Comparing quantitative and
qualitative research methods
External goal: what do you want to achieve in this topic - ->
The external goal describes the contribution of the research to:
Either: a theoretical objective
o Developing theory about career opportunities in matrix organizations
o Contributing to theory about inclusion and exclusion processes
Or: a practical objective
o Improving career opportunities in matrix organization X
o Giving advice to student fraternity Y on increasing the inclusiveness of their initation
rites
Internal goal: achieve external goal by generating knowledge - ->
Whether your external goal is theoretical or practical, your internal goal is always about generating
knowledge!
What knowledge is the research going to generate in order to achieve the external goal?
,Research question
• Is consistent with research objective (and vice versa)
• Generates theoretical knowledge (does NOT solve a practical problem)
• Is clear and precise
• Is relevant
• Is feasible and narrowed down
Transforming the internal goal into a question is a good first step in formulating a sound research
question.
,Lecture 2 myers, chapter 3,6,7,8
1. Research questions (bis) and sub questions
• Chose a topic, based on your interests and preliminary reading of literature
• Choose the concepts that are relevant
• Describe what knowledge gap you are going to address
• Describe choice of (branch) of organizations / research unit
Other way around
• Problem within organization
• Find literature addressing this problem
• Describe what knowledge gap you are going to address
Example
• Topic: work satisfaction of employees. In the literature you find that especially young
employees have low work satisfaction, and that several factors appear to influence this work
satisfaction. You are particularly interested in leadership style (explain why).
• Concepts: work satisfaction – leadership style
• Knowledge gap: the relation between leadership style of managers and work satisfaction of
young employees
• Context: organizations which employ young people
Formulate your internal and external research goal
Example:
Contributing to theory on the role of leadership style on work motivation by researching the relation
between leadership style of managers and work motivation of young employees in …
Formulate your central research question based on the internal goal
(researching the relation between leadership style on work motivation of young employees in … )
RQ: How does the leadership style of managers influence the work motivation of young employees in
…?
Sub questions to your central question
Criterion: together, the subquestions answer your central question, but not more than that.
General recommendations are difficult: many handbooks (including Myers) are silent on how to
develop sub questions.
Build-up following knowledge types
Descriptive – what is work motivation
Explanatory – why is .. /what factors explain …
Predictive – what are the expected consequences of …
Evaluative – what is the quality/sustainability/ of …
Prescriptive – What measures increase …
, For your research, the descriptive level can be fine (in case of an exploratory study into an interesting
phenomenon); most often the explanatory level is used (researching causal relations)
Ask descriptive sub questions regarding your concepts
RQ: How does the leadership style of managers influence the work motivation of young employees in
supermarket X?
Concepts: leadership style AND work motivation
Descriptive sub questions:
• What leadership styles do managers in supermarket X use?
• What work motivation do young employees in supermarket X have?
Unravel in dimensions of your concepts
For instance work motivation
RQ: How does the leadership style of managers influence the work motivation of young employees in
…?
• What intrinsic motivation do young employees in … have?
• What extrinsic motivation do young employees in ... have?
2. Qualitative research designs: inductive or deductive research
Theory
Empirical
Hypotheses
genera
lisatio Observations
n
Deductive research
• Hypotheses or expectations about reality are deduced from theory
• The research tests the hypotheses with empirical observations
• Data collection and analysis use concepts that are predefined and operationalised in
dimensions and indicators
Steps and concepts in deductive research:
• Find relevant theory
• Operationalize theoretical concepts in dimensions and observable indicators
• Start to collect data
• Code the data according to your operationalization
• Answer the research questions
Deductive research can serve:
• a theoretical goal (generating knowledge for testing or refining theories) AND
• a practical goal (generating knowledge to help solve a problem)
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