Data Collection and Analysis

69 combine the ‘calculus approach’ and the ‘cultural approach’ to explain how institutions affect behavior and why institutions persist over time (Hall & Taylor, 1996).

Moreover, the study is also aware of the difficulties in assigning causality in single case designs because of the limitations of the evidence and the underlying assumptions. However, those limitations are also shared by quantitative works (Rueschmeyer, 2003). When these or other problems in crafting explanations emerge, they are clearly stated.

Generalization is not the aim of explaining outcome process tracing; therefore it is possible that some systematic parts of the mechanisms could “travel”, but not the case-specific conglomerate.

Researchers, in the field, could also judge the findings of the particular case interested in relation to similar puzzles affecting other countries in Latin America or other regions.

However, this research leaves “the identification of universal or quite general problems”

(Rueschmeyer, 2003, p. 330) for further research.

70 With those premises in mind, the strategy and the instruments for data collection, during fieldwork, were prepared. The idea was to gather empirical information from all possible energy sources and diverse actors in order to use this as evidence to support or discard possible explanations. The strategy is explained in the next sections.

4.4.2 The Fieldwork Experience

Objectives, Activities, Duration and Location

The fieldwork was carried out from August 2013 to October 2013, in Costa Rica, with some additional information gathered in August 2014. The focus of the data collection was the reconstruction of the electricity trajectory from the perspective of relevant actors and institutions to answer the research questions. The collection of data from primary and secondary sources, as well as expert opinions, follows the activities of the Fieldwork plan, scheduled in a rather flexible manner.

Once in Costa Rica, activities started from the work package that focused on research covering the future perspectives of the national energy system based on interviews with experts. In this way, the research took advantage of experts’ knowledge, not only in terms of their area of expertise but also in terms of networking for potential future interviews. Subsequent to these first contacts, the subsequent weeks were intensively dedicated to interviewing other relevant actors, visiting projects, and participating in correlated events (e.g. forums and conferences).

Activities, from the work package, also focused on the data collection from other primary and secondary sources, such as laws and bill proposals at the National Assembly and various university studies.

Data Collection Methods and Instruments

Data collection, during fieldwork, followed the general analytical explanatory framework previously defined in terms of outcome, conditions and CM. This included gathering information on the different renewable energy sources supported in the country, the set of historical conditions, and the different mechanisms (e.g. efficiency, political power, and legitimation). The information compilation instruments included interviews, participatory observation and document analysis. The questionnaire and the list of interviewees by type of actors, institutions, and the period of comparison are included in Annexes 12.3 and 12.5.

Interviews

Forty-seven interviews were conducted, in total, through semi-structured or in-depth interviews that followed a general script to cover the topics of interests: actors’ decisions in different

71 periods of time according to different logics/mechanisms. This data collection method is also open ended, which allowed for other relevant topics to come up (Bernard, 2013). Moreover, using this method made it easier to adapt to the different types of actors considered.

The actors interviewed include: (1) a representation from the Energy Planning Sector who formulate policies and guidelines, (2) state investors, mainly the ICE who developed projects in the past and present from different energy sources, (3) private investors who built projects in the past and present from different energy sources, (4) civil society organizations, including environmental organizations, producers/users associations, chambers and international cooperation, and (5) politicians. Other interviews included experts and the media.

The questionnaire was made up of twenty-five open questions, separated into five sections, to guide the interviewees’ conversation. The first set of questions focused on aspects regarding the changing context or setting conditions, in the past, which might have influenced decisions between technologies. The second section gathered information on the type of technology they chose and the reason why this and not another was selected. Similarly, the third and fourth sections of the questionnaire presented choices on energy sources and the logics behind them.

Lastly, the final round of questions dealt with the future perspectives towards carbon neutrality in 2021.

These interviews shed light on the type of electricity projects and energy sources, supported by the different actors, in different periods of time. For example, in the interview held with the Costa Rican Association of Private Energy Producers (ACOPE), a non-profit organization created in 1990, they have been active, since then, in supporting a mix of technologies, also geared towards carbon neutrality. The arguments used in their decisions can be linked to efficiency, legitimation and political power claims.

Participatory Observation

Participatory observation is another data collection method that provides knowledge and allows the researcher to collect data, narratives or numbers “where the action is” (Bernard, 2013, p.

3010). During the fieldwork, in Costa Rica, three significant events, concerning Costa Rica’s energy system, took place and allowed to conduct observations form a participant’s standpoint (see Annex 12.4). The summits’ topics pointed towards the relevance of energy issues in the national agenda, with the additional advantage that each of them dealt with different topics, actors and energy sources.

The main objective was to collect viewpoints about the constellations of actors, their interests, and their claims or decisions’ logic. The first conference was “The National Forum on Clean

72 Energy ‘Jorge Manuel Dengo’ organized by presidential candidate Johnny Araya from the National Liberation Party (Partido Liberación Nacional, PLN). Throughout the meeting, there were statements and discussions concerning alternative energy developments. For instance, politicians stated their support to the Diquís hydroelectric dam, natural gas prospections, and solar energy as a future alternative.

The second seminar held was “The 1st Seminar on Development and Exploitation of Solar Photovoltaic Energy in Costa Rica” organized by the Costa Rican Association of Private Energy Producers (ACOPE), and the third meeting was “The 2nd Annual Forum on Prospects for LNG and Natural Gas in Central America” organized by the Institute of the Americas (IAS). These two events evidenced competing interests in the energy arena, supported by different actors, with varying economic and political resources.

The material gathered from these events included flyers, audio recordings, and presentations.

This observation method added insights to the research that otherwise would have been difficult to attain, for example, politicians’ and higher officials’ interests from the energy planning sector (e.g. the Ministry of Environment). These empirical evidences provided information on political power interests and legitimation aspects.

Policy Documents and Archives

Primary and secondary information, from documentary sources (laws, sector statistics, national and energy plans, sector regulations, norms and surveys), concerning the electricity sector were used as additional sources of evidence to complement empirical information. For instance, they included liberalization laws from the 1990s and bill proposals from 2010 that state the motivations and general interests of those supporting them. Other secondary sources included authors’ analyses on social movements linked to electricity and market reforms, in general.

This information was gathered from the National Assembly (legislative commissions and archives), digital archives from the Energy Direction of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Planning, as well as documents from regulatory offices and university libraries. Additional bibliographical information was collected through conversations with relevant actors. Data gathered from these sources included sector statistics and national energy plans that provided information on efficiency claims, while laws and bill proposals complement information on political power interests and legitimation aspects.

73 4.4.3 Data Analysis

After three months of fieldwork, the data analysis phase began. The first step was the organization of the empirical material gathered in Costa Rica, which included interviews, policy documents, reports and articles, together with secondary literature reviewed in different phases of the research process. These materials were consolidated according to type of actor, type of technology or energy source, and the relevant theoretical explanation (e.g. logics of efficiency, power and legitimation). The systematization of information was compiled in a simple data spread sheet.

Following the methods of institutional analysis and process tracing, the empirical information was organized by period of time in order to build the case’s story line as a sequence of events.

The main goal was to identify critical junctures and their association with causal mechanisms that triggered the choices between energy technologies during different time periods. The qualitative analysis of interviews and documents was supported by the use of Atlas.ti (i.e.

qualitative data analysis software used to extract meaning from text, image, audio, and video).

This software was basically used with the objective of clustering the argument lines by period of time, actors, technologies and mechanisms, whenever possible.

Assessing Explanations

In theoretical terms, predictions, from competing explanations of the outcome, are assessed by contrasting them with evidences of the case through the process tracing method. Therefore, the explanation assessment is based on two criteria: one is its adequacy to explain the case (according to research questions), and the other is whether or not the elements of the theory work as predicted. The procedure is based on the triangulation of results from the various information sources (interviews, documentary information and observation material), as well as contrasting the theoretical predictions between each other. In this way, the empirical results were scrutinized and evaluated until sufficient explanations of outcome are crafted.

Moreover, the accuracy of the assessment is improved by increasing the number of observation periods. This is done by comparing decisions in different periods of time and contrasting them among different alternative renewable sources. In this regard, the analysis is separated into three time periods when technological developments occurred:

a) Before 1990: for the origin and consolidation of hydroelectricity in the National Interconnected System.

b) Between 1990- 2014: besides hydroelectricity, new electricity generation sources were incorporated in the National Interconnected System. They include geothermal fields,

74 wind energy parks, and biomass electricity stations. The first solar energy installations, at larger scales, were connected to the National Interconnected System in 2010.

c) Towards 2021: different routes leading towards carbon neutrality.