RAND Europe Table A. Overview of stakeholder categories and number of interviews by interviewee type Stakeholder category
Number of interviews and stakeholder type
National Network of Early Childhood (RNPI)
8 members (including a member of RNPI/researcher) 1 RNPI collaborator
Other organisations/individuals supporting the Legal Framework Researchers/academics/research institutions Politicians/policymakers/political parties Government Legislative power
2 researchers (including a researcher/lawyer) 4 politicians 1 civil servant 1 judge
The data collection phase involved conducting semi-structured interviews between May and June 2020 with key informants from all categories (as shown in Table A). All participants were provided with a Participant Information Sheet describing the project, a Privacy Notice, and an Interview Briefing Note explaining the topics to be covered in the interview. All interviews were conducted remotely using Microsoft Teams or Zoom. The interviews were considered the best tool to elicit an in-depth understanding of the local context and capture perceptions of different aspects that led to the introduction of the Legal Framework. Interviews were recorded after obtaining consent from participants, and notes were taken and elaborated on following the interviews using the recordings. Given the scope of the case study, the number of semi-structured interviews was kept to a maximum of 17. Points made by RNPI members should be read with an appreciation that there is a risk of bias in their responses, as it is in their interests to be painted in a good light. The nature of the semi-structured face-to-face interviews with researchers, politicians and civil servants was intended to alleviate some of this; however, potential biases should be considered when interpreting data obtained from partnership respondents. At the analysis phase, interviews were analysed to identify emerging themes from the data using an adapted version of the protocol for the documentary review. In addition, a follow-up review of the same documents and some new documents provided by BvLF was conducted after the interviews to corroborate information. All data was then thematically analysed to develop cross-cutting themes, which were used to organise the current report’s structure during the write-up phase. Following this, the validation phase took place. A draft of the case study was shared with BvLF to corroborate facts. During a consultation workshop, revisions were agreed. Following this, the case study was finalised. Throughout this report, points made by more than one interviewee are recorded clearly through references in endnotes. Therefore, looking at the endnotes establishes whether the views were shared across different stakeholder groups, since the reference will show if points were made by various interviewees.
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