Page 21 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION 19
 mean that they are immune from gender inequalities and discrimination, as shown by the lack of their presence in prestigious positions, even where women represent the majority of staff members (Murgia & Poggio, 2018). I collected the data for this dissertation in a university in the Netherlands. The case study university is a mid-size university in the Netherlands that comprises multiple faculties. I conducted a case study in an SSH (Social Sciences) faculty and a sub department of a STEM (Natural Sciences) faculty.
All involved departments gave their commitment to the GARCIA project, which included that data would be made accessible to the research teams and departmental staff could be contacted to ask for participation in the data collection process. The project lasted three years (from February 2014 till January 2017) and involved multiple research methods.
The GARCIA project also had an action research component, as its aim was to develop or improve academic departments regarding gender equality by working closely together with the employees in the departments. As such, the project resulted in various toolkits and interventions. These interventions are not part of this dissertation.
Research approach
In order to study the (re)production of inequalities in the recruitment and selection of early-career researchers I take a social constructionist perspective. This perspective challenges the notion of an objective or even subjective reality (Dick & Nadin, 2006). It perceives the social world as constructed by individuals through discourses and social practices (Cohen, Duberley, & Mallon, 2004; Dick & Nadin, 2006). The focus of enquiry of social constructionist studies should therefore be on interaction, processes, and social practices (Young & Collin, 2004).
Discourses can construct identities, relationships and practices. They are embedded in work-based practices and reproduce dominant power structures (Dick & Nadin, 2006) and therefore, studying discources can uncover hegemonic processes in organisations (Janssens & Steyaert, 2018). Social practices are understood as simultenously discursive, embodied and material (Nicolini, 2017; Sandberg & Tsoukas, 2016, as cited in Janssens & Steyaert, 2018). Therefore, practices study the social beyond discourses, texts and communication (Janssens & Steyaert, 2018).
In order to study discourses and social practices from a critical perspective, a qualitative orientation is the most appropriate method, as it “allows for in-depth, inductive and exploratory approaches to studying phenomena” (Jeanes & Huzzard, 2014b, p. 11). I will use a qualitative comparative multiple-case study design in my
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