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Research Methodology
Dr. Tamer El Sharnouby Assistant Professor of Marketing
Cairo University [email protected]
Textbook
Jill Collis & Roger Hussey. (2009). Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Third edition. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire.
Module 1 Understanding Research
Outline: - Definition and purpose of research,
- The qualities of a good researcher,
- Main types of research.
Definition and purpose of research
Research means different things to different people.
Research: - Process of enquiry and investigation,- Systematic and methodical,- Increases knowledge,- Thorough and rigorous, and - Appropriate methodology and
method. -
Purpose of research: To review and synthesise existing knowledge, To investigate some existing situation and
problem, To provide a solution to a problem, To explore and analyse some general issues, To construct or create a new procedure or
system, To explain a new phenomenon, To generate new knowledge, and A combination of any of the above.
Qualities of a good researcher
You might have some.... Others you need to develop:
Communication skills: the ability to communicate your understanding of the research area (submission of dissertation, thesis, proposal, defence in viva, oral examination).
Written and verbal communication skills are needed:
Applying for funding, Discussing your project with your
supervisor, Negotiating access to sources of data, Conducting interview, Designing interviews, leading a focus group, Writing and presenting conference paper, Writing academic journal articles.
Intellectual skills:
Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation
Information technology skills
Word-processing program (write your notes, any quotations and references from literature, results of any survey, observations,...etc later on you can manipulate and refine)
Statistical packages (Minitab, SPSS, Stata)
Database (quantitative data and qualitative data) ,
Computerized library and online databases,
Internet.
Organizational skills
Time management: many tasks ...time consuming:
Timetable for your research ASAP, List all activities you have to undertake and
estimate the time you think it will take to complete them,
To start writing a satisfactory first draft proposal... Shut the door, unplug the telephone, switch of mobile and sit down with you books and papers for five or six hours without interruption.
Motivation
Choose a subject you are interested in. Your reason for doing the research: I love the subject, I love studying, I want to be intellectual, I have a personal question I want to answer, I want to be creative and useful, I want to be a member of the research community, I need to get a better job, Employers want people with this qualification, All my friends are doing it, and It’s part of my course.
Major Limitations in Conducting a Research
Time Costs
Access to resources Approval by authorities
Ethical concerns Expertise
Types of research:
According to: The purpose: Exploratory,
descriptive, analytical and predictive research.
Process/approach: Quantitative vs Qualitative.
Applied vs Basic research
Research Approaches
Patterns
Inductive
Deductive
Hypotheses
Deductive
Inductive
Deductive
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Methodological Assumption
(Cresswell 1994: 5)Quantitative Qualitative
Deductive process Inductive process
Cause and effect Mutual simultaneous shaping of factors
Static design – categories isolated before study
Emerging design – categories identified during research process
Generalization leading to prediction, explanation, and understanding
Patterns, theories developed for understanding
Accurate and reliable through validity and reliability
Accurate and reliable through verification
Assumptions of qualitative designs
1. Qualitative researchers are concerned primarily with process, rather than outcomes or products.
2. Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning.3. The qualitative researcher is the primary instrument for data
collection and analysis. Data are mediated through this human instrument, rather than through questionnaires, or machines.
4. Qualitative research involves fieldwork. The researcher physically goes to the people setting, site, or institution to observe or record behavior in its natural setting.
5. Qualitative research is descriptive in that the researcher is interested in process, meaning and understanding gained through words or pictures.
6. The process of qualitative research is inductive in that the researcher builds abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, and theories from details.
Assumptions of qualitative designs
The nature of reality: multiple, constructed and holistic
The relationship of knower to known: interactive, inseparable.
Generalization: a “working hypothesis” that describes a single case
Causal linkages: mutual simultaneous shaping.
Inquiry is value bound.
When to use qualitative research
For problems that need exploration For problems that need a complex detailed
understanding. To write in styles that push the limits of
formal academic narratives To understand contexts The topic has been researched for a long
time in the same way The topic is new to research You would like in-depth information that may
be difficult to convey quantitatively
Qual Data Collection Methods
Interviews Focus groups Participant observation (field notes) Video Text and Image analysis (documents,
media data)
Assumptions of quantitative designs
Quan: what, where, and when of natural phenomena develop and employ mathematical
models, theories and hypotheses related to natural phenomena
Involve large samples of subjects; deal with cause/effect
Associated with positivism: that objective truth can be known with certainty, that it can be gained through rational methods
Positivism
A single, tangible reality "out there" that can be broken apart into pieces capable of being studied independently
The separation of the observer from the observed
What is true at one time and place will also be true at another time and place
An assumption of linear causality; there are no effects without causes and no causes without effects
The results of an inquiry are essentially free from beliefs, interpretations
Quantitative Methods
Survey Experiments
Quantitative concerns
Useful in areas like user demographics, patterns of use; BUT: Can produce a false sense of certainty Takes the subject outside of natural
setting/tasks Quantifies unquantifiable phenomenon
Choice of Methodology & Methods
Depends on Research Questions Research Goals Researcher Beliefs and Values Researcher Skills Time and Funds
References Cornford, T. and Smithson, S. (1996). Project
Research in Information Systems. A Student’s Guide. Macmillan. London.
Creswell, J.W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research design. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N.K. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp.1-17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
