Post an analysis of the relationship between your personal research philosophy and quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Your analysis should include the following:

· Chapter 5, “Formulating the Research Design”

· Section 5.2, “Choice and Coherence in Research Design” (pp. 163–165)

· Section 5.3, “Methodological Choice: The Use of a Quantitative, Qualitative or Mixed Methods Research Design” (pp. 165–174)

5.2 Choice and Coherence in Research Design

Your  research design  is the general plan of how you will go about answering your research question(s) (the importance of clearly defining the research question cannot be overemphasised). It will contain clear objectives derived from your research question(s), specify the sources from which you intend to collect data, how you propose to collect and analyse these, and discuss

The cover photographs of recent editions of this book have indicated that the research process is like a journey – a journey along a road with you as the driver of the vehicle. Like many such journeys, there is generally a choice of roads to travel along. When you are thinking about setting out on a new journey of some distance, you will probably find a road map and look at the options to get to your destination. A number of factors may influence your decision about which route to take, including speed, time, cost and your preference between taking the shortest route or staying on the motorway network and main roads. The route you plan is likely to be as coherent as you can work out from the map in front of you given your travel criteria. As you actually undertake your journey you will find yourself interacting with the reality of your planned route. Some parts of the journey will go according to plan; other parts may not and you may need to alter your route. You may change your route because a better option presents itself as you travel along. In many ways, designing research is like planning a journey. Formulating the most appropriate way to address your research question is similar to planning the route to your destination, your research objectives are a little like your planning criteria, the need for coherence is the same in each situation and the journey itself, like the research process, will necessarily prove to be an interactive experience.

Travelling downriver

Source: © Jan Thornhill 2015

Figure 5.1 The research onion

Source: © 2015 Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill

ethical issues and the constraints you will inevitably encounter (e.g. access to data, time, location and money). Crucially, it should demonstrate that you have thought through the elements of your particular research design.

The first methodological choice is whether you follow a quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods research design. Each of these options is likely to call for a different mix of elements to achieve coherence in your research design. We return to consider what this involves in  Section 5.3 . The nature of your research project will also be either exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, evaluative or a combination of these, and we discuss the role of these in your research design in  Section 5.4 . Within your research design you will need to use one or more research strategies, to ensure coherence within your research project. We discuss research strategies, their fit to research philosophy and to quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods methodological choices in  Section 5.5 . Your methodological choice and related strategies will also influence the selection of an appropriate time horizon, and we consider this in  Section 5.6 . Each research design will lead to potential ethical concerns and it will be important to consider these, in order to minimise or overcome them. We briefly consider ethical issues related to research designs in  Section 5.7 , before discussing these in greater detail in  Sections 6.5  and  6.6 . It is also important to establish the quality of your research design, and we discuss the ways in which this may be considered in  Section 5.8 . Finally, we recognise that practical constraints will affect research design, especially the nature of your own role as researcher, and briefly consider this in  Section5.9 .

These aspects of your research design are vital to understand what you wish to achieve and how you intend to do so, even if your design changes subsequently. You are likely to be assessed at this stage of your research project by your university or examining institution and your research design will need to achieve a pass standard before you are allowed to proceed. You therefore need to have a clear design with valid reasons for each of your research design decisions. Your justification for each element should be based on the nature of your research question(s) and objectives, show consistency with your research philosophy and demonstrate coherence across your research design.

It is useful at this point to recognise a distinction between design and tactics. Design is concerned with the overall plan for your research project; tactics are about the finer details of data collection and analysis – the centre of the research onion. Decisions about tactics will involve you being clear about the different quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques (e.g. questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and secondary data) and subsequent quantitative and qualitative data analysis procedures, which are discussed in later chapters.

We first outline the nature of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research and how these may be combined to help you to choose and design your research.

5.3 Methodological Choice: The Use of a Quantitative, Qualitative or Mixed Methods Research Design

One way of differentiating quantitative research from qualitative research is to distinguish between numeric data (numbers) and non-numeric data (words, images, video clips and other similar material). In this way, ‘quantitative’ is often used as a synonym for any data collection technique (such as a questionnaire) or data analysis procedure (such as graphs or statistics) that generates or uses numerical data. In contrast, ‘qualitative’ is often used as a synonym for any data collection technique (such as an interview) or data analysis procedure (such as categorising data) that generates or uses non-numerical data. This is an important way to differentiate this methodological choice; however, this distinction is both problematic and narrow.

It is problematic because, in reality, many business and management research designs are likely to combine quantitative and qualitative elements. This may be for a number of reasons. For example, a research design may use a questionnaire but it may be necessary to ask respondents to answer some ‘open’ questions in their own words rather than ticking the appropriate box, or it may be necessary to conduct follow-up interviews to seek to explain findings from the questionnaire. Equally, some qualitative research data may be analysed quantitatively, or be used to inform the design of a subsequent questionnaire. In this way, quantitative and qualitative research may be viewed as two ends of a continuum, which in practice are often mixed. A research design may therefore mix methods in a number of ways, which we discuss later.

The distinction drawn earlier between quantitative research and qualitative research is also narrow. The purpose of  Chapter 4  was to ask you to consider your research question through a philosophical lens. Given the way in which your philosophical assumptions inform your methodological choice, the initial distinction drawn earlier between numeric and non-numeric data appears insufficient for the purpose of designing research. From this broader perspective, we can reinterpret quantitative and qualitative methodologies through their associations to philosophical assumptions and also to research approaches and strategies. This will help you to decide how you might use these in a coherent way to address your research question. We now briefly outline some of these key associations.

Quantitative Research Design

Research Philosophy

Quantitative research is generally associated with positivism, especially when used with predetermined and highly structured data collection techniques. However, a distinction needs to be drawn between data about the attributes of people, organisations or other things and data based on opinions, sometimes referred to as ‘qualitative’ numbers ( Box 5.1 ). In this way, some survey research, while conducted quantitatively, may be seen to fit partly within an interpretivist philosophy. Quantitative research may also be used within the realist and pragmatist philosophies (see ‘Mixed methods research design’ later).

Approach to Theory Development

Quantitative research is usually associated with a deductive approach, where the focus is on using data to test theory. However, it may also incorporate an inductive approach, where data are used to develop theory.

Characteristics

Quantitative research examines relationships between variables, which are measured numerically and analysed using a range of statistical and graphical techniques. It often incorporates controls to ensure the validity of data, as in an experimental design. Because data are collected in a standard manner, it is important to ensure that questions are expressed clearly so they are understood in the same way by each participant. This methodology often uses probability sampling techniques to ensure generalisability ( Section 7.2 ). The researcher is seen as independent from those being researched, who are usually called respondents.

A quantitative research design may use a single data collection technique, such as a questionnaire, and corresponding quantitative analytical procedure. This is known as a  mono method quantitative study ( Figures 5.1  and  5.2 ). A quantitative research design may also use more than one quantitative data collection technique and corresponding analytical procedure. This is known as a  multi-method quantitative study  ( Figures 5.1  and  5.2 ). You might, for example, decide to collect quantitative data using both questionnaires and structured observation, analysing these data using statistical (quantitative) procedures.  Multi-method  is the branch of  multiple methods  research that uses more than one quantitative or qualitative method but does not mix the two ( Figure 5.2 ).

Use of multiple methods has been advocated within business and management research ( Bryman 2006 ) because it is likely to overcome weaknesses associated with using only a single or mono method, as well as providing scope for a richer approach to data collection, analysis and interpretation.

 Box 5.1 Research in the News

Middle-Aged Are so Downbeat about Money

By Norma Cohen

The 45 to 54-year-old cohort have high but increasingly unrealistic expectations and struggle to make sense of their financial futures, reports Norma Cohen.

Early middle age, it seems, is the new winter of our discontent.

According to a new study from fund managers Black-Rock, people aged 45 to 54 are the most negative about their financial future and the least confident about their ability to control their finances, pay for their children’s education or make the right decisions about investments.

That is not what you might expect. The young, embarking on their careers while saddled with heavy debts, and facing a struggle to get on the housing ladder, are more optimistic and in some ways better prepared. Those closest to retirement are content with their lot. But the group who appear to have the best odds of managing their way out of tough times and into a reasonable retirement are thoroughly miserable – in the UK and in other countries.

A close look at data from Britain’s Office for National Statistics backs up the hunch that this group is doing fine. On average, wealth is highest among the 45 to 64-year-old age group, remains relatively high among the 65-plus age group, but is lower for households with adults aged 25 to 44 in which children or young adults live, the ONS says in its latest report on household wealth. Roughly a quarter of 45 to 54-year-olds have total household wealth of between £500,000 and £1m – and a further fifth have wealth of more than £1m. That is much higher than younger age groups – and not much lower than for over-65s.

Neither has this group suffered from unemployment; the unemployment rate for those aged 35 to 49 and those aged 50 to 64 has straddled 5 per cent against a national average of 7.7–8.0 per cent. And of the younger group, 92 per cent are participating in work. But this group is much less satisfied with its income than those aged 60 and over, although marginally happier with it than are younger groups. The ONS found they are much more likely to describe their financial situation as “quite or very difficult” than those aged over 55.

Greg Davies, head of behavioural finance at Barclays Wealth, says that the reason the 45 to 54-year-old age group might feel miserable and gloomy may not be because objectively, its finances are deteriorating. Rather, it is just a tough age to be generally.

“This is a pattern we see globally,” Mr Davies says, noting that this age group appears glum in happiness surveys in many countries (as it did in the BlackRock one). “There is a U-shaped curve in happiness. It may have nothing to do with their finances.”

 Source of extracts: Cohen, N. (2013) ‘Middle aged Britons are so downbeat about money’, Financial Times, 02 November. Copyright The Financial Times Limited.

Figure 5.2 Methodological choice