The GOETE Consortium Meeting was held in Turku, Finland, from June 29th to July 02nd 2010. Prof. Dr. Risto Rinne, head of the Finnish team, welcomed as many as 40 representatives from all partner teams who attended the meeting to discuss research related issues such as comparative analysis and dissemination strategies of the GOETE project. Turku was a particularly convenient place to meet, since the city hosts the European Capital of Culture 2011.
One topic pervading all discussions during the Turku meeting was the preparation of comparative analysis.
Comparative analysis enables analysis of how local, regional, national, and supra-national levels interact and how EU policy is interpreted and implemented by different actors across Europe.
GOETE addresses the research question by adding different components of quantitative and qualitative data collection that allow for an articulation of different perspectives. The coordinators of the different research components developed proposals for the design of the respective research tools including an operationalisation of the main themes of the project in order to be addressed in surveys, qualitative interviews, and document analysis with different actors. These proposals were discussed within the whole network and subsequently developed further among the partners involved in the respective work package. Nevertheless, the individual country and disciplinary contexts in which the coordinators of the research may be still influential which meant that design and questions had to be modified in some cases at country level. The comparative analysis of these data needs to take these contextual variations into account. In order to be able to make statements valid for the different national contexts, the tasks for comparative analysis will include re-translating the dimensions of operationalisation necessary for data collection back to the general research themes.
The general meeting was preceded by a meeting of the Young Researchers Group in which the young researchers involved in the GOETE project attended a Capacity Building workshop on methodology provided by Prof. Dr. Susan Robertson, from Bristol University and discussed current issues concerning the research activities in which they are involved in GOETE.