Chapter 5

Question 1

Research design

Answer 1

Is a general plan of how one will answer research questions
Includes clear objectives derived from research question, it displays the sources from which data will be collected and it will explain how these data will be collected.

Question 2

Different aspects of the formulation of a research design

5

Answer 2

• research strategy: qualitative, qualitative or multiple methods
• the nature of the project: explanatory, descriptive or exploratory
• methodological choice and related strategies
• determining the time horizon of the research
• ethical issues regarding the project

Question 3

The research strategy: qualitative, quantitative or multiple methods

Quantitative research design

Answer 3

‘Quantitive’, is often used to refer to a way to collect data or procedure to analyse data that generated or used numerical data,
Some characteristics
-associated with positivism, but may also be associated with Interpretivism when data is drawn from qualitative numbers
- associated with deductive approach, means that focus is on using data to test a certain theory, could also be associated with an inductive approach in some cases
-explores relation between variables after which they are measured numerically and analysed using statistical techniques

Question 4

The research strategy: qualitative, quantitative or multiple methods

Qualitative research design

Answer 4

‘Qualitative’, synonym for a way to data collection technique or procedure to analyse data that generated or used non-numerical data
Some characteristic:
-associated with interpretive philosophy, bc researches need to make sense of phenomenon being studied.
-often referred to naturalistic research, since it needs to be conducted in a natural setting, order to gain trust, participation and access to meaning and in-depth understanding.
-can either be started with inductive or deductive, but abductive approach is frequently used
-when conducting, participants’ meanings and relations between them are studied using data collection techniques and analytical procedures, to develop a conceptual framework
-associated with action research, case study research and ethnography

Question 5

The research strategy: qualitative, quantitative or multiple methods

Multiple methods research design

Answer 5

Manu management and business research design are likely to combine qualitative and qualitative, bc data derived from qualitative may be analysed quantitively.

Characteristics:

• associated with critical realism, since philosophy advocated that while there is an objective reality to the world we live in, the way in which each of us understand and interpret it will be affected by our own social conditioning.
• could be associated with pragmatism
• either use inductive or deductive approach, frequently both approaches are used

Question 6

Two ends of a continuum

Answer 6

Quantitive and qualitative research may be seen as two ends of a confinuum

Question 7

Different methodological choice one could make

Answer 7

-mono method, choosing either a qualitative or quantitative study

• multiple methods, choosing both qualitative and quantitative study
• multi method; more that one data collection techniques used, but restricted to either qualitative or quantitative design
• mixed methods; both qualitative an quantitative design are mixed in a research design

Question 8

Three research design when conducting research

Answer 8

-exploratory study
One wished to understand something or wants to assess phenomena in a bright light
-to search literature
-to interview experts
-conducting focus group or individual interviews

-descriptive study
One should be cautious, could become too descriptive and may therefore become worthless outcomes,

-explanatory study
One wished to determine causal relations between certain variables

Question 9

Discripto-explanatory study

Answer 9

Descriptive studies may become to descriptive, and therefore worthless outcomes,

This is the reason why most descriptive studies are often combines with explanatory studies: after describing something the research will provide a valuable explanation.

Question 10

research strategy

Answer 10

Various steps a researches has to take to answer his research question.

Question 11

Quantitative research designs only

Answer 11

• experiment

- survey

Question 12

Qualitative research design only

Answer 12

• Archival research

- Case study

Question 13

Quantitative, qualitative or both

Answer 13

• Ethnography
• action research
• grounded theory
• narrative inquiry

Question 14

Next three layers of the onion

Answer 14

• research strategy
• research choices
• time horizon

Question 15

Experiment

Answer 15

-frequently used by natural scientist
Goal: to examine the probability of a change in a independent variable causing a change in another, dependent variable
Instead of research questions, experiment used hypothesis

Question 16

Two kind of hypotheses

Answer 16

-null hypothesis, which predicts that a significant difference or relationship between the variables does not exist
During experiment, tested statistically, will be accepted when probability that there is no statistic difference is greater than a prescribed value (often 0,005), in this case alternative hypothesis will be rejected

-the alternative hypothesis, which predicts there is a relationship of difference

Question 17

Experimental designs

Answer 17

• classical experiment, group randomly assigned to either a control group or a experimental group.
• quasi experiment: participants will not be randomly assigned to a group. match pair analysis is when a participant in a control group will be compared to a participant in the experimental group based on matching factors
• subject design/repeated measures design; only uses one single group. Before intervention, participants will be observed, a pre-intervention, to establish a baseline (or control), after which a planned intervention
• need less participants, but can become tired and familiar with experiment

Question 18

Internal validity

External validity

Answer 18

Internal: findings of the experiment can be attributed to the interventions instead of any flaws in the research design
(Such is the case with a laboratory experiment)

External: lot more difficult to establish
(When conducting field-based research)

Question 19

Survey

Answer 19

• associated with deductive research
• often used for exploratory and descriptive research
• popular research design bc questionnaires is easy for people to understand and explain

Data for survey could be collected through structured observation and structured interviews

Question 20

Archival research

Answer 20

• uses administrative records and documents as the main source data
• not only historical but also recent data documents, could be collected and analysed when adopting this strategy
• qs with focus upon the past could be answered
• these qs may be exploratory, descriptive or explanatory

Question 21

Case study

Answer 21

• explore a research topic or phenomenon
• no clear boundary between that which is being studied (topic) and the cotext within which it is being studied (real-life ‘case’)
• when one wishes to gain better understanding of the research and a certain phenomenon, especially when one wishes to explore existing theorey

Question 22

Characteristics case study

Answer 22

• most used in exploratory and explanatory research
• could combine qualitative and quantitative methods
• possible to use multiple cases within one case study, term literal replication. Will be chosen in a way that similar results are predicted to predict to be produced from each one
• holistic case study, when research is focussed on the organisation as a whole
• embedded case study, when research is focussed on sub units within an organisation and the case will involve more, than one unit of analysis

Question 23

Case study

Triangulation
Theoretical replication

Answer 23

use of different data collection techniques, within one study, to be sure the data are telling you what you think they tell you, called triangulation

Theoretical replication is when a contextual factor is deliberately different in a certain set of cases,

Question 24

Ethnography

Answer 24

• Approach is used to study particular groups of people.
• one wishes to explore and analyse people in groups who share the same space ( this could be, same street, organisation, society) and who interact with each other.

Question 25

Three ethnographic strategies

Answer 25

-realist ethnography
Objective, factual strategy, which wishes to identify ‘true’ meanings
Writes in third person, which displays his role as impersonal

-impressionist/interpretive ethnography
Contrast with realist ethnography, and focusses on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Participants are treated like people rather than just subjects, thats why Tedlock calls it ‘the observation of participation’
Instead of one definite meaning, believes that multiple meaning exist
Writes in first person, with dialogues, quotation

-critical ethnography
To analyse and explain the impact of power, privilege and authority on the people who are subjected to these influences

Question 26

Action research

Answer 26

Designed to develop answers to real organisational problem by using a participative and collaborative approach which used various forms of knowledge.
-action research will influence the participants and the organisation beyond the research project.

-action research, is a social process in which researcher works with members of an organisation to enhance their status and their organization

Question 27

Action research had 5 themes

Answer 27

1 purpose- promote organisational learning to produce practical outcomes through, planning action, taking action
2 process- starts with particular context and with a research qs, each stage begins with diagnosing ideas, planning and then action
3 participation- Critical point! Action and participation are essential part, members of an organisation need to be cooperate.
4 knowledge- different forms, theoretical, propositional, lived experience of participants and know-in-action knowledge (comes from pratical application), all these kinds will be incorporated into each of the stages.
5 implications-participants will raise their expectations about future treatment, another implication is organisation will develop and its culture will change

Question 28

Grounded theory

Answer 28

A theory developed from a set of data (using an inductive approach)
Developed as a way to analyse, interpret and explain the meanings that social actors construct to make sense of their daily experience in particular situations.

Question 29

Three stages of grounded theory

Answer 29

1 open coding- reorganization data into categories

2 axial coding- determining relationship between categories

3 selective coding- the integration of categories to produce theory

Question 30

Narrative inquiry

Answer 30

Narrative means story or a personal account which interprets an event or sequence of events

Narrative inquiry, researcher believes that the experience of participants can best be collecting and analysing these as stories

• preserves any chronological connection
• the participants is the narrator of a story

Question 31

Tome horizon

Answer 31

-Cross sectional studies
Research is more like ‘snapshot’ taken at a certain time

Use survey strategy, where incidence of phenomenon may be described or where mey be explained how different factors in different organisations are related

-Longitudinal studies
More like a ‘diary’, which represents the event over a specific period
Advantage of this time horizon; its able to study change and development

Question 32

Quality of research

Answer 32

To ensure quality in research is ‘canons of scientific inquiry’

Reliability- if its reproducible, some else could get the same finding in another time.

Construct validity- to what extent research measures actually measured what the researcher intended them to assess

Internal validity- displays causal relationship between two variables

External validity- concerned with qs as ‘are the research findings generalized?’

Question 33

‘Authentic criteria’

Answer 33

Lincoln and guba own form of ‘canon of scientific inquiry’

Reliability = dependability
Internal validity = credibility
External validity = transferability