Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
70
standards and trade in the country or region in question. The literature search was combined with a
review of the websites of the national standards body and any relevant government agencies. This
approach served to provide a the general outline for each of the case studies, and was helpful in
identifying the key issues to be addressed.
In the case of the OIC member states examined for the case studies—Bangladesh, Egypt, and Senegal—
the desk review was followed up with semi-structured interviews of key personnel in national standards
agencies and relevant government and non-governmental bodies. Interviews were conducted in person
during field visits, as well as by Skype if in-person availability was not possible for scheduling reasons.
Each interviewer from the project team used an instrument (Appendix 1) identifying the most important
areas in which information was to be gathered from interviewees. These areas provide the structure for
the interview, and ensure that each interview yields, at a minimum, comparable information on a
selected range of issues.
However, the semi-structured nature of the interview protocol meant that interviewees were not limited
to these pre-selected areas in their discussions with the interviewer: there was scope for them to impart
knowledge and opinions they consider important, and which helped contextualize the more
standardized findings from the structured questions. Officials responded well to the semi-structured
protocol, and provided extensive information upon which the case studies could be built. Many also
supplied relevant documentation, which was used to supplement what could be learned during the desk
review phase.
The approach to selection of case study examples is set out in Figure 34. In terms of the OIC case studies,
it is important to ensure that the approach is inclusive in terms of the OIC’s diverse membership—both
regionally and in terms of level of income and development. The case studies therefore cover both
developing and least developed countries, and involve one country from each of the OIC’s country
groups: the Arab group (Egypt), the Asian group (Bangladesh), and the African group (Senegal).