The Role Of Immigrant Serving Organizations In The Canadian Welfare State: A Case Study

by
B. Saddeiqa Holder

| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Appendix | Bibliography |

CHAPTER FOUR

METHODOLOGY

Review of Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this descriptive study is an investigation into the role of immigrant serving organizations in the Canadian welfare state. A comparative review of theoretical and empirical literature on voluntary organizations in the welfare state reveals a preoccupation with: policy concerns such as the service delivery functions of voluntary organizations vis-a-vis state-provided services, and the consequences of state funding for these organizations. At the same time, a study of policy making and state/minority community relations in Canada reveals contradictory effects for both state and community. In synthesizing these two bodies of literature a fairly extensive picture of the range of influences in the immigrant service sector was attained.

In 1987 Indra commented that there were few detailed analyses of present day immigrant organizations, despite assertions that these organizations play an important role in the integration of immigrant groups. She also lamented the absence of any examinations of the political forces shaping immigrant communities. Since then Ng’s 1988 book, a case study of an immigrant women’s employment organization, was published. Ng uses a neo-Marxist framework to understand how the agency, in appearance an independent community organization, functioned as an extension of the coordinated activities of the state. While acknowledging the state to be an arena of contestation, Ng investigates how state funding serves to dissipate dissention and maintain class domination while meeting the practical need of immigrant women for jobs.

Agnew’s (1996) more recent review of immigrant women’s organizations is based upon interviews with community activists and service providers from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. One of the strengths of her book is its acknowledgment of the diversity among activists, and within communities and community-based organizations. She also acknowledges tensions such as: the middle class background of service providers in contrast to their working class clients; community workers who see their work as just a job while others see it as an expression of their political commitment; and racist behaviours towards residents exhibited by staff in shelters for immigrant women. As seen in the last chapter, Agnew contends that government funding blunts criticism and the espousal of radical or militant politics on the part of activists. (This is Agnew’s conclusion; it is not evident whether or not she asked her informants to comment on her perception.) Her finding contradicts my own experience of attending meetings (as a governmental representative) where community representatives were quite outspoken in their criticism of governmental initiatives.

The findings of both of these authors represent the conventional wisdom of left critiques, as expressed in the phraseology, "in the final analysis x predominates", where one may substitute for x a number of alternatives including the state, capitalism, the ruling class, etc. This kind of thinking is worrisome for its implied disempowering fatalism, despite the evident liberatory intentions of the authors. Ng writes, "As I see it, the analyst’s responsibility is to make visible the structural constraints within which groups have to operate" (Ng, 1988, p. 99). Perhaps Ng had greater expectations for the organization than members themselves had for the organization. As Agnew points out, some of the women working in these organizations see what they do as work, not as social change.

My perspective is to surface the "messiness" and resist easy conclusions about ISOs and the state. Thus in analysing the possibilities and limits to state support, close scrutiny is paid to liberal elements such as particular governmental actors and programs. In providing an account of the evolution of the welfare state and government policy on immigration and settlement I have taken a "polity-centred" (Skocpol, 1995) approach which, counter to the conventional wisdom of governmental antipathy to immigrants, underscores, for example, the continuation of relatively high immigration levels.

Questions guiding the inquiry are: what are the core features of ISOs, what factors explain these core features, what role(s) do ISOs play in meeting community needs, and what dynamics propel changes in the organization? A single case study approach was utilized to explore these questions.

Description of Methodology

Methodological discussions occur at varying levels of abstraction: in philosophical terms, in ideological terms, and in methodological terms (Smith, 1981). Level I, the disciplinary point of view, is that constellation of conceptual, value, social and philosophical elements which defines the nature of the phenomenon, the purpose of the discipline's activities and its social and historical context. Level II, the paradigm level, directs the nature of scientific or investigative activities. It is at this level that debates take place over experimental/naturalistic inquiry, between objectivist and subjectivist epistemologies. At Level III strategies are operationalised and theories are developed as to how research should proceed, resulting in research models. Finally at Level IV, the methods or techniques for gathering evidence are prescribed. The preceding literature review, a Level I discussion, has revealed predominant themes. The next section briefly reviews Levels II to IV in relation to case study research.

Case studies may be undertaken utilizing either quantitative or qualitative methods. Qualitative research is characterized by its use of words rather than numbers, allowing for highly contextualized studies which detail the natural setting where the research project is located, and permits a holistic appraisal that attends to all features of the experience (Sherman & Webb, 1988). Judgements or appraisals aimed at enhancing understanding are made through descriptions of phenomena and reasoned interpretations of the significance of phenomena. There is often a concern for depicting the situation from the perspective of those being studied in an attempt to better understand the phenomenon. Critical qualitative researchers may question those understandings, offering alternative understandings.

Among those engaged in qualitative research there are those whose approach is deductive and those who favour a more inductive strategy. Yin advises the prudent use of theory to develop propositions for guiding the research strategy and speaks of generalization in terms of the ability of the case to enhance theory (Yin, 1989). In contrast, Stake (1994) emphasizes the use of case studies where interest is not in theory building but in the intrinsic and the particular, the case or object of study. Yin accentuates the discounting of alternative explanations as a means of establishing internal and external validity. For Stake, the issue is to reduce misinterpretation through redundancy in data gathering and procedural challenges to explanations.

Stake’s constructivist approach underscores the reader's preexisting knowledge and individual reading of the case, and argues therefore that the researcher must provide grounds for validating observations and generalizations to try and ensure the transfer of knowledge. For Yin, the concern with validating observations stems from the need to satisfy "reliability" requirements, (i.e., that, following the same procedures, another researcher would replicate the findings). Common to both are: the existence of subsections (Stake) or units (Yin) within cases; the use of conceptual structures (Stake) or theoretical propositions (Yin) as an aid to knowledge acquisition; and triangulation (Stake) or multiple sources of evidence (Yin), etc.

A case study approach was well-suited to this inquiry because the study focuses upon the dynamics of one organization's interactions with various constituencies. Hence it is a well bounded system (Merriam, 1988). A single in depth case study reveals these dynamics where a multiple case study would yield an overwhelming amount of data and number of variables since there are clearly many salient dimensions to the question of how ISOs operate, including variables generic to the sector and particular to the organization. Following Stake's (1994) definition, this case study was undertaken for instrumental reasons ( i.e., to further an understanding of ISOs and to explore the relevance of certain theoretical issues to a particular setting, in this case, an immigrant women’s centre) and is, therefore, closer to Yin’s approach to case study research.

The Centre is located in the central-west part of the City of Toronto, has been in existence since 1976, originating in the activities of a group of immigrant women who had been meeting to address their employment needs. The length of the agency's existence makes it an appropriate research site in that the initial start-up problems common to new organizations have been overcome. It is a medium sized organization (10 full- and part- time, permanent and contract employees) which responds to both newcomer needs and those of immigrants beyond the initial settlement period. The Centre is typical of many ISOs in its core programs of initial settlement services (e.g., information and referral, language training, etc.) offered to Portuguese and Spanish speaking women. The Portuguese and the Spanish communities have resided in Toronto for different lengths of time with the Portuguese speaking community, unlike the Spanish speaking community, receiving little new immigration. Like other organizations commited to women, over the years the Centre has utilized the model of support groups as a preferred mode of service delivery because of its potential for consciousness raising. More atypical were its activities during the 1980s which included innovative initiatives such as a collective management structure, a nontraditional employment training program for immigrant women and an unsuccessful dressmakers' cooperative.

The choice of the Centre as a field site was the result of three additional factors: I knew some of the current staff members, having worked in immigrant services in Toronto for some ten years and had worked with previous staff members during the 1980s. I anticipated therefore that entry problems would be lessened. The organization had also been described as one that supported research initiatives. Finally, I wanted to study an organization that provided services in a language I possessed some facility in, in this case Spanish.

Design of the Study

The key questions in the research design are summarized in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Data collection

In September 1995 I contacted the interim Executive Director (a maternity leave replacement) who agreed to forward a letter of request to the Board of Directors. A few days later, my request was approved and the data collection process began. Initially, I familiarized myself with the Centre by attending staff meetings to introduce myself and become acquainted with the range of programs being offered. Having become somewhat familiar to staff and volunteers, I occupied myself by reviewing annual reports, and other documentation such as program evaluations, minutes of staff meetings, minutes of the Board of Directors meeting, etc. I attended the Annual General Meeting in November 1995 where I met some of the Board members I would interview. (See Appendix 1 for letters of introduction and interview guides.)

Both staff and Board members were approached first in a letter introducing myself, the purpose of the study, and outlining procedures for ensuring confidentiality. The five current staff members interviewed included the two Settlement Counsellors, the Direct Services Assistant/Welfare Worker, the Training Program Manager, and the Executive Director. Names of board members (four) were suggested by the Interim Executive Director, and included the outgoing President of the 1994/95 Board (Portuguese speaking), the incoming President of the 1995/96 Board (Portuguese speaking), a non-immigrant Board member, and a Spanish speaking Board member. The history and early dynamics of the Centre were related by a past Board member, and a former client/Board member/staff member.

Two funding representatives, one of federally funded English language training classes, and the other, a provincial project officer for a joint federal/provincial employment training program were interviewed (one in person and the other by telephone). I also attended an agency visit (a meeting with the settlement staff) by a representative of a major funding body. The mainstream or generic service providers contacted were an organization the Centre has worked with for over ten years and an educational institution with whom the Centre cosponsored a 28 week training program. One of these interviews was conducted in person and the other telephone. Notes were taken for telephone interviews. All face to face interviews were tape recorded and transcribed.

Interviewing clients proved challenging. Speaking only limited Spanish and no Portuguese, I paid a part time staff member and former placement student to contact clients to explain the purpose of the study and to invite them to a focus group interview. Names of clients were provided by the settlement counsellors. TTC tokens and refreshments were provided for the women, and in the case of the Spanish speaking women, a small donation was made to their support group. Seven Spanish speaking women attended the focus group held at the library across the street from where the Centre is located. In the Spanish speaking group the women were interviewed by a volunteer from the Centre who had translated my questions. We decided that if the women had anything critical to say, they would be less likely to say it in the presence of a staff member, hence the choice of a volunteer. The focus group was tape recorded and translated later on. Since I speak some Spanish I was able to follow some of the discussion.

The Portuguese women were harder to reach. A group of twenty women were contacted by a Portuguese student who had completed her community work placement at the Centre during 1995/96. Eight promised to attend and two women were unsure. We estimated that five or six would come. Only two women attended. Again the questions were posed in Portuguese and tape recorded. Having no comprehension of Portuguese, I was fully dependent upon the translation of the tape. With the help of the settlement counsellor, and the 1996/97 placement student, a second focus group was arranged. Although two women attended, one had to leave because of a family emergency. To supplement the three interviews, I was given permission to use the evaluation data collected in questionnaire format by the Centre during September and October 1996.

Data Analysis

Several methods for qualitiative data analysis are recommended in the literature. For example, Miles and Huberman (1984) outline a variety of techniques such as clustering, matrices, metaphors, splitting variables, factoring, triangulation, etc. Tesch (1990) offers detailed steps in developing an organizing system for unstructured data, first by listing topics according to content, then clustering topics, then grouping them to establish categories as the basis for more interpretive codes. The data is then reexamined in light of these codes. Merriam (1988) describe Lincoln and Guba's (1985) approach, that is, to "unitize" the data by marking units of information which are then sorted in relation to each other.

The search for both specificity and generality entailed considering the data in its own right (the Centre as its own complex reality) and also in relation to theory and themes arising in the literature review. With regard to the latter, certain questions were central to the interview protocols, for example, client needs, relationships with funders and other community and mainstream organizations. After the document review and as the interviews proceeded, questions pertaining to the Centre’s particular dynamics were added, for example, the issue of the different service needs of Portuguese and Spanish speaking clients, and the tensions around the level of services and workers for the two communities.

The first step in the data analysis involved reviewing documents such as minutes of meetings, evaluation reports and the like. Notes and photocopies were taken when the content was related to themes guiding the study. These documents also alerted to me to additional queries for the interviews and likely key informants. For example, it seemed appropriate to interview a representative from a mainstream organization that the Centre had been involved with for some time.

Because the interviews were semi-structured a fairly "straightforward" method seemed appropriate. Transcripts were first labelled or coded according to content, then cut up and sorted into file folders. Each unit of information was marked making it possible to identify the speaker and where the unit was excerpted from in the interview. The units of data within each folder were then sorted in relation to each other. Where units of data applied to more than one theme, these were photocopied and placed in the appropriate folder. The units of data from the document analysis were also placed in the same folders. As will be seen in the next chapter, in triangulating the data I have utilized published literature, document analysis and interviews.

Back to Top

Virtual Library		Updated February 09, 2004