4.1.2. Research procedure

2c) Were the challenges related to their language proficiency in Polish or English? Research question 3: What factors had the greatest impact on their final positive or negative assessment of their stay in Poland?

4.1.2. Research procedure

Analytical data was collected by means of 53 narrative interviews conducted in Poland in May and June 2018 (n = 28) and in May and June 2019 (n = 25). The audio recordings of the interviews total 892.36 minutes. An average session lasted 17.6 minutes (Min = 4.19 minutes; Max = 48.42 minutes; Me = 16.83 minutes).

To increase the comfort level of the study participants and ensure the authenticity of the sessions recorded, the interviewers assured the respondents that their identities would remain anonymous and that the material would be used only for research purposes. The recordings were transcribed verbatim, following the simplified transcription conventions developed by David Boje (1991), as presented in Appendix 1b. In each transcript6 , the researcher was marked as “I” (as in interviewer) and the respondent as “R” (as in respondent). The next step was to analyse the collected narratives. Pseudonyms were used when describing the research results.

The data was collected and initially analysed on an ongoing basis until the research sample was saturated, that is, until the collected data ceased to introduce new issues or points of view (cf. Charmaz, 2009). In a qualitative approach, the average sample size ranges from 20 to 30 interviews, depending on the type of research. For example, the sample size is 20–30 interviews in research based on the grounded theory, 5–25 in phenomenological research, and 30–60 in ethnographic research (Pasikowski, 2015). Due to the difficulties with defining the representative sample size, the decision to achieve saturation was based on the theoretical sufficiency principle (Dey, 1999, after: Charmaz, 2009).

The proper data analysis consisted of four main stages: 1. Stage one involved coding the interview transcripts and interview reports and a preliminary categorisation of threads and their quantitative summary in a spreadsheet along with the demographic data of respondents (Tables

A1–A8 in Appendix 2); 2. Stage two focused on research questions and its goal was to search for repetitive patterns and keywords. Events that were presented by the respondents as turning points, challenges or crises were important in the analysis process;

6 Sample transcripts of several interviews are available at: https://doi.org/10.47050/65591425.app

3. Stage three was qualitative. Once the patterns had been identified, an in-depth re-reading was carried out and each topic was explored to gain an insight into the process of building social meaning related to the respondents' experience of staying abroad; 4. Stage four consisted in drawing conclusions from the analysis and formulating recommendations.

To avoid the pitfall of distorting the respondents’ narratives that were shared in response to the questions asked, the interviewers tried to build good relations with the research participants (e.g. meeting before an interview; meeting in a pleasant place, sometimes at the interviewer’s place; interviewing respondents in a friendly, semi-formal way).

The purposive sampling and homogenous sampling techniques were used. This way the specific group of respondents who share common features was reached and a coherent respondent profile was obtained (cf. Dörnyei, 2007). It should be noted that this is a non-statistical sampling technique that rejects formal procedures of random sampling, which means that the generalisation of the results onto the entire population is not justified. Individuals qualified for the study were young adults (18–30), citizens of other countries, whose common experience was a stay in Poland under an international education programme.

An important element of the project was its intercultural and international context, which had a significant impact on the research process. Another decisive factor was the language of the interview itself. The interviews were conducted in English by trained interviewers (third-year students of applied linguistics) who, however, were not native speakers of the language. There were four exceptions where English was not the first language of the interlocutors either. Despite the interlocutors’ declared command of English on at least a communicative level, an interview in a foreign language definitely influenced the quality of the questions asked and the answers obtained. For example, the respondents had noticeable problems with the precise formulation of their thoughts and expressing themselves. Possible limitations in this respect were eliminated by the formula of the qualitative approach itself, which made it possible to ask questions repeatedly, as well as to clarify and paraphrase utterances. Language mistakes made by both the interviewers and the respondents, which sometimes made it difficult to understand the meaning of the narratives, were also a major barrier. It should be noted that, in accordance with accepted transcription rules, the original form of expression has been preserved, as is evident, for example, in the quoted excerpts. Sharing Monika Popow’s (2015, p. 88, transl.) opinion,