author(s):  
Azilah Anis ◽  
Rafikul Islam

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a hierarchical model to rank the challenges faced by the private Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs) in the provision of quality education and subsequently their corresponding critical success factors (CSFs) to address those challenges. Design/methodology/approach A sequential mix method was adopted in this study. Semi-structured interviews with 29 participants were initially conducted to identify the challenges and CSFs. This was followed by a questionnaire survey involving 158 respondents to prioritise the identified findings. Thematic analysis was conducted in the qualitative stage, uncovering the challenges and their corresponding CSFs. Data for both stages were accumulated from internal and external stakeholders of Malaysian private HEIs. Finally, the four stages of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were applied to rank the challenges and CSFs. Findings The qualitative stage identified eight challenges, i.e. “academics”, “facilities”, “students”, “programmes and curriculum”, “competition”, “accreditation”, “finance” and “research” together with their corresponding CSFs. The AHP enables the ranking of these challenges. “Finance” has been found to be the most crucial challenge and “high competency in managing the institution’s finance” as the most important CSF to address this challenge. Research limitations/implications As the study restricted its focus on Malaysian private HEIs, the results may not be generalised for public HEIs and foreign private HEIs operating in Malaysia. Originality/value The hierarchical model developed in this study is deemed important for implementation to resolve the prioritised challenges. It spells out the specific areas in which the resources of Malaysian private HEIs need to be prudently disbursed and properly managed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Barson ◽  
Fiona Doolan-Noble ◽  
Jonathon Gray ◽  
Robin Gauld

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contextual factors contributing to the sustainability of healthcare quality improvement (QI) initiatives. Design/methodology/approach Themes from semi-structured interviews with international healthcare leaders are compared with Kaplan and Provost et al.’s (2012) model for understanding success in quality (MUSIQ). Critical success factors within these themes are shown in detail. Findings The interviews provide a rich source of information on critical success factors. The themes largely correspond with MUSIQ, reinforcing its robustness. An important factor emerging from the interviews was the importance of engagement with patients and families in QI, and this needs consideration in seeking to understand context in QI. Research limitations/implications Interview participants represent a limited set of western countries and health systems. Their experiences may not hold true in other settings. Practical implications The detail on critical success factors provides QI practitioners with guidance on designing and implementing sustainable initiatives. Originality/value Including consideration of contextual factors for engagement with patients and families in frameworks for context in QI appears to be an original idea that will add value to such frameworks. Researchers in patient engagement are starting to address contextual factors and connections should be made with this work.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Daradkeh

With the huge proliferation of Big Data, combined with the increasing demand for analytics-driven decision-making, the data analytics and visualization (DAV) ecosystem is increasingly becoming a trending practice that many enterprises are adopting to gain actionable insights from corporate data for effective decision-making. Although DAV platforms have tremendous benefits, extant research has paid insufficient attention to the investigation of the critical success factors (CSFs) underpinning their successful implementation in enterprises. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, this study presents an integrative framework synthesizing a set of CSFs for implementing DAV platforms in enterprises. A qualitative research methodology, comprising semi-structured interviews with IT and business analysts, was conducted to collect and analyze the interview data. Analysis of results revealed that the CSFs of DAV implementation exist in various dimensions composed of organizational, technological, process, and people perspectives. This study provides several theoretical and practical implications.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laís Pereira ◽  
Guilherme Tortorella

This article aims to identify how the critical success factors (CSF), barriers and practices for lean manufacturing (LM) implementation in a small company are related. For this, the CSF, barriers and practices of LM related to small companies were initially consolidated from a literature review. Through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the leaders of a small electronics manufacturing company in lean implementation, the relationships were evaluated and ranked through the incorporation of a multi-criteria analysis tool. The integration of a multi-criteria analysis tool into qualitative research methods (focused groups, semi-structured interviews and participatory observation) allowed quantifying these relationships in order to identify convergent efforts for a successful LM implementation. Existing frameworks for lean implementation are targeted at larger companies, disregarding the specific small company context. This study provides a guide to assist LM implementation in small manufacturing companies. Furthermore, the greater understanding of these relationships enables managers to anticipate potential problems, allowing a more successful implementation.


Author(s):  
Simone Louise Sherriff ◽  
Hilary Miller ◽  
Allison Tong ◽  
Anna Williamson ◽  
Sumithra Muthayya ◽  
...  

<sec id="st1">Background Historically, Aboriginal health research in Australia has been non-participatory, misrepresentative, and has produced few measurable improvements to community health. The Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH) was established to co-create and co-translate research. Over the past decade, SEARCH has built a sustainable partnership across policy, research, clinical and Aboriginal community sectors which has resulted in improvements in Aboriginal health through enhanced services, policies and programmes. </sec> <sec id="st2">Aims and objectives This study describes the critical success factors behind SEARCH, focusing on how SEARCH was established, and continues to build trusting co-creative relationships. It also explores some continuing challenges and considers how the partnership might be strengthened.</sec> <sec id="st3">Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 stakeholders, purposively selected to obtain maximum diversity of roles and perspectives. Interview questions explored concepts that informed the development of SEARCH such as trust, transparency, leadership, governance, reciprocity and empowerment. Data was analysed thematically and written up using the qualitative description approach. </sec> <sec id="st4">Findings and discussion Nine critical success factors were identified: shared power; strong credible leadership; shared vision, shared goals; willingness to take risks; connecting across cultures; empowering the community; valuing local Aboriginal knowledge; ongoing investment and collaboration; and adaptability. While each of these factors has areas for ongoing improvement, this case example demonstrates that co-creation and co-translation of research in Aboriginal health is achievable and, indeed, necessary to improve health outcomes.</sec>


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-69
Author(s):  
Amira Trabelsi Zoghlami ◽  
Mourad Touzani

Few research studies have tackled the topic of commercial C2C (Consumer-to-consumer) Websites while online C2C exchange are having huge success and attract ever-increasing Internet users. Organisations need to understand the critical success factors for attracting the Internet user’s attention. This article sheds the light on the usage background of Tunisian C2C websites. The main outcome of this work results from a netnographic study followed by twenty three semi-structured interviews with C2C websites’ users. Contrary to the results of other researches which connect the use of C2C Websites to electronic factors, this research provides a framework to add “offline” determinants related to perceptions that are acquired prior to or following the C2C websites’ visit. The factors influencing consumers’ visit of C2C Websites were classified into three major categories: before, while and after visiting the C2C Website. Each category includes factors that were discussed to make managerial recommendations. The authors also expose the major personal and situation factors that may characterize C2C Websites’ users.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1786-1805
Author(s):  
Amira Trabelsi Zoghlami ◽  
Mourad Touzani

Few research studies have tackled the topic of commercial C2C (Consumer-to-consumer) Websites while online C2C exchange are having huge success and attract ever-increasing Internet users. Organisations need to understand the critical success factors for attracting the Internet user's attention. This article sheds the light on the usage background of Tunisian C2C websites. The main outcome of this work results from a netnographic study followed by twenty three semi-structured interviews with C2C websites' users. Contrary to the results of other researches which connect the use of C2C Websites to electronic factors, this research provides a framework to add “offline” determinants related to perceptions that are acquired prior to or following the C2C websites' visit. The factors influencing consumers' visit of C2C Websites were classified into three major categories: before, while and after visiting the C2C Website. Each category includes factors that were discussed to make managerial recommendations. The authors also expose the major personal and situation factors that may characterize C2C Websites' users.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 715-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Blijleven ◽  
Yiwei Gong ◽  
Afshin Mehrsai ◽  
Kitty Koelemeijer

PurposeFollowing positive results of Lean implementation in manufacturing environments, Lean has become an emerging philosophy for clients and suppliers of information technology (IT) services. However, how to implement Lean in IT outsourcing relationships has been addressed sparsely in academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing Lean in IT outsourcing relationships. Key findings, implications and avenues for future research are discussed.Design/methodology/approachSix IT outsourcing relationships were qualitatively investigated by means of 36 semi-structured interviews. CSFs were identified based on interview transcription analyses, selection techniques and expert reviews.FindingsIn total, 16 CSFs for Lean implementation in IT outsourcing relationships are identified and described.Practical implicationsThe CSFs presented in this paper indicate key areas that deserve managerial attention to steer Lean implementation efforts in IT outsourcing relationships in a favorable direction.Originality/valueThis study is the first to describe the phenomenon of “Lean IT outsourcing” and provides researchers and practitioners with a foundation to further examine Lean implementation in IT outsourcing relationships.


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