WEEK 1 RESEARCH DESIGN - CHAPTERS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Methodology refers to the choices made about research perspective, cases to study, data gathering
techniques, data analysis methods...
Methodology comprises the following components (include in methodology section):
● A theory of scientific knowledge, or set of assumptions (about the nature of reality, the role of
the researcher…) - type of research (theory-based or design-focused)
● A preference for certain methods (qualitative and/or quantitative)
● A systematic sequence of procedural steps to be followed once the method(s) has been selected
Business research method can be either:
1. QUANTITATIVE: survey, laboratory experiment, stimulation, mathematical modelling… (essential
is that numbers is the basic material analysed - so highly focussed on numbers)
a. Measuring things that can be counted using predetermined categories that can be
treated as interval or ordinal data and subjected to statistical analysis (Patton, 1997)
i. For instance “job satisfaction” can be measured using a likert scale 1-5
b. It is essential for the overview
i. Using numbers, we can objectively describe, test, segment, and predict (as long
as the sampling is sound)
c. Quantitative research shows: main behaviors, trends, satisfaction levels, attitudes,
awareness...
2. QUALITATIVE: case study, interviewing, focus group, grounded theory, action research...
(essential is that text is the basic material analyzed - so high focus on text - increasingly video
and sound become data analysis materials and thanks to social media, new online methods
became relevant)
a. Focuses on people’s experiences and the meanings they place on events, processes and
structures of their normal social setting; situational research
b. Such research may involve prolonged or intense contact with people and groups in their
everyday situations: this provides a holistic view, through the participants’ own words
and perceptions, of how they understand, account for, and act within these situations
(Miles and Huberman, 1994)
c. It essentially implies understanding people and their context
i. For instance, different people may have different perceptions about “job
satisfaction”: for one it involves fun while others see it as decent job and salary.
d. It gives detail, understanding, and emotional response
i. Emotion is always involved in decision making - even if people aren’t aware of it
or is hardly rational
e. Qualitative research is more emotional and non-rational, personal, social, and cultural,
biases in perceptions and attitudes
f. Qualitative research is about depth, diversity, and detail
i. The why and the how behind the what
, ii. There are interpretation techniques to figure out the meaning of the qualitative
research - going into depth
g. There Is no single, accepted way of doing qualitative research
The quantitative evaluation and the qualitative don’t always match
Qualitative research explores many facets:
● Social group behaviour, conformity, influence, values
● Organizational relationships
● Cultural “rules”, norms and codes, accepted practices
● Knowledge, bias, rationalisations, thinking patterns
● Habits, perceptions, associations, intuitive, knowledge
● Emotional and non-rational, attitudes, motivations
Other definitions of qualitative research:
Association of Qualitative Research (AQR) → Research designed to help organizational decision-making,
focusing on understanding the nature of phenomena and their meaning, rather than their incidence. The
researcher and his/her interpretative input is key ot the process
Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) →Qualitative (market) research seek to explain
consumer behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs through the techniques of depth interviewing of
individuals and groups, observing people in natural settings or laboratories, and by analyzing texts such
as diaries, verbal expressions or images that respondents create
Prof. Van Maneen (MIT Sloan) → An array of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode,
translate and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not frequency, of certain more or less
naturally occurring phenomena in the social world
Multi-method in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter: qualitative
researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena
in terms of meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studies, use, and collection
of a variety of empirical materials – case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview,
observational, historical, interactional and visual text – that describe routine and problematic moments
and meanings in people’s lives. Accordingly qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of
interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.
Advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative research:
EXAM QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
, Originally from... Natural sciences Social sciences
- Objective - Studying a topic in depth
- Suitable for explanation - Takes into account the context
(hypotheses testing) - Suitable for exploration (developing a
PROS - Suitable for generalization theory based on naturally occurring data)
- May discover the emotional and
non-rational to provide a more through
HOLISTIC response and generate new ideas
Choice depends on the topic, depth you want,
newness of concept...
- Little or no contact with people - Subjective, prone to interpretations
or the field (sensitive to context, history, politics)
CONS - Not always possible to generate - Difficult to insure validity, reliability,
new hypotheses generalizability
- Aspects can be lost, superficially
treated
- Context is not taken into account
(which is essential)
EXAM : given a scenario and you need to propose and argue research method
Imagine you are a researcher and you have to investigate “What is the influence of national cultures in
management?” using Hofstede’s dimensions
- What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? BOTH, a sequence
- First a QUALITATIVE approach to come up with definitions of the different dimensions, to
understand better and to come up with an explanatory model and then a QUANTITATIVE
approach to collect data from a large sample of firms in different countries
Imagine you are a researcher and you have to investigate “What kind of image do companies want to
give their visitors?” from the following set of images
- What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? QUALITATIVE
- The image and perception of a company is very subjective per person so through an interview
you can discuss what perception they have of each company based on the images, ask them
about their personal emotions, feelings...
Imagine you are a researcher and you have to investigate “What are the main economic challenges faced
by the Netherlands?” analyzing various economic indicators (unemployment and vacancy rate)
- What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? QUANTITATIVE
- The economic challenges can be determined through the time series of unemployment and
vacancy rate which are measured quantitatively across the years
Imagine you are a researcher and you have to investigate “Is ‘lyrical intelligence’ declining in popular
music?” examining lyrical complexity in Prince’s songs
, - What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? BOTH through text analysis?
- Text analysis: first use a QUANTITATIVE approach to count all terms related to ___ and then
through a QUALITATIVE approach understand the meaning of those terms
Dutch TV programme: “Who do you think you are?” - beauty perception
- What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? QUALITATIVE?
Imagine you are a researcher and you have to investigate “Do names influence attractiveness?” given the
following list of names from people and the respective images
- What approach fits best qualitative or quantitative research? BOTH?
- First through a QUANTITATIVE approach identify who is seen as most attractive by sending a
survey to a random sample of participants and then through a QUALITATIVE approach
understand why people consider some people as more attractive (this is subjective)
Depending which approach is chosen for a particular research (qualitative or quantitative), a research
method or a data collection method can be used differently
Method QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
Observation Preliminary work (prior to framing Fundamental to understanding
questionnaire) groups (other cultures)
In a quantitative approach, observation can be used as a preliminary work to identify key informants
within a large company, this information will be then used to frame your questionnaire. Alternatively, in
a qualitative approach, observation can yield the data necessary to be analysed in order to identify the
behavior of different groups of people.
Text analysis Counting in terms of researchers’ categories Understand participants’
categories in depth
In a quantitative approach, text analysis can be used to count, for instance, the frequency of all terms
related to “radical innovation”, “incremental innovation”, “sustainable innovation”. In a qualitative
approach, text analysis can be used to understand what “radical innovation”, “incremental innovation”,
and “sustainable innovation” means for a group of product development people.
Interviews Closed questions, random bigger samples “Open-ended” questions, small
samples
In a quantitative approach, interviews consisting on closed questions can be used in a survey research
about “which social media platform do you use and how often”, involving 30 randomly selected
employees. In a qualitative approach, open interviews can be performed with 10 people, about why and
how do they use social media applications.
Key ontological and epistemological stances:
- Ontology → concerned with beliefs about what there is to know about the world. Key
ontological questions concern: whether or not social reality exists independently of human
