Executive Summary
Gaining knowledge in every sphere of life requires certain skill which starts from asking specific questions about that field and then carrying out a research on what you intend to know. This research comes in many ways, styles, types and approaches. One of such researches is a business research which this essay is going to dwell on. This paper focuses on mixed method, qualitative and quantitative methods which are the main style of carrying out a business research. The essay evaluates different approaches stating the features, advantages, disadvantages, and suggested improvements of each method with classical examples from scholarly journal articles to back up the literature for each method. The structure of analysis was more of evaluation and less of arguments as all the approaches mentioned are ideal for specific research purposes depending on the area of need.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
A research increases knowledge on a particular field whether its business, science or otherwise and could mean different things to different people (Collins and Hussey, 2009). A research question is what the research tries to solve through investigation and enquiry. However, business research tries to solve management problems. Problem solving is a key role in a business research which reveals answers to issues when conducted (Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler, 2011). When researches are conducted the results are used to formulate policies, action plans and performance indicators for organizations, businesses, institutions etc. A good business research has the following components: research design, clear analysis, highly ethical, defined purpose, limitations are seen, present findings and conclusion is justified (Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler, 2011). Business research papers are conducted following three main approaches to methodology which are qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. This paper is going to discuss these research methodologies and try to analyze journal articles to support each method.
2.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
Bryman and Bell (2011) described research methodology as an approach for data collection. It is one of the first things to consider when carrying out your research. The type of research method a researcher embarks on is primarily based on the purpose and the paradigm in which the research intends to explore or research about (Collins and Hussey, 2009). However, different researchers can come up with ideas which they want to pass on to the public on specific areas using discussions, and arguments to make a case but in disseminating this information or findings, it is done in a certain manner which could be reportive, descriptive, predictive or explanatory (Chen, 2016). They are three main methods used in research which I will be discussing below and these are quantitative (deductive), qualitative (inductive) and mixed method.
2.1 QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY
Qualitative methodology is particular about understanding the behavior of humans from a participant point of reference. It is a strategy that places importance to the use of words as against quantity in data analysis (Bryman and Bell, 2011). More focus is on the meaning gotten from the phenomena by using interpreting style to describe phenomena (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005). This approach ensures a description which persuades the reader by showing that the researcher was immerse in the setting and gives the reader enough detailed analysis of the situation (Firestone, 1989). It realities are socially defined, inductive (interpretivist), and constructionist in nature. The manner of information gathering in qualitative research is penciled down to the following methods: ethnography, interviews, focus groups, conversation analysis, discourse, text and documents. The use of these methods in information gathering is that it gives a clearer purpose of understanding the phenomena with regards to people experiences. It shows the human side of issues in relationship to emotions, beliefs, behaviours, opinions etc (Northeastern University, 2015)
Just like there are benefits to a particular strategy or approach, there are also some underlying issues which some researchers have identified with this approach. One of this is that qualitative research is too subjective in nature. Notwithstanding, others researchers are of the opinion that this method cannot be reproduced being that the study is mainly unstructured and not transparent.
2.2 QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY
This has to do with hypothesis. It can be seen as a positivist phenomena which the behavior can be explained and expressed through facts that are objective (Firestone, 1989). Quantitative methodology can be termed number crunchers and uses a deductive approach in expressing relationship. It also entails developing the research and testing the hypothesis. Information gathering here includes the use of surveys, experiments, historical data, content analysis and observations (Chen, 2016). Quantitative research is less in depth but contains more information on several cases using statistical test for analyzing. Instruments and measuring devices are used to get out information from the data sets (ORAU.GOV, n.d).
However, there are some negativity with this deductive approach style that research experts have identified. These include accuracy and precision in the measurement processes being used and accurate knowledge of respondent being used in the survey (Bryman and Bell, 2011). They is also the view that researcher turn a blind eye on differences that has to do with natural world and the social aspects when investigating (Bryman and Bell, 2015).
2.3 MIXED METHODOLOGY
This has to do with the combination of inductive and deductive aspects in a single piece of research paper or project. This has gained increasing relevance in recent years as researchers try to bridge the gap between qualitative and quantitative methods by using the two phenomena in one research work (Johnstone, 2004). However, some researchers argued that this approach of combining the two paradigms is not possible as the two paradigms are incompatible because combining questionnaires and observations does not literally put the paradigms together (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
In mixed methodology, more investigative study is carried out which gives the research work more concepts. Moreover, because of its plural nature of using double research methods, it gives the research work an advanced result (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004).
3.0 DISCUSSION, ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
Based on the literature earlier discussed, it is up to the researcher to cautiously consider the approach or approaches that will sooth his or her research work. These methods are neither good nor bad but depend on what the research considers necessary to use for that particular research which is justified at the end of the work.
3.1 QUALITATIVE JOURNAL
Academic journal used for analysis: “Why users contribute knowledge to online communities: An empirical study of an online social Q&A Community†(Jin et al., 2015).
This journal article talks about exploring knowledge contribution in online Q and A communities by users on a continuous basis. The research is based on three theories which are social exchange theory, social cognitive theory, and social capital theory. A Chinese Q&A community known as zhihu was used in getting the data for this study. A random selection of 1500 Zhihu community members were selected of which only 1006 were used and they were monitored from 15th march – 22nd June 2014 (approximately 100 days). This study uses an ethnographic approach to study the sample, observe their behavior and listen to their conversation (Bryman and Bell, 2015). It observed that the three theories used in this study play a significant positive role in knowledge contribution behaviours. However, what this study has done is that it has advanced the knowledge of social exchange theory to online social communities. Also, it has maintained the online market for attention and knowledge exchange thereby serving as a guide for the development of social online Q&A communities.
Some of the issues the researcher faced in carrying out the study were on areas such as the diverse nature of the online communities which made it difficult to fully get information from some constructs. In addition to this, useful information was not captured in the website used.
3.2 QUANTITATIVE JOURNAL
Journal Article used for the Evaluation: “Factors influencing business intelligence (BI) data collection strategies: an empirical investigation†(Ramakrishnan, Jones and Sidorova, 2012).
This research work explores the pressures that affect relationships between organizations that have a strategy for BI data collection and the main aim for implanting BI. It proposes a model which is tested based on three theories: purpose of BI, institutional theory and competitive pressure. Surveys were used to test the model and measurement based on research materials on this field which was studied and interpreted. Respondent used were sixty three (63) BI managers in several organizations in the United States. The respondent had between 10-11 years experience in IT and BI roles. Partial lease squares (PLS) was used in testing the hypothesis. The strategy for data collection includes problem driven and comprehensive approaches. Also, this research paper looked at purposes of BI which are transformation, insight, and consistency. Quantitative approach is beneficial in this study as it has provided a model and those motivational factors used to understand BI with regards to large data collection. Also, it gives business managers a clear picture on the type of model to use for data collection in order to achieve their objectives for BI. There were some limitations to this paper that can be looked into for further research such as the factors used in the research and the sample size used.
3.3 MIXED METHOD
The article used for analysis: “Towards business intelligence systems success: Effects of Maturity and Culture on analytical decision making†(Popovic et al., 2012).
This article focused on examining relationships that has to do with analytical decision making, quality of information, maturity and using information for making decision which is the key element in business intelligence systems. One hundred and eight-one (181) organizations data were analyzed using structured equations and descriptive statistics models. A survey was done on the four elements this study is about. Triangulation of information is used here to solve issues by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The large response of 181 managers was good for generalization. Interviews were conducted on a different set of focus group to ascertain face validity where the results were not used in the actual research work but served as a guide in testing the Managers responses. Total numbers of survey data collected were 1329 and the organizations information used for the research was gotten from public records. The research approach used in this article closes the gap for flaws in the research (Jankowicz, 2005) as it uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
A major issue with using this method is the occurrence of mistakes as it is very difficult to use both methods successfully without errors.
4.0 FINDINGS/CONCLUSION
The findings in this essay provide a good understanding into how the three research methodologies- qualitative, quantitative and mixed method are used. A lot of knowledge was gained on the usefulness of the different approaches and how to use them in future to carry out quality research. However, they were no specific approaches which were better than the other as different approaches fit into specific research scenarios.
In conclusion, this paper looked at the different views in research methods based on literature from various researchers. It talked about the different approaches, their features, advantages and limitation. It also analyzed different journal article with respect to the different approaches used in the paper. Critical review was done on the type of approach used, style, benefits, disadvantages and what was learnt
5.0 REFERENCES
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