The Feasibility of Replicating the Social Enterprise Model Employed in Zambia

Power point slide Qualitative research is a difficult term to define…. Nevertheless, it is important to be familiar with some definitions in the field. The definition provided by Creswell 2009 is enlightening because it incorporates ……….. most important part of definition for me were reports detailed views of informants and natural setting.

Qualitative research reflects different ways that researcher’s collect data and explore all of the information through literature review. Participant’s that are reviewing is often observed for analysis while “the role of the researcher focuses as the primary data collection instrument necessitates the identification of personal values, assumptions and biases at the outset of the study; Qualitative researchers ask at least one central question” (Creswell, 2014, which can be explored in several contexts with further questions. According to the text Research Design (2014) “the researcher’s role is typically involved in a

Qualitative research is concerned with meanings of experiences and interactions. Qualitative research is very common in the social sciences, although it is often used in market research as well (Alasuutari, 2010; Nieswiadomy, 2011). There has been quite a rise in qualitative research in the last 30 years. It first started to emerge in journals in the 1960’s, and an increase in the number of qualitative research can be seen in research journals in the 1980’s (Alasuutari, 2010). Instead of looking at the statistical numbers within research, the researcher in interested in getting within the research, and understanding the phenomenon (Leedy, 2011; LoBionod-Wood & Haber, 2013).

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).

This article defines qualitative research and what it is used for. After reading this article the reader will have a better understanding of what we have often thought the purpose of qualitative research answered ( “why” rather than “what”). This article also discusses how the method is used in different settings or scenarios.

Therefore due to the social, personal and language related research required (Cottrell, 2014), a qualitative method of research was elected, as the quantitative method would have produced irrelevant and non-opinionated views (Denscombe, 2014; Hoepfl, 1997), although potentially any form of research method can cause limitations during research (Trafimow, 2014). Consequently the qualitative sample within the interpretive paradigm produced

This study will use thematic analysis to identify, analyze and reports themes set in data collected from interviews. It provides flexible and systematic approach to analyzing qualitative data, reports the true experience of participants and interpretation emerge from data collected and not theoretically bound, unlike other qualitative analysis approaches (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

The research method I chose for this study is qualitative semi-structured interview. Qualitative approaches are often used for exploratory and descriptive studies (Neuman, 2007), which suit the objective of this research. Semi-structured interviews compared to rigid structured interview, allows for a more focused, detailed and two-way communication. Detailed data is very helpful for the inductive nature of this study where data is gathered and examined prior to developing a theory(Seidel, 1998). Compared to focus group, it presented a challenge in terms of data recoding and organization, one-on-one interviews are easier to manage.

This subjectivity statement is presented to acknowledge the researcher’s related perspectives and experiences. This statement is intended to allow the reader to further consider the credibility of the study, while situating the researcher and the study in a particular context. In the tradition of constructivist grounded theory, the researcher’s perspectives and experiences as relating to the topic under study are an important, inextricable aspect of the research process (Charmaz, 2014).

The methodology of this study is qualitative in nature. Qualitative research is interpretive and descriptive and is appropriate in seeking to understand social phenomenon such as that examined in this present study.

When utilizing a qualitative approach, the task becomes one of determining the qualitative method to be used. Additionally, Stake (2010) used purpose, research design, and methodical data techniques as a way of classifying types of qualitative research. Similarly, Cresswell & Cresswell (2007) spoke of five practices of qualitative research. These five practices consist of biography, phenomenological study, grounded theory study, ethnography, and case study. This researcher chose a phenomenological study for this research project.

The exploratory nature of the research question requires a phenomenological qualitative approach for data collection and analysis to acquire a rich understanding of the participant’s experiences whilst ensuring a strong focus is made towards the research question. Phenomenology is the study of subjective experiences, in which the experience is made sense of and knowledge is gained about a person’s views instead of trying to explain them making sense of the experience (Smith, 2004).

The methods used in this study: an interpretivist approach will be taken when working on this task, along with using a qualitative research approach. This kind of research has been described as; multiple realities described by subjective interpretation leading to context and time-bound understanding.

The methodology chosen is qualitative in nature and involves an extensive review of literature in this area of study.

Qualitative research is the technique that is used as a part of exploratory research and to derive the independent variables. There are different methods through which we can conduct the qualitative research. As a part of this study we have adopted the following methods: