Research Project Forum

Research Methodology: Key pointers on important concepts in

research and writing up this chapter

Dr Lois Farquharson & Wendy Bardsley

1st December 2014

This session covers…

• Reminder of what you should include in a research methodology chapter

• Explanation of key concepts in research methodology and how they influence your approach to research and data collection.

• Time for your questions

Research Methodology & Methods

• Introduction• Overall approach – why? Benefits/disadvantages?

▫ Case study strategy?▫ Interpretivism/positivism…..?

• Research techniques – survey / interviews? Sample?

• Process – how did you do it? Any ethical issues?• Reflection – Did these methods enable you to do

what you set out to do? Strengths and weaknesses? Would you change anything if did it over again?

• Limitations?• Any issues that may impact on findings.• Conclusion

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The Research Process ‘Onion’ (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003:83)

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Sampling Questionnaires

Secondary data Interviews

ObservationLongitudinal

Cross sectional

Experiment

Survey

Case study

Grounded

Theory

Ethnography

Action research

Inductive

Deductive

Positivism

Interpretivism

Realism

PHILOSOPHY

APPROACHES

STRATEGIES

TIMINGS

Research philosophies

It is important to understand your philosophical stance and point of view

• Positivism

• Interpretivism

• Critical realism

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Positivism

• Belief in an objective world

• Use of an objective scientific method

• Using theory to create hypotheses

• Collecting facts and studying relationships

• Value-free

• Preference for quantitative data

• Identifies causal relationships but doesn’t answer ‘why’ questions

Adapted from Anderson (2009:46)

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Interpretivism

• Belief that there is no universal objective reality

• Knowledge is constructed by people as they make sense of their environment

• Analyse phenomena in terms of issues

• Looks at how people interpret the situation and why

• Researchers cannot be wholly dispassionate

• Preference for qualitative data

• Generating rich data is as important as an ability to generalise

Anderson (2009:46)

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Critical realism

• We experience sensations of things in the real world through our senses

• There are 2 steps to experiencing the world:

• The thing in itself and the sensations it conveys

• The mental processing that goes on after the sensation meets our senses

• Our knowledge of reality is a result of social conditioning and cannot be understood independently of the social actors involved in the knowledge derivation process, (Dobson 2002) in Saunders et al (2009:115)

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Research methodology

Qualitative Methods

• Involves examining less tangible aspects of a research subject ie values, attitudes, perceptions

• Collection of non-standardised data

Participant observation & action research

Individual & group interviews

Collection of documentary data

Quantitative Methods

Focus on gathering data that can be quantified

Collection of numerical & standardised data

Structured

observation

interviews

questionnaire

Writing your methodology

• You need to be able to explain what research you are carrying out and justify your research process in terms of the chosen in relation to your topic and also in comparison with other methods you have discounted

• Research philosophy

• Research strategy/Approach

• Data collection methods (including sampling)

• Data analysis

• Limitations

• Research ethics

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Research Ethics

• Some areas to consider:▫ Anonymity▫ Confidentiality▫ Respect your participants▫ Understand and adhere to ethical standards▫ Safety▫ Collect your data and report it accurately▫ Honesty and Integrity

▫ Every student has a responsibility to ensure that research activities meet with the University research ethics policy –you must have completed the research ethics form and had this signed off by your supervisor.

General Writing Tips:Use words and phrases to assist you in your argument, e.g.:

• Armstrong (2004) states/suggests that…..However, Torrington, Hall & Taylor (2002) assert that…

• On one hand, Price (2004) claims that…. One the other hand Mullins (1999) argues that……

• The CIPD (2004) insists that communication is key to managing successful change.

• The idea of HRD is much overrated! (Mabey, 1999).• Farquharson et al (2003) based their study on change management…• Policy makers argue that equality is a function of society (Purdue, 1990;

Jamieson, 1998)• In his first study, Guest (1947) supports the theory of personnel

management, but his later studies (1964, 1965) modify this claim. • A recent report (CIPD, 2004) indicated….but Armstrong (2005) refuted

these findings.• A key issue is the level of WLB……• Beardwell and Holden (1998) found that….• Ellis (2004) criticised…….• Maxwell (2003) believes that…However, the CIPD Report (2004)

contained evidence that…..

RP forums in 2015…

• 13th January = qualitative data collection

• 9th February = quantitative data collection

(Both may give some initial pointers on analysis)

• 3rd March = Flexible – may do more on data analysis if needed or any other topics which students feel they need further help on.

• 23rd March = Pulling your whole RP together & reminder of marking criteria

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Key references:

Anderson, V. (2009) Research Methods in HumanResource Management, 2nd edition CIPD:London, Ch 1-5

Jankowicz, A. (2005) Business Research Projects for Students, 5th edition, Ch 2-5

Easterby-Smith, M. Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (2002) Management Research, an Introduction, 2nd

Edition, Ch 1-2

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2009) Research Methods for Business Students. 5th

edition. London: FT Prentice Hall. Chapters 2-5.…And many other similar textbooks in the library…