Quality of data collection

To assess the quality of the data collected in our case study, Yin (2018) describes four principles which have been commonly used to establish the quality of most empirical social research. These principles are important to ensure that the methodology used in the research is of high-quality. The principles are also a good way of checking if the data collection has been done in a good manner (Yin, 2018). As case studies are considered to be part of empirical social research, the principles are also relevant to assess case study research. The four principles are:

• Construct validity. Identifying correct operational measures for the concepts being studied.

• Internal validity. Seeking to establish a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are believed to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships.

• External validity. Showing whether and how a case study’s findings can be generalized.

• Reliability. Demonstrating that the operations of a study, such as its data collection procedures, can be repeated with the same results.

Further, to maximize the benefits from the six major sources of data and strengthen the different types of validity and reliability of the study, Yin (2018) has developed four principles of data collection. The four principles are:

1. Use multiple sources of evidence 2. Create a case study database 3. Maintain a chain of evidence

4. Exercise care when using data from social media sources

In our data collection, we used multiple sources of evidence to triangulate our data. This tri-angulation was done by collecting data from different sources, which included interviews,

doc-umentation, meetings, and complementary sources on the Internet. These different sources are used to examine the same issue in the SC of the FP, which strengthens the construct validity of our study. Further, the procedures for how this data was collected has been described in this chapter, thus increasing the reliability of our study.

All data collected in the case study were stored in a case study database in the cloud.

This included recordings and transcriptions of the interviews, all documents provided by the case company, and notes taken during the meetings. The complementary sources from the Internet are already stored there, however, the information collected from these sources was also added to the database. This database enabled us to have the data in a retrievable form, which increases the reliability of the case study.

Moreover, to maintain a chain of evidence in the case study, we present the findings from the case study in the next chapter. Further, the analysis is based on these findings where we tried to identify causal relationships in the SC of the FP through building explanations to strengthen theinternal validity. Furthermore, to strengthen the external validity, we use the case study to examine if the suggestions from the literature can be applied in practice. Thus, maintaining the chain of evidence is important to be able to examine if these suggestions actually apply.

Furthermore, Yin (2018) states that most of the six sources of data can be represented by social media. In our case study, we used social media as a secondary data source, as we searched for additional data on the SC of the FP. However, we exercised care to avoid decreasing theconstruct validity and reliability of the study. This was done by asking for the same information in the interviews and meetings with the case company, as we had collected from the Internet.

This chapter has described case study research and our methodology for the case study which is an explanatory case study. This includes our sources of data and how we have used them to collect data about the case. The quality of our data has also been discussed. Further, the next chapter will present the findings from the case study based on the data we have collected.

4 Case study findings

This chapter will present the findings from the data collected in the case study. The findings are based on one company presentation, one information meeting, and two interviews with the case company, as described in chapter 3. Further, documents provided by the case company and complementary sources of data found on the internet have been used to support these findings. The case will first be presented, where the FP and both components are given a brief description. Further, the FP’s SC will be presented, where upstream, internal, and downstream operations are described.

4.1 Presenting the case

The case chosen in the thesis is the SC of an FP, which will be looked at from the perspective of the LF. This LF is an international technology and manufacturing company that produces equipment for the health sector. The FP is produced at the LF’s headquarter in Scandinavia, where it is sold globally, where the United States (US) is the largest market.

One of the LF’s most important products for healthcare training will be looked at as the FP in this thesis. The FP is a product used for healthcare training with many different functionalities, which is produced in three different colors which the customer can decide when they order. The FP is also highly complex as it consists of more than 1500 different components.

Further, the FP will be described, before the two components will be presented. These two components are used to analyze the upstream SC of the LF, where the suppliers of the components will also be looked at.