Anz Bank Research

Focus groups provide a rich and detail source of information. The purpose is to discover how they feel about a product, concept, idea or organisation. The views of one person may become the stimulus for another’s ideas or may start a useful discussion. People tend to be encouraged to talk when they realise that others have similar experiences and attitudes.

The method I chose for this analysis is in-depth interview. This ethnographic method will be best because it allows me to understand an

Qualitative method is using open-ended questioning, non-statistical research techniques, or value-based observations. In this research, three main methodologies are adopted as focus group, distributing questionnaires and conducting personal interviews simultaneously. Methods are all appropriate and contributed to a comprehensive research. The reason is that aim of this research is to acquire an in-depth understanding of

This is because it is an on-going observation and interview that will lead to interpretive analysis through themes, patterns and narrative synthesis among others. The method will lead to inductive findings through creative and critical reflection of the researcher. The situation therefore, requires an ongoing process so that the researcher may understand the situation through the changes that he or she observes in the course of time. This method is a journey in which experiences are built on the previous ones.

Flexible and inexpensive, focus groups consist of six to ten participants (Hartman, 2004, p. 408). Additionally, a moderator guides the discussion among its panel members that allows researchers to observe real-time verbal responses and nonverbal cues (Hartman, 2004, p. 402; Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 160). Focus groups moderators also have the ability to introduce new ideas to gain a greater understanding of concerns from respondents (Hartman, 2004, p. 402). However, a concern with focus group is the lack of anonymity due to the face-to-face participation.

The method of qualitative research become key method in the human and social science and also in the education and health science. The definition of qualitative research is a research using methods such as participant observation or case studies which result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting or practice. Sociologists using these methods typically reject positivism and adopt a form of interpretive sociology (Parkinson & Drislane,2011). It involves the research using data that do not indicate ordinal values. Furthermore, qualitative research includes the different kinds of data collection, techniques of analysis and diversity of theoretical frameworks (Guest; Namey & Mitchell, 2013). According to Creswell(2013) ‘’the final written report or presentation includes the voices of participants, the reflexivity of the researcher, a complex description and interpretation of the problem, and its contribution to the literature or a call for change.

In order to gather a lot of data, a focus group is recommended. According to Howitt D. (2013), an optimal focus group consists of six to ten participants (Howitt, 2013; Morgan, 1997). The fact that an experienced interviewer conducted the interview led to good control and desired data(Morgan, 1996). Furthermore, a thematic analysis provided a systematic overview of the results.

Commonwealth bank of Australia was founded back in 1911 by the commonwealth bank act that was in favour of bank nationalization. The bank started its first branch in 1912 in Melbourne and later joint hands with the state savings bank in Tasmania and a year later it was able to spread its branches in six different states. After 1920 the bank gradually expanded its role in central banking and along with time continued expanding and earning a good reputation in the market (Australia, 2014). Commonwealth Bank of Australia is also one of the multinational banks of the world that provides a number of financial services to its clients such as managing the funds, retail services, investment services etc. This group has also got itself listed in the Australian Securities Exchange as the top companies that have the objective of maintaining the total shareholder 's return in the upper quartile among the other listed peers over a period of five years (Austrailia, 2014).

Business researchers utilize various forms of approaches to analyze and obtain information and data, and two of the most popular approaches used are the qualitative research approach and quantitative research approach. Each approach can be beneficial or in some cases may cause inconclusive results depending on the type of research being conducted and what the nature of the study is. The following will assess two different peer reviewed articles: one which uses a qualitative approach and the other a quantitative approach. It

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was founded by the Commonwealth Bank Act on December 22, 1911, introduced by the Andrew Fisher Labor Government, Which favored bank nationalization. In a rare move for the time, the bank was to have both savings and general bank business. The commonwealth bank of Australia is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, USA and the United Kingdom. Commonly referred to as the commonwealth bank or commbank, it provides a variety of financial services including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment and broking services. The Commonwealth Bank is the largest Australian listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange as of December 2014 with brands including Bankwest, Colonial First State Investments Limited, ASB Bank INew Zealand), Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec) and Commonwealth Insurance Limited (CommInsure).

Since the researcher should follow a constant comparative method with the responses obtained, interviews are one of the best research approach to be adopted under this methodology. Additionally, it is with the use of interviews that the researcher can traverse through the theoretical codes of grounded theory that integrate the emerging theory with the research problems as depicted in Figure 2.

Qualitative research comprises of receiving information that gives a verbal expression of the participates, providing more detail and depth than quantitative studies. It can be used to analysis people’s attitudes and emotions towards a topic encouraging them to expand on their answers to explain the reasons behind why they gave a particular response. The drawbacks to this being as it requires more time to collect the data so smaller sample sizes

Carson et al (2001, p.114) refers to focus groups as “A research technique that collects data through group interaction on a topic or topics”. They also suggest that the central distinctive characteristic of focus groups is group interaction, which generates a mass of data, which would be

There are many situations that make conducting an interview the survey method of choice for a researcher. The interview can be completed face-to-face, either individually or as part of a focus group, or it can be completed by telephone. All of these methods allow a richer opportunity to gather information in a more open-ended fashion, allowing the interviewer to take note of body language, tone of voice, and other aesthetic aspects of the participant. Salant and Dillman (1994) recommend face-to-face interview surveys when respondents are unlikely to respond willingly or accurately in writing, when the questionnaire is complex, and when projects are well-funded and include professional, experienced interviewers. Face-to-face interviews are generally preferred over telephone interviews, since body language and other nuances can be more closely monitored. Ng and Coakes (2014) point out that not all the data collected will be numerical, and contextual and textual data can also be analyzed. Brace (2004) also makes note that being in the same room allows the interviewer to use prompt cards and other visuals that would be inhibited over the phone. Focus groups, on the other hand, allow the advantage of a face-to-face meeting while making good use of time and cost by having several people in the room together. This setting helps weed out extreme views, creates a forum for discussion and argument in a controlled setting, and can stimulate opinions and ideas through a group

Qualitative research methods are utilized to study the social and cultural phenomena. So it includes observation, participant observation (field work), interview sessions, documents and texts and finally the researcher’s imitations and feedback. [Myers, 2009]