Questionnaire and coding for interviews with strategic and operational experts of an European Alliance of Universities

For a research about European Universities alliances we conducted semi-structured expert interviews following the approach outlined by von dem Berge (2020). This interview format allows for the integration of existing empirical insights on institutional change in higher education, as well as the relatively underexplored domain of institutional transformation within European university alliances. Positioned between fully structured quantitative surveys and fully unstructured data collection for theory generation, the semi-structured interview offers both theoretical grounding and methodological flexibility (von dem Berge, 2020, p. 278). For the purposes of this study, experts were defined as individuals playing an active strategic or operational role in their institution’s engagement within a European university alliance. The interview guide was adapted to reflect the specific roles of the participants, distinguishing between strategic and operational responsibilities. The structure of the interview guide was informed by the theoretical framework derived from the literature and organised into three thematic blocks, referred to as Transformations 1, 2, and 3. Questions within Transformation 1 (Missions and Expectations) and Transformation 2 (Organisational Structures) aimed to assess the current state of institutional transformation in light of trends identified in the literature. Transformation 3 focused on the specific challenges and opportunities related to alliance participation. This structure enabled us to explore how HEIs currently navigate broader transformation trends, while also identifying their perception of future developments in the context of their alliance membership. Furthermore, the design facilitates the formulation of analytical propositions on how general institutional transformation dynamics influence the ongoing development of the alliance itself. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis in line with Mayring (2014). Given the literature-based structure of the interview guide, the coding process combined both deductive and inductive elements. A coding scheme was first developed deductively, based on an evidence-informed literature review of institutional transformation trends in higher education. Subsequently, Mayring’s (2014, pp. 64ff.) summarising technique was applied to reduce the data to a coherent system of contextual sub-codes (inductive). Where applicable, we also employed Mayring’s (2014, pp. 66ff.) steps of paraphrasing, generalising/abstracting, and reducing.