Purpose

**Methodology**

What methodology did you select for your proposed study? Why? Justify and defend your choice as the best option for addressing your problem statement and research questions. Discuss an alternative methodology and explain why you did not select it for your study. Use at least 2-3 peer-reviewed sources in your defense and refutation.

I selected a qualitative methodology to analyze the monetary value of a corporation's professional certification, because it uses oral interviews and focus discussion approaches. The method collects data, such as beliefs, perceptions, and observations, and efficiently evaluates professional certifications' monetary value to corporations (Stewart & Cash, 2017). According to Nelson & Evans (2014), a researcher working on professional certifications needs to conduct interviews, and hold focus group discussions with small groups to obtain valuable information.

Quantitative methodology is an alternative for studying the monetary value of professional certifications. However, I did not choose this method, because it deals with data, such as figures and numerals analyzed using statistical approaches. According to Sukamolson (2017), it uses statistical techniques to evaluate its data and requires a large sample size to conduct its study; this will be challenging in studying professional certifications' monetary value. Additionally, the quantitative methodology entails manipulating observations to describe occurrences reflected by observations; if data becomes manipulated while examining the monetary value, it will alter the research objectives.

References

Nelson, G., & Evans, S. D. (2014). Critical Community Psychology and Qualitative Research: A Conversation. Qualitative Inquiry, 158–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800413510873

Stewart, C. J., & Cash, W. B. J. (2017). Interviewing principles and practices. Interviewing Principles and Practices., 15th Edition, New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Sukamolson, S. (2007). Fundamentals of quantitative research. Language Institute Chulalongkorn University, 1–20.

**Research Design**

What research design did you select for your proposed study? Why? Justify and defend your choice as the best option for addressing your problem statement and research questions. Discuss an alternative design and why you did not select it for your study. Use at least 2-3 peer-reviewed sources in your defense and refutation.

I selected a case study design for my study, because of its in-depth investigation. According to Thattamparambil (2020), case-study is an in-depth study of an event, an organization, a person, or a group, and explains how the researcher selected their case study materials for the analysis, the type of materials analyzed, and how they collected and selected them.

The design will assist with analyzing the monetary value of professional certifications to corporations, because it answers why and how questions. Additionally, the design explores a time and space-bound phenomenon based on history, development, and other aspects. The design is generally used by researchers to study past organizational performance considering a corporate choice of technical knowledge.

Grounded theory design is an alternative; it focuses on constructing theories from data collected. I did not select the design, because it focuses on participants' experiences and perceptions, which vary from one person to another based on their context, and therefore this process could alter the research study. According to Chun et al. (2019), the design aims to discover and construct theories from comprehensively acquired data and analyze it using a contingent analysis. The design is not effective in analyzing the monetary value of professional certifications for corporations.

References

Chun Tie, Y., Birks, M., & Francis, K. (2019). Grounded theory research: A design framework for novice researchers. SAGE Open Medicine, 7, 205031211882292.https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312118822927

Thattamparambil, N. (2020). How to choose the research methodology best suited for your study. Retrieved from, https://www.editage.com