Chapter 4

1. Research Methods for Business Students Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill Chapter 4

2. Chapter 4 Deciding on a Research Approach and choosing a research strategy

3. Key Topics • To outline the key assumptions of the positivist, interpretivist and realist research philosophies. • To distinguish between two main approaches to research: deductive and inductive. • To identify the main research strategies and explain why these should not be thought of as mutually exclusive.

4. continue • To explain the benefits of adopting a multi-method approach to the conduct of research. • To explain the concepts of validity and reliability and identify the main threats to validity and reliability. • To understand some of the main ethical issues implied by the choice of research strategy.

5. 4.1 Differing approaches to research • The research process “onion:” • Research philosophy • Research approaches • Research strategies • Time horizons • Data collection methods • See figure 4.1 in page 83

7. First: Research philosophy: RPh. Includes • Positivism: The stance of the natural scientist In this case you will prefer to work with an observable social reality, such as physical and natural sciences.

8. 2. Interpretivism: The role of the interpretivist to seek to understand the subjective reality of those that they study in order to make sense of and understand their motives, actions and intentions. The interpretivist would argue that generalisability is not of crucial importance.

9. 3. Realism This philosophy Based on the belief that a reality exists that is independent of human thoughts and beliefs. Business and management search is a mixture positivist and interpretivist, perhaps reflects the stance realism

10. Choosing a research approach The research approach includes: 1. Deduction: testing theory: 2. Induction: building theory.

11. 1. Deduction: testing theory المنهج الاستدلالي أو الاستنتاجي It is more related to positivism, and owes much to what we would think of as scientific research. It is also the dominant research approach in the natural science. It involves the development of theory that is subjected to a rigorous test.

12. Stages of deductive research • Deducing a hypothesis (a testable proposition about the relationship between two or more events or concepts) from theory. • Expressing the hypothesis in operational terms which propose a relationship between two variables. (How variables are to be measured)

13. continue • Testing this operational hypothesis, this will involve an experiment or any other form of empirical inquiry . • Examining the specific outcome of the inquiry. It either tend to confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification. • If necessary, modifying the theory in the light of the findings.

14. Deduction: testing theory Several important characteristics: • There is the search to explain causal relationships between variables. • Concepts need to be operationalized in a way that enables facts to be measured or examined quantitatively.

15. characteristics • This approach controls to allow the testing of hypothesis. • Generalization, is an other characteristics of deductive approach.

16. 2. Induction: building theory الأسلوب الاستقرائي أو التنصيبي the researcher in this approach depends more on the qualitative data and to use a variety of methods to collect these data in order to establish different views of phenomena.

17. Why is this approach important • It enables you to take a more informed decision about your research design. • It will help you to think about those research approaches that will work for you and, crucially, those that will not.

18. continue • A knowledge of the different research traditions enables you to adapt your research design to cater for constraints. • These may be practical involving limited access to data and lack of prior knowledge of the subject.

19. Choosing a research approach • For major differences between deductive and inductive approaches to research, please see box 4.1 in page 89.

20. The need for a clear research strategy • Experiment • Survey • Case study • Grounded theory

21. research strategy • Ethnography • Action search • Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies • Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory studies

22. 1. Experiment • Definition of a theoretical hypothesis. • Selection of samples of individuals from known populations. • Allocation of samples to different experimental conditions.

23. continue • Introduction of planned change on one or more of the variables. • Measurement on a small number of the variables • Control of other variables.

24. 2. Survey • The survey strategy is usually associated with the deductive approach. • They allow the collection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way. • Using a survey strategy should give you more control over the research process.

25. continue • The data collected by the survey strategy may not be as wide-ranging as those collected by other research strategies. • The questionnaire is not the only way to collect data.

26. 3. Case study • A strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence.

27. continue • The data collection methods employed may be various. They may include questionnaires, interviews, observation, documentary analysis.

28. 4. Grounded theory • Data collection starts without the formation of an initial theoretical framework. Theory is developed from data generated by a series of observations. • These data lead to the generation of predictions that are then tested in further observations which may confirm. • We build theory from observation.

29. 5. Ethnography • It emanates from the field of anthropology. • The purpose is to interpret the social world the research subjects inhabit in the way in which they interpret it. • Although not a dominant research strategy in business, ethnography may be very appropriate in some cases.

30. 6. Action research • The strengths of an action research strategy are a focus upon change, the recognition that time needs to be devoted to reconnaissance, monitoring and evaluation and the involvement of employees throughout the process. • The action research spiral • See figure 4.2 in page 95.

31. 7. Time horizons • We should emphasize here that these time perspectives to research design are independent of which research strategy you are pursing.

32. a. Cross-sectional studies • It is probable that your research will be cross-sectional, the study of a particular phenomenon at a particular time. • We recognize that most research projects undertaken for academic courses are necessarily time constrained.

33. b. Longitudinal studies • The main strength of longitudinal research is the capacity that is has to study change and development. • Even with time constraints it is possible to introduce a longitudinal element to yourresearch.

34. 8. Exploratory, • Exploratory Study: A valuable means of finding out “what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light”.

35. Three principal ways • A search of the literature • Talking to experts in the subjects • Conducting focus group interviews

36. 9. Descriptive studies • Descriptive studies: It is necessary to have a clear picture of the phenomena on which you wish to collect data prior to the collection of the data.

37. 10. Explanatory studies • Explanatory studies: The emphasis here is on studying a situation or a problem in order to explain the relationship between variables.

38. 4.3 Using multi-methods • There are two major advantages to employing multi-methods in the same study. • Different methods can be used for different purposes in a study. • It enables triangulation to take place.

39. The credibility of research findings • Reducing the possibility of getting the answer wrong, means that attention gas to be paid to two particular emphases on research design, • Reliability • validity

40. First: Reliability It can be assessed by posing the following questions: • Will the measure yield the same results in another occasions. • Will another observation be reached by another observers. • Is there transparency in how sense was made from raw data.

41. First: Reliability Threats to reliability • Participant error • Participant bias • Observer error • Observer bias

42. Second: Validity Validity is Concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about. Is the relationship between the two variables a causal relationship.

43. 4.4 The credibility of research findings • Generalisability • Logic leaps and false assumptions: • Identification of the research population • Data collection • Data interpretation

44. 4.5 The ethics of research design • Need to consider the extent to which you should collect data from a research population that is unaware of the fact they are the subject of research and so have not consented.

45. 4.6 Summary • Three main philosophical positions in relation to research: positivism, interpretivism and realism. • Two main approaches to research are deductive &. inductive.

46. continue • The main research strategies are experiment, survey, case study, grounded theory, ethnography and action research. • Research projects may be cross-sectional or longitudinal. • Using multi-methods to research with different purposes served and that triangulation of results is facilitated.