Tilburg University Modular Care Provision

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Modular Care Provision
Table 4.3  Summary of the data collection protocol
Topic
Indicative questions
Sources of 
information
Setup and 
organization of 
components
Component characteristics: range, types, design, grouping and 

arrangement, interdependencies, 
Degree of standardization: possibility for choice, substitution, 

fine-tuning
Interviews
Documents
Combining 
components into 
packages
Needs assessment: process, aiding devices used, people involved

Package configuration: process, aiding devices used, people 

involved
Achievement of coherence and cohesion within package

Packages vs. different types of client demand

Component interactions and interdependencies 

Interviews
Documents
Observation
Package delivery
Process

People involved

Relation to package configuration

Relation to package reconfiguration

Standardization and customization of components during delivery

Interviews
Documents
Observation
Keeping packages 
up to date
Triggers for and enablers of adaptation

Package reconfiguration: process, aiding devices, people involved, 

coordination
Role of standardization, customization, urgency

Role of individual components

Coherence vs. change 

Types of changes

Interviews
Documents
Observation
Interfaces between 
components
Tools, instruments and mechanisms used as interface

Functions and roles of interfaces: management of interactions, 

variety, coherence
Interfaces among components 

Interfaces among people 

Degree of interface standardization

Interviews
Documents
Observation
Role of people
Types of clients and client demands

Say of client

Causes of similarities and differences in packages

Client-professional interactions

Client and professional in package configuration

Client and professional during package delivery

Client and professional during package reconfiguration

Interviews
Observation
Documents
Effects on 
operational level
Choice options

Variation

Client involvement

Joint delivery 

Efficiency

Interviews
Documents
Observation
Background 
information
Organizational characteristics 

Working environment: political, social, cultural, financial trends 

and influences
Description of clients

Legislation and regulations

Documents
Interviews

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principle informants involved in the set up of our data collection. In addition, two senior 
researchers involved in the supervision of this research participated in the meetings.
Issues and constructs discussed in the expert meetings concerned all topics that were 
included in our research protocol as well as the relations among these topics that 
developed over time during data analysis. Before each meeting, the principal researcher 
analyzed the data concerning a particular theme (in relation to the research questions 
addressed in this study) and developed insights that were presented and discussed during 
the meetings. Each meeting covered one research theme; however, over time, most themes 
have been discussed in several meetings due to unfolding and developing insights. 
The expert meetings made three big contributions to the analysis phase of this research. 
First, the expert meetings helped the researchers to develop insights and findings that 
acquired an adequate level of abstraction while maintaining a sufficient amount of 
realism. The experts held key positions in their respective organizations, close enough 
to the operational level in order to be familiar with the data but distant enough not to 
be carried away by the day-to-day struggles of the organization. Therefore, the experts 
were able to abstract from empirical details and contribute to a general view while 
simultaneously keeping the researcher alert in adhering to the specific particularities 
and characteristics of long term care for the elderly. This aided the accuracy of our 
results and insights on modularity in long-term care and ensured an appropriate and 
validated interpretation of the results. Second, by establishing a continuous connection 
to the field we also ensured the recognizability, reception, and applicability of our 
research in the field of care for the elderly. Researchers often operate from a specific 
perceptual framework, however, to communicate their results and their common sense 
importance, they must be able to communicate in terms of the perceptual frameworks 
of others (Meredith 1998). In the expert meetings, we were able to develop a common 
language that enabled communication and discussion, and thereby further development 
of our findings and results. Third, for the experts themselves, the meetings proved 
to be a fruitful setting that not only allowed them to discuss and reflect on their 
organizations’ operations in an out-of-the-box setting but also to develop a learning 
curve with respect to modularity practices over the course of the research. 
4.6.2 Memo-ing
Memos played an important part in the qualitative research process. Memos are the 
theorizing write up of ideas about codes and their relationships as they strike the 
analyst while coding. Memos exhaust the analyst’s momentary ideation based on data 
with perhaps little conceptual elaboration (Miles and Huberman, 1994) and help the 
analyst to gain analytical distance from the materials (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). In 
this research, the use of memos was not limited to the coding process. Rather, memos 
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Resear
ch desig
n and methods
Chapt
er 4

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