Chapter 3- Research Methodology
This chapter will explain the key factors , variables and relationship among theories. It will also present detailed idea about how the research will be done. This will include the Research design, research strategy , data collection methods and data analysis. At the end of this chapter validity and reliability issues will be discussed to follow the quality standards of the research. Research includes any gathering data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge.
3.2 Research Design
The research design is the knowledge acquire, strategies and method that will lead to the research approach which are Qualitative, Quantitative research or Mixed (Creswell 2003). Each approach has its benefits and detriments and is more suitable to answering certain kinds of questions.
Qualitative Research
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It is generally done in interviews, open-ended questions or focus groups. Generally, there is a small number of participants that participate in this type of research because these type of research takes time and need many resources. Interviews can vary from being highly structured and guided by open-ended questions or be less structured and take the form of conversational interviews.
As there are few number of participants and as it costs so much for this type of research , the result from a Qualitative Research cannot be generalized to the whole population. Nevertheless, these type of research serves as a spring board for larger studies and deeper understanding that can inform theory , practice and specific situations.
It also uses strategies of inquiry such as narratives, phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory studies or case studies. The researcher collects open-ended , emerging data with the primary intent of developing themes from the data (Creswell 2003).
Quantitative
Research methods are “the various specific tools or ways data can be collected and analysed, e.g. a questionnaire, interview, etc.” (Neville, C, 2007).
A research design can be understood as the planning of any scientific research from the first to the last step. In this sense it is a program to guide the researcher in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting facts (Bless and Higson-Smith, 1995:63).
‘Employing a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a constructivist world view, has provided the means to generate rich, deep and contextualised understandings of the research issue, and an appreciation of the socially constructed and experienced realities of the participants.’ (Highfield 2012)
Qualitative research is subject to judgments about the data and synthesizes the findings using specialized approaches such as experimental or non-experimental. Researchers often opt to use non-experimental approaches in studies using surveys, interviews, observations, and case studies. Even though an experimental approach is appropriate in quantitative research, it further enables researchers to find answers and collect data (Bagozzi & Yi, 2012). This approach is unique in its hypotheses and the study of behavior, making it valid and reliable.
The type of research design that is used during this research is known as qualitative research. According to CIRT, “qualitative research studies can provide you with details about human behavior, emotions, and personality characteristic. “In this type of research method, emphasis is placed on natural settings and the participants
The philosophical assumptions associated with qualitative research influence formulation of the research question and the data collection process. Contrary to quantitative studies, qualitative studies are not numerical and may not begin with theory, hypotheses, and variables already developed. Instead, qualitative studies are exploratory, thus allowing for in-depth inquiry of people, experiences, and social situations in their natural settings. Therefore, qualitative researchers draw from theories that are best suited to address such issues. Theories such as feminist theories, critical race theory, queer theory, and disability theories provide information related to people, social problems and experiences, and can provide researchers insight upon which to develop research questions and studies. Qualitative studies often discover information used for future research and theory development due to being open and unstructured (Creswell,
Qualitative research method is a systematic strategy used for gathering information that are non-numerical, that is, they use visual and narrative words instead of using number. The data collected are from comprehensive case studies, focus groups a qualitative research approach whereby subjects answers an open-ended interview questions, likewise each others ' comments; ethnographies or field observation. (Headlessprofessor, 2012)
Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting and attempts to understand a human problem by developing a holistic narrative and reporting detailed views of informants about the culture of a problem. It forms a report with pictures and words. One of the most important distinctions that sets qualitative research apart from more traditional types of research is that qualitative research is holistic in that researchers study phenomena in their entirety rather than narrowing the focus to specific defined variables” (p. 93). Similarly, Cresswell (1984) indicated that qualitative research “is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting” (p. 2). Cresswell’s definition clearly delineates the major characteristics of qualitative research. Pg. 50 (Smith & Davis, 2010).
Using this type of research method, I can understand what I would have used other type of research method Taylor et al (1995) ‘‘argued that participant observation offers the best opportunity to discover how people see the world in which they live. It also provides the kind of insight, fresh information and new directions for research which are less likely to come from other methods. ’’
As a researcher begins their study they must have focused set of questions that are aimed at gathering information based on what the researcher would like to research. There are several methods of data collection researchers can use when using qualitative research to include such things as interviews, focus groups, observations, video taping and field notes to name a few types of data collections. Creswell and Poth (2018) suggested researchers use multiple methods when conducting qualitative research. This allows for stronger argument when themes prevail through multiple data collection sources. Data collection in qualitative research allows the team to ask question and modify the direction of the study as they see different themes appear throughout the research process allowing the study to really get the
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
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know not only the research methods/techniques but also the methodology (Kothari, 2004).This chapter discusses the research methodologies and generate relationship among the objectives of this research and the strategies of the study.
According to Kothari (2008) qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenomena which are related to or involve quality or kind. Qualitative research engages the collection and analysis of non-numerical data obtained from experiments, interviews, observations, and other resources involving statements and arguments. Research is conducted into particular context and non-numerical interpretive approach is used to produce narrative description of research data. Unlike quantitative research, this type of research considers the underlying facts behind the establishment of particular behaviors and assumptions. It is commonly used in behavioural sciences where the aim of research is to discover underlying motives of human behaviour.
Research methodology is a way how the research is conducted step by step and in order. There are two methods used for data collection which is the primary data and secondary data. These data can be obtained and used many ways. The data is taken and analyzed in advance to produce a result that we can use for research and future reference. This study will relate to the objective we want to achieve and finding the answer to every objective we seek. In order to successfully achieve the objectives we seek, we must know
Qualitative research is a technique of promoting research that stresses the quality according to the user’s point of view and approaches. In depth interviews and focus groups are best examples of qualitative research. [Laura Lake, 2009]