Design Science Research (DSR)

that were mapped throughout the research, like e-mail, telephone, skype, WhatsApp, and in person.

This research went through step 1 and reached step 2 as the final one. The steps are localized on the Process steps column. They are: 1- Awareness of Problem and 2- Suggestion.

On the next topic, these steps will be detailed. The Awareness of Problem 1 arises along the Exploratory Phase – UFMG – UMD. The Suggestion 2 occurs during the Empirical Phase – Data Investigation and UFMG Information and Communication Technologies Improvements Recommendations.

6.2.1 Methodological Procedures

This study used two methods of data collection. It is mixed-method research. First, at UFMG, there was a qualitative data collection instrument called PEC-G semi-structured interviews, followed by a data analysis, which combined with the literature interview and resulted in a survey, a quantitative data collection instrument.

At first, as described in Figure 9, semi-structured interviews with PEC-PG students were used as a pretest. Then, these data were analyzed using the methodological procedures of Content Analysis, which will be further detailed in the Data Analysis section. After this analysis, a survey was developed and sent by e-mail to UFMG Graduate Programs, disseminated through Facebook groups and the researcher networking contacts. This methodological approach is defined as an exploratory project, described in the following figure.

Figure 9 - UFMG International Graduate Students - Data Collection - Exploratory Sequential Project and DSR⁹

Source: Adapted from Creswell and Clark (2021).

Considering the use of Design Science Research presented in the figure above, the association of mixed data collection procedures is emphasized, according to the Exploratory Sequential Project, presented by Creswell and Clark (2013). Thus, Figure 10 above shows the interaction of the DSR and the Exploratory Sequential Project, considering theory and practice, in the presented studies.

6.2.1.1 Data Collection

The data collection happened through two procedures, Semi-structured Interviews, and a Survey. The semi-structured interviews were with PEC-PG International Graduate Students and International Graduate Students with different scholarships, called Other Programs.

The first data collection worked as a pre-test with five PEC-PG - Semi-structured interviews (CNPQ, 2019), followed by one Other Program – Semi-structured interview. Then, the results were analyzed, and the Survey (2020) was elaborated. The next step was to go

9 For better comprehension, the levels of the Exploratory Sequential Project will be called stages and of the DSR steps.

through UFMG COEP. The study followed by all the required documents were sent through Plataforma Brasil, a website that intermediates the contact with UFMG Research Ethics Committee (Comitê de Ética de Pesquisa – COEP). COEP approved the data collection in December of 2020.

Afterward, the Survey link was disseminated on non-official UFMG Facebook groups, while e-mails were sent to all UFMG Graduate Programs and the researcher’s networking contacts, using Facebook messenger, e-mails, and WhatsApp. While the Survey link was opened to receive responses, the three Other Programs - Semi-structured interviews were done.

In total, nine international Graduate Students were interviewed.

The Survey was opened to receive responses from 04/02/21 to 30/04/21. In the end, 57 Survey responses were collected and 51 were analyzed.

6.2.1.1.1 Semi-structured Interviews – Stages 1 and 3

This section will present two groups interviewed, PEC-PG - Semi-structured Interviews (five interviewees) on stage 1 and Other Programs - Semi-structured Interviews (four interviewees) on stage 3. A total of nine international graduate students were interviewed.

Since the personal data of UFMG students are considered sensitive and cannot be shared and disclosed under the institution's internal rules, faced with this limited access to international students, the researcher activated her network and got in contact directly with the students she knew, also asking for recommendations from other students.

PEC-PG – Semi-structured Interviews (Pre-test)

The first group interviewed was the PEC-PG – Semi-structured Interviews, as a pretest data collection, corresponding to stage 1 on Figure 9. Five international students were interviewed in this group.

As an instrument for primary data collection, interviews were conducted with five individuals in person, all of them had already been PEC-PG graduate students or still are. At the beginning of each interview, the interviewee read the Informed Consent Form, dated, and signed it. The interviews lasted an average of 60 minutes. They were recorded and later transcribed for analysis. The transcriptions were sent to the interviewees to be checked and changed, if necessary. After their approval, they sent the transcriptions back to the researcher by email.

It is noteworthy that the selection of individuals to be part of the corpus of interviews sought to respect the diversity of gender, origin, country, mother tongue, and graduate

hierarchical field level. The interview’s script is attached to this document in Appendix C. It was elaborated in Portuguese, based on the theoretical framework and the purposes of the study.

Martins and Theóphilo (2016) define an interview as a research technique for collecting information, qualitative data, and evidence whose primary objective is to understand and comprehend the meaning that interviewees attribute to questions and situations, in contexts that were not previously structured, based on the researcher’s assumptions and conjectures.

The semi-structured interview is conducted using a script but with the flexibility to add new questions, depending on how it flows. For Markoni and Lakatos (2017), the interview is more appropriate when there is a need to understand better the problem presented.

Other Programs – Semi-structured Interviews

The last group, corresponding to stage 3, included the Other Programs – Semi-structured Interviews, with students accepted at UFMG according to different Graduate Programs application processes and scholarships, mostly connected directly to their graduate programs.

Four international students were interviewed in this group, and all of them were Alumni students.

One interview happened in person in 2019, but the other three interviews were done during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, and due to health restrictions, they happened through Google Meet, a digital platform for online meetings. Before the interview, the Informed Consent Form was emailed to the interviewees, dated, signed individually, and sent back to the researcher. The interviews lasted an average of 60 minutes. They were recorded and later transcribed for analysis. Finally, the transcriptions were sent to the interviewees to be checked and changed, if necessary. After their approval, they sent the transcriptions back to the researcher by email.

6.2.1.1.2 Survey – Stage 4

As Marconi and Lakatos (2017) explained, a survey is a quantitative data collection instrument consisting of an ordered series of questions, which must be answered in writing and without the presence of the interviewer.

The survey was elaborated on Google Forms and based on the articles of Oh and Butler (2016, 2019). However, the questions were adapted considering the theoretical basis of this research, the context of Belo Horizonte/UFMG, and the PEC-PG pre-test – semi-structured interviews.

The first survey sample was sent to two interviewees to give feedback and track the time of responding to it. After their feedback, the changes suggested were made, and a final version was released.

The survey link was disseminated in two moments. In February of 2021, the first one was when the researcher sent an email with the link survey to all the UFMG Graduate Programs that covered the Master’s and Doctorate courses. Meanwhile, the researcher spread out the link using Facebook Messenger, email, and WhatsApp, sending it to her contacts. Then, an introductory explanation introduced the online questionnaire about the nature of the research, its importance, and the need for answers to raise the students' interest in answering it within the expected time. The duration of responding to the survey was of approximately 20 minutes.

The second moment the survey link was emailed to the Graduate Programs was in March of 2021. The same strategy described above was repeated. The Survey was opened to receive responses from 04/02/21 to 30/04/21. In the end, 57 Survey responses were collected and 51 were analyzed.

6.2.2 Data Analysis

This section will present the data analysis of the semi-structured interviews and the survey.

6.2.2.1 Semi-structured Interviews – Content Analysis and NVivo

The procedure used to analyze the answers of the interviews was the Content Analysis, which Bardin (2011) defines as:

It is a set of communications analysis techniques. It is not an instrument but a range of implements. Alternatively, more accurately, it will be a single instrument but marked by a wide disparity of shapes and adaptable to a vast field of application: communications (BARDIN, 2011, p. 37).

The questions were analyzed manually, and the categories defined as themes were identified. Afterward, each category was represented by a code created in the software NVivo.

After carefully reading the transcript of the interviews individually, the answers were correlated to each category/code defined in the previous procedure. The same answer could be connected to more than one code in many cases.

According to Bardin (2011), categorization is classifying constituent elements of a set by differentiation and gender regrouping (analogy) with previously defined criteria. The categories are rubrics or classes, which bring together a group of elements, in this case, record

units, under a generic title. Then, they are gathered due to the common characteristics of these elements. The categorization criterion used in this paper was semantic (theme similarity). They are justified in the speed and effectiveness of applying to direct and simple speeches. These steps were done, and a table was generated by carefully classifying it into the initial and intermediate category - level 1. This table is in Appendix G Nonetheless, and it summarizes the evolution of the categorization of questions and answers through thematic analysis:

Then, the categories/codes of NVivo were transcribed. The previously generated board served as the basis for the “coding” of each answer to the corresponding question. Finally, the reading of the answers was carefully repeated and connected to new categories/codes or disconnected, if necessary.

The analysis was made in Portuguese in the same language as the interviews. After this phase, there was a connection between phases 1 and 2, according to Figure 9. When analyzing the pretest interviews of the PEC-PG students, the quantitative data collection molds were defined, focusing on the research questions, through the elaboration of a survey. The results generated from the analysis of each interview and among themselves can be seen in the following section.

6.2.2.2 Survey – SPSS

Fifty-one survey responses were analyzed using the SPSS software. In section 7.2, the results are exposed.