Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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flow chart which can be used to represent the vast majority of mixed methods studies (see Figure 15), within which
the presented study is described as a ‘Fully Mixed Sequential Equal Status’ design.
The presented research has ‘equal status’ because it places no greater emphasis on either qualitative or
quantitative methods. Although the qualitative Appreciative Inquiry methodologies have been an obvious
necessity in the design of interventions conceived to improve upon employee experience, the results of the
Management Standards Indicator Tool played an important part in the semi-structured interview agenda and
process. Similarly the use of the MSIT for an understanding of the type of organisation, as well as an objective
measure of psychosocial hazards, provided an important insight into the method of working and types of feasible
change interventions that may work within the organisation.
The study has taken a clearly sequential rather than concurrent time 'dimension'. The five stages of data
collection occurred over a period of almost 12 months and happened one at a time. Each phase of data analysis
occurred sequentially too, with collected information analysed immediately following completion of each data
phase and henceforth informing the preceding phase (other than re-administration of the survey tool, which was
conducted for contextual purposes alone). Lastly the work is fully mixed because the results of the quantitative
phase were taken forward into the qualitative interview stage which provided great in-depth information and
provided the grounding for the design of interventions.
As demonstrated, the presented thesis can be is a fully mixed and equal status study. The main focus of the
presented study was to design a number of interventions designed to improve upon employee experience of
workplace stress, with the focus group results representing the suggested organisational change interventions.
Indeed the focus group agenda and results represent a combination of each of the qualitative phases of the work