ABSTRACT
The study on which this book is based was carried out over a four-year period, between 2001 and 2005, and was sponsored by an Economic and Social Research Council grant. The study collected and analysed qualitative and quantitative data. This chapter discusses the methods of data collection and data analysis. The original study sourced data from BALPA officials and representatives, airline management and pilots at 24 airlines. For convenience of analysis, six airlines were selected from the three main market sub-sectors in the UK civil aviation industry. In order to compare airlines of the same market sub-sector, two airlines were selected from each. The full-service airlines, BA and bmi, were selected, along with two low-cost airlines, easyJet and Go, and two charter airlines, Britannia1 and Air2000.2 The research has utilised essentially four methods of data collection: secondary data collection, interviews, focus groups, and a largescale questionnaire survey.
