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3.3 Data Sources
The case study consisted of two organisations - a professional sport franchise and a
national sporting organisation. While the individual participants were interviewed, the unit
of analysis was not the individual, but the organisation itself.
In this study, it was decided not to identify both the organisations and the
participants. Participants were promised anonymity if they were interviewed, which
allowed them to disclose their complete views. Therefore, in the final report they were
given an alias to protect their identification.
3.3.1 Participants
Interviews were the main data gathering method of choice for this study. Interviews
are an important source of case studies that allow human ability to explain the situation
(Lofland & Lofland, 1995). Therefore, gaining access to the participants at the selected
organisations was a critical part of this research. Realistically, all employees of the
organisations involved were potential participants. However, an inclusion and exclusion
criteria was established around the participants, to interview those that could contribute
significantly to the topic area.
1) Participants had to hold one of the five selected positions of Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), Marketing Manager, Head Coach, and High Performance (HP) Manager.
Where these exact titles did not exist within the two organisations, the closest position to
these was selected. It was determined at a meeting involving the academic supervisors and
the researcher that these positioned employees at the case organisations were in the best
situation to contribute information to the current study of inter-partner learning. Often the
high status individuals in an organisation are more likely to provide a better perspective of
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