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This research is conclusive in nature and uses qualitative data gathered in semi-structured interviews with crowdfunders, as well as documentation of crowdfunding sites and interviews with board members of crowdfunding platforms. ‘Qualitative research is an amorphous, multi-dimensional field which forbids any easy single definition or set of definitions’ (Morrison, 2014, p. 328). Saunders et al. (2016) argued that this method is preferred when the researcher wants to explore and gain a better understanding of the subject. Using multiple independent data sources is called triangulation (Saunders et al, 2016), and it is used to ensure different angles are taken into account.

4.1 Data Collection Methods

Semi-structured interviews have an open structure; there is a guideline, but the researcher can ask the interviewee more in-depth questions (Bartholomew, Henderson, & Marcia, 2000). The researcher chose semi-structured interviews because they provide insight into the respondents’

perspectives regarding an experience related to the research problem (McIntosh & Morse, 2015). These interviews help the researcher to obtain a broad understanding of why the respondents make their choices and what their ideas are (the ‘why’, ‘what’, and ‘how’). The interview questions are listed in Appendix III. They are constructed in such a way that the first questions give the respondent time to use their imagination, and this is narrowed down to the topics of interest. With the first question, the researcher can gain insight into the motives of the investors to invest in crowdfunding.

All respondents are contacted via email or via telephone, asking them to participate in this research. The researcher ensures that the interviewees are at ease, in their natural environment,

28 and can speak freely about their experiences of their investments. The interviewees cooperate voluntarily and are chosen by purposive selection, via the network of the researcher.

4.2 Preparation

Possibly the most important element in conducting semi-structured interviews is preparation.

The researcher should know what they are talking about in order to get the right answers and more in-depth research (Saunders et al., 2016). The researcher read the literature on the research topic and contacted several professionals in crowdfunding. This includes founders of platforms, entrepreneurs who performed a successful campaign, employees of various platforms, regulatory offices such as the DNB and AFM, and news articles about crowdfunding. The researcher chose not to send any information to interviewees other than the aim of the research and the research problem. The researcher wants real answers from the respondents and not prepared, socially acceptable answers.

4.3 Reliability and Validity Measures

This paragraph evaluates the research method and provides an overview of the reliability and the validity of the research. In addition, the ethical concerns are described.

4.3.1 Reliability

The reliability of the construct determines how consistent results are across measurement. The level of reliability depends on whether it is possible to obtain the same results by replicating this research (Saunders et al., 2016). A high level of reliability is preferred, as it shows the trustworthiness of the analysis. Because qualitative studies use a non-standardised method and a small sample, they are not necessarily generalisable. In this research semi-structured

29 interviews are used, the interviews are recorded, transcribed, and sent to the respondents to approve. This guarantees that the collected data is reliable.

4.3.2 Validity

The validity refers to the question: do your constructs indeed measure what they purport to measure? In other words, is the data collected relevant for answering the research problem? Is the analysis of this data accurate? Saunders et al. (2016) distinguished between internal and external validity.

4.3.2.1 Internal Validity

Internal validity refers to the degree to which a theoretical model captures actual cause and effect relationships. The setup of the interviews (semi-structured) leaves room for the interviewer to ask probing questions if the respondents’ answers are incomplete or not satisfactory to the interviewer; this strengthens the internal validity (Saunders et al., 2016).

This is also done to prevent the researcher from misinterpreting the answers. To support the confidence of this research, the researcher ensures that the results are the outcome of a legitimate process (Bauer & Gaskell, 2000). Another problem that can arise is the way respondents perceive the questions. Although the researcher checked the questions in advance with a professional and did a pre-test with several interviewees, still there is a possibility for the respondents to misunderstand or misinterpret a question. If this was the case, the researcher provided extra information about the question in order to get the right responses to the questions. The researcher also tries to improve the internal validity by phrasing each question similarly to each respondent. Lastly, the researcher tried to avoid leading and guiding questions to make sure the respondents are not influenced by the interviewer.

30 4.3.2.2 External Validity

External validity refers to the question of whether the results can be generalised. This research is conclusive and therefore qualitative of nature, meaning that it uses a relatively small sample, which makes it hard to generalise (Gehman et al., 2018). Generalisability determines the extent to which conclusions can be held valid across the population. The purpose is to explore this new phenomenon, gain insight into the differences between men and women concerning the phenomenon, and come to a conclusion as to how to deal with these differences.

To summarise, there might be issues in qualitative research which can decrease the reliability.

As mentioned above, these issues are difficult to solve and therefore it can be hard to measure the level of reliability. However, the researcher believes that the necessary work has been done to limit the issues concerning reliability.

4.3.3 Ethical Considerations

In research, there can be ethical challenges. The researcher had to ensure the interviewees were at ease; in doing so, the researcher choose to conduct the interviews on a location of the interviewee’s choice. At the beginning of each interview the researcher ensured the interviewees were aware that the interviews would be recorded, treated confidentially, and anonymized. Thereby, interviewees would feel at ease to speak freely about their experiences.

The interviewees cooperate voluntarily and are gathered by the network of the researcher. The first contact with the respondent is via mail or telephone. Here the researcher tells why the interviewee is selected and the reason of the research. At the beginning of each interview the researcher tells the interviewee (again) that the interview will be recorded and that the interview is anonymous.

31 4.4 Case Study

When conducting research, it is important to choose an appropriate strategy to achieve methodological coherence. This research uses a multiple case study in order to attain an in-depth understanding of the differences between male and female investors in crowdfunding.

Benefits of a multiple case study are that the researcher can analyse the data within and across the cases. This is done to gain a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cases and therefore provides more compelling results (Yin, 2014). The evidence from a multiple case study is seen as strong and reliable, and the researcher can describe if the outcomes are valuable or not. The researcher believes a multiple case study is suitable for this research as there are two groups, men and women, under study. If the research only included one group, not all the elements are included, and one could not write a correct conclusion from the results. Yin (2014) distinguished case study designs in holistic and embedded case study designs. This research uses a holistic design.

This thesis uses qualitative data gathered via semi-structured interviews with crowdfunders.

There are interviews with eight male crowdfunders and seven female crowdfunders. Besides the crowdfunders, information about Dutch crowdfund platforms will be analysed. The information gathered from the platforms is used to check if they see the same characteristics as this research findings. Additionally, they can provide general information about the (crowdfunding) market and determine they decide which campaigns to accept.

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