Sampling, Instrument Development and Data Collection

In conducting this case study research, the single case, the NLS Business and Labour Partnership Program, was considered the most useful and purposeful. The primary instrumentation was semi-structured interview schedules. These interview questions and probes were developed for two groups of participants—business, labour and education interviewees and government interviewees. Questions for the interview schedules were drawn from a thorough literature review which focused on partnership development and program planning as well as a series of meetings with subject matter experts. The schedules were piloted and further revised and appear as Appendix B and Appendix C.

Considerable attention was given to the selection of the key informants. A matrix was constructed with categories and included the stakeholder groups of business, labour, education and government; regional and organizational affiliations such as national, provincial and territorial; program time periods of 1988-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2006 and gender. Representation across the matrix categories resulted in a final list of 26 participants. (Appendix D).

A consent form for the interviewees was also developed and appears in Appendix E. Input and feedback on all major decisions concerning the project instrumentation and selection of the interviewees were provided by the National Advisory Committee. Data collection was extensive and drew on multiple sources of information—interviews, field notes, archival records and documents that were both print and electronic. Three project team members conducted the face-to-face interviews between May and July throughout the different regions of Canada. Documents were also collected during the interview process.