Condition for Qualitative Research - Assignment Example

? Qualitative Research of the of the Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Conceptual Base 3 Condition for Qualitative Research 4 Process for Qualitative Research 6 Different Types of Qualitative Research 7 Critique for Qualitative Research 9 Conclusion 10 Introduction Goulding (2002) pointed out that importance of qualitative research has increased manifold in recent years among business researchers. But, many researchers found qualitative research as mere concept which has hardly any implicational value in order to address business problems. Generally, companies use survey method as part of quantitative research in order to address business problems and often ignore importance of qualitative research due to lack of understanding of the concepts working behind qualitative research (Johnson & Duberley, 2000). In such context, time has come to shed light on different fundamental aspects of qualitative research in order to highlight its importance among business researchers. Hence, in this research paper, the researcher will try to highlight fundamental concept behind qualitative research and also will criticize the research methodology. Conceptual Base Research scholars such as Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil (2007 and 2009), Creswell (2009) and Gray (2009) pointed out that it is very difficult to decipher the meaning of the term “qualitative research” due to the fact that the meaning of the term relatively varies from stakeholder to stakeholder. Creswell (2009) stated that qualitative research is better for addressing social contextual or philosophical problems while Gray (2009) argued that interpretation of a particular phenomenon can be given by qualitative research. Alvesson & Deetz (2000) defined qualitative research as the methodology to explain social phenomena or in simple words, it can be said that qualitative research helps researchers to understand the various events in the world by indicating the reasons behind the action. Following questions can be answered by using qualitative methodology such as, 1- Why some individuals behave in certain way? 2- How people develop attitude or opinion? 3- How people react to particular event? 4- What is the cause behind difference between behaviour of various social groups? Qualitative research is composed of following concepts; Qualitative research deals with experience, opinion of individuals and in most of the cases, these opinions are subjective in nature. Qualitative research never tries to manipulate the occurrence of social phenomenon and research elements are allowed to behave in natural environment. Qualitative research tries to account all the research variables rather trying to collect data from small samples. Qualitative research is used in order to develop new theories which can help individuals to understand the social world hence qualitative research methods are inductive in nature. One to one contact with respondents is primary criteria for data collection in qualitative manner and researcher has to meet each respondent personally in order to conduct interviews, focus group interviews etc. Ontological perspectives of respondents are better served with qualitative research or it can be said that researchers got the chance to know the personal thinking of the respondents while doing qualitative research (Bryman & Bell, 2003; Davies, 2007). Condition for Qualitative Research It is evident from the research works of Robson (2011) and Sekaran & Bougie (2009) that selection of qualitative research method depends on the nature of the research problems. A research problem has to posses following criterions in order to be qualified as qualitative research problem. Table 1: Criteria for Selection of Qualitative Research Subjective The research problem can only be understood by going through the personal opinion of each respondent. For example: Role of technology in your life. Holistic The research problem cannot be addressed without considering effect of all the social variables. For example: Role of a teacher in personal progress of a student. Phenomenological The research problem is more of philosophical in nature and respondents need to use their cognitive sense to answer the problem. Example: Importance of dream in your life. Anti positivist The research problem cannot be addressed without the establishment of new theory. For example; Cognitive dissonance related research problems. Descriptive Description of particular phenomenon is needed in order to address the research problem. For example; Food habit of British people. (Source: Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil, 2007 & 2009) Generally, researchers chose qualitative research over quantitative research in those cases where the research problem cannot be addressed by solving the numeric data or where there is lack of availability of numeric data. Perception of human beings regarding a particular phenomenon can be understood by using qualitative research. However, Robson (2011) and Sekaran & Bougie (2009) criticized qualitative research result for being a mere personalized belief of respondents which cannot be generalized for all the members of population. Process for Qualitative Research Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil (2007 & 2009) pointed out that qualitative research can be done by following two processes such as, 1- qualitative analysis of primary data collected by interviewing, observation, focus group interview, Delphi method etc and 2- qualitative data analysis of secondary data collected from secondary sources such as literature review, case study etc. Process of the qualitative research can be defined in the following manner; Define the research problem and understand the research objectives and classify implicational value of the research problem in the field of social sciences, business etc. Identify the data sources such as primary or secondary which can help the researcher to address the research problem in convincing manner. Gather data (primary or secondary) by using various data collection techniques such as interview, focus group interview, observation, historical data analysis, literature review, case study analysis etc. Open ended and ethnographic questionnaire are being used in order to collect data. Analyze the gathered data in non-numeric manner and derive new information which can help the researcher to establish a new theory. Different Types of Qualitative Research It is evident from the research work of Johnson & Duberley (2003) that qualitative research can be performed by using four methodological implications such as, 1- Phenomenology, 2- Ethnography, 3- Grounded theory and 4- Case study. However, qualitative research data can be gathered by using interview, focus group survey etc but the conceptual framework for any kind of qualitative research must be chosen from any of the above mentioned four principles. Phenomenology Saunders, Lewis & Thornhil (2007 and 2009) defined Phenomenology as part of the social research process to define particular phenomenon which might exist in real world but there are very little explanations for the phenomenon. However, business researchers do not entertain such types of research problems due to non availability of reference points. But, Saunders, Lewis & Thornhil (2007 and 2009) pointed out that modified version of Phenomenology can be used by business researchers. For example, traditional marketers’ belief that good quality product can enhance brand loyalty among customers and in such context, qualitative research can be done in order to test how product quality can impact the personal belief of customers. Ethnography Ethnography means “portrait of a people” and the research methodology has close link with the concepts of anthropology (Johnson & Duberley, 2003). Ethnography is used in order to understand culture and nature of demographic variables in particular country. Such kind of qualitative research method helps researchers to understand geographical presence, shared experience and religion of sample population and the research method is pretty much descriptive in nature. In business context, ethnography can be used in order to understand cultural dimension of customers. For example, perception about hedonic products among Chinese customers might differ from perception of American customers on the same products. In ethnography, data is being collected through informal and formal interview of respondents and researchers need to conduct extensive amount of field work. Grounded Theory Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil (2007 and 2009) pointed out that Grounded Theory is used for establishment of new theory and researchers use the model in order to reach to a new conclusion by gathering and analyzing data regarding a particular phenomenon. Generally, researchers using such kind of qualitative research model, present the research problem in new envelop and ask respondents to answer the questions regarding the phenomenon. In business context, theory regarding grief process of employee was derived by using the grounded model. Data is being collected through interview, literature review, documentary analysis and observation while in some cases, researchers use semi structured interview in order to collect data in grounded manner. Case Study Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil (2007 and 2009) defined case study approach as probably the most effective qualitative research model where researchers come to conclusion by analyzing multiple case studies on existing topic or by developing a new case from existing information. In complex cases, researchers analyze the social situation which is impacting the behaviour of variables while extension of case study can trace events in longitudinal fashion. Case study approaches is probably the most popular qualitative research technique among business researchers and in some cases case study of different companies are being used in order to form conclusion about another company doing business in the same industry. Generally, secondary data are being used to conduct case study based research and very little field work is needed for such kind of qualitative research model. Critique for Qualitative Research Johnson & Duberley (2000 and 2003) pointed out that qualitative research method has different merits such as, 1- the research problem can be understood from the personal viewpoints of respondents, 2- researcher gets very little chance to intervene the interview course with respondent due to use of direct quotation from respondents, 3- subjective research problems can be understood by using qualitative research models and 4- phenomenological and social problems can only be addressed by the qualitative model. However, it is evident from the research work of Robson (2011) that there are certain demerits associated with qualitative research methodology such as, 1- the model is not good at addressing research problem related to quantitative relationship with variables, 2- not good at addressing why questions in research problem, 3- logistically difficult to compute and 4- research findings are subjective in nature which might not be suitable to define the characteristics of whole population. Conclusion It is evident from the above discussion that selection of either qualitative or quantitative research model is dependent on the nature of research problem. In the same context, nature of data collection techniques also differs in accordance with the selection of research methodology. In some cases, qualitative research methodology can serve in equally efficient manner as quantitative research methodology in order to address business problems. References Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. (2000). Doing critical management research. London: Sage. Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2003). Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Creswell J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. (3rd ed.). California: Sage Publications. Davies, M. B. (2007). Doing a successful research project: Using qualitative or quantitative methods. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Goulding, C. (2002). Grounded theory: A practical guide for management, business and market researchers. London: Sage. Gray, D. E. (2009). Doing Research in the real world. (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Johnson, P., & Duberley, J. (2000). Understanding management research: An introduction to epistemology. London: Sage. Johnson, P., & Duberley, J. (2003). Reflexivity in management research. Journal of Management Studies, 40(5), 1279-303. Robson, C. (2011). Real world research. (3rd ed.). Chichester: John Wiely and Sons Ltd, Publication. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhil, A. (2007). Research methods for business students. (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhil, A. (2009). Research methods for business students. (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2009). Research methods for business. (5th ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley& Sons. Read More