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Making sense of the information

Initial analysis

After the interviews any electronic recordings should be transcribed or notes are made. The notes can be analysed using thematic analysis. It should be clear after several interviews what the key themes are, both positive and negative, in that they keep repeating themselves.

Identify the key themes

Themes can be identified from a range of different perspectives.

  • Over time — these are themes that seem to be consistent over many years, and have become hallmarks of the club or facility (key development phases in the facility over time).

  • Range of sources — these themes are from a range of different sources including interviews, photos, annual reports (eg planning documents, photos of opening ceremonies).

  • Range of stakeholders — such as internal, external and regional/national stakeholders.

Ideally, to show that the values are widely held views about the club or facility, every (or most) value themes you’ve identified should be ‘triangulated’ with evidence of the theme based on the views of both internal and external stakeholders.

Checking with the stakeholders

A key step in preparing the case study is checking back with the key stakeholders once you’ve finished the initial analysis and identified the recurring values.

This check-back is likely to be a two-stage process.

  • A presentation and discussion about what you found.

  • Providing the written report (or summaries of key parts of the report) to position holders/administrators for sign off.

If you have identified any negative themes, it’s good to include these in the check-back process. That way any solutions can be considered before the information is shared more broadly through the final reporting processes.