Figure 5 Educational qualifications of respondents

20 15 10 5

0

Figure5 Educational qualifications of respondents

Highest qualifications

1.4.2. Methods used in analysing across the different sectors

On completion of the specific studies in each of the three sectors (see Figure 1), we undertook a systematic analysis across the cases, drawing on the reports and also returning to the data. It is this analysis that informs this report. Firstly we undertook a systematic analysis across the sectors, and then focused on key dimensions we identified to inform our conceptual frame; namely integrated practice (entrepreneurialism, craft identity, and learning-to-learn skills), motivations, context and trajectory. Once we focused on the dimensions listed above, we quantified aspects of our qualitative data. We used this method to confirm our interpretation, and as a means to further access deeper insights and identify dominant and divergent patterns in the data. The process of undertaking this kind of analysis requires a tighter categorisation and naming its characteristics to identify the “identity variables”, trajectories, and other characteristics of these workers. This analysis confirmed the criticality of having well developed entrepreneurial, craft and learning to learn capabilities. We then went back to the dataagain to establish why different workers with different forms of integrated practice were experiencing different trajectories. This process confirmed and deepened our conceptualisation of motivations and occupational affordances and their importance for growth. Given the large number of qualitative interviews and the multi-faceted nature of the analysis, it is reasonable to assume our findings are generalisable with two important caveats. The first caveat relates to the nation of Singapore and its developmental and policy environment, which may make the experience of non-permanent work in

Singapore distinct compared to the experience in developed nations, particularly for those experiencing lower income (across all the sectors). The second caveat relates to our sample selection as we have selected only workers with contract or employment periods of one year or less, or with no contracts. Clearly, the closer the group is to our sample, the more generalisable our findings are to that group.This particularly applies to findings that relate to motivations and trajectories. However, given findings from international studies, we consider that our contribution of welldeveloped entrepreneurial, craft and learning to learn capabilities, mediated by motivations and context, and resulting in different trajectories at different points in time, are widely generalisable. New concepts we have introduced to the field such as “integrated practice” and “occupational affordances” offer rich potential for further development.