FMIB #8

Purpose Statement The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the effect of workplace diversity in the modern workplace and what businesses can do to enjoy benefits of the diversity. A qualitative study design will be used in which narrative data will be collected and analyzed to show the effects of workplace diversity on job satisfaction and diversity awareness. These data will represent the benefits that can be accrued by businesses when they explore diversity at the workplace. Qualitative data will be gathered exploring workplace diversity from the employees at Pepsi Company. The reasons for using this form of data is to generate data, is to develop an in-depth understanding of diversity in the workplace and how it will affect workplace morale and productivity (Christian, Porter, & Moffitt, 2006). Research Questions 1. How is diversity in the workplace characterized? 2. What is the effect of managing diversity in the workplace on employee job satisfaction and diversity awareness? Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Your purpose of the study does not match your research questions. Think about how you will use your purpose statement to make a question. You don't explain how businesses enjoy the benefits of diversity. You don't use businesses in your research questions. Think about how you can change this. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Remember that your research question should have the sample that you are using included. For example, your first question should read, "how do employees categorize diversity in the workplace?" or "how do employees at the Pepsi company categorize diversity in the workplace?". Do you see how this changes the question to show exactly who you are obtaining the answer from? Your second question explains more of a quantitative question instead of a qualitative question. Is asking for what effect that one variable has on two different variables. This would be a quantitative statistical ANOVA for the answer. Remember the class is qualitative and you will need to explain quality questions such as the first one. If you are using a mixed-method design, you could do this. However, you will need to have a hypothesis and the null hypothesis for a research paper if this second question is quantitative. To make this second question qualitative in nature, you will need to create a more open-ended question somewhat like your first one. Ask how do employees believe that these are related or something to that effect. If you ask how is this affecting something else, it turns into a statistical question.

Conceptual Framework Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: This was not asked for within the assignment. What follows is not a correct conceptual framework.

Overview of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is one of the methodologies that can be used when studying the effects of diversity in the workplace. The use of qualitative research is important because it is a good way of managing and simplifying data without ruining the context and the complexity (Atieno, 2009). The qualitative methods are critical in areas where the preemptive cutting out of data will prevent the full discovery of the intended topic. It is important to use the qualitative approach when looking at diversity in the workplace because it will help in discovering more and doing justice to the topic and making more complex interpretations of the same (Walliman, 2017). The qualitative method is also important because it generates a new way of interpreting the data that might already be there. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

The use of the qualitative research in this case is also important because it will help to understand the issue of diversity in the workplace in deep detail. The phenomena of diversity in the workplace is not widely researched and the use of the qualitative research will help in understanding the core concerns of the essence of having a diverse workplace (Cameron, R., & Molina-Azorin, 2011). The use of qualitative research requires one to have a clear topic as well as the necessary concentration so as to deal with such matters. In research it is important that the method fits the kind of data which is to be collected. The qualitative research method is appropriate for the use in the study on diversity in the workplace. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

Potential of Using Mixed Methods

Mixed methods have been used in the social science research for a long time but it is yet to be fully embraced in business research. Mixed methods involves combining the elements of both qualitative and quantitative research (Harrison III, 2013). The use of mixed methods helps in increasing the depth of understanding on a topic through the various approaches. I believe that there is potential of using methods when it comes to the study of diversity in the workplace. Qualitative data is made up of words while the quantitative one is made up of numbers. I believe using the both of them can be beneficial to the study. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

The qualitative data that is obtained can the coded in a quantitative manner. The numerical values can be used in certain ways to further interpret the results of the study. The values are also better when it comes to examining the hypotheses that are presented (Harrison III, 2013). The use of quantitative coding does not mean that the information is less qualitative but what it does is open up the data to a wide range of possibilities. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: ?? Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: However, it must be approached in a qualitative manner. Citation is needed.

The mixed methods approach can be used to study the diversity in the workplace. The data obtained qualitatively can be coded for further interpretation of the results. There is no method that exists alone in a vacuum and this is why such an approach is important. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

Degree Path Influence on Research Approach

The degree path that I am taking is of business administration. Business research has been there for a long time and there are various studies that have been done on various topics in the area. It is important, however, to note that business is continuously changing in response to the environment that it is in. It is critical to make sure that there is up to date information in business administration that can help guide the core decision makers in the industry. There are limited studies that have been done on the role of diversity in the workplace and whether it is necessary. The issue of diversity has been for long been a political issue but it is now important to look at it from a practical business side. Is there are benefit to the business when there is diversity? When such a question is properly answered using data and statistics, the decision makers will make an informed choice on the way ahead in the days ahead. Business administrators will be able to make better choices when hiring and other business decisions.

World View and Research

The world view that one has will have an effect on the research. The thoughts on the business will be significant effect on the outcome of the research. It is the significance of the research on diversity that is influencing this research. The researcher is keen to have data and statistics which either support the diversity in the work place or the lack of it. The workplace needs to be as diverse as the consumers which it serves and I believe this research will act as a guide on this issue. Diversity needs to go further from being a political issue to one which is data driven with clear benefits of the same being discovered(De Aquino & Robertson, 2018). Diversity has been a core issue in workplaces and it is important to add onto the body of literature that seeks to understand the role of diversity in multicultural settings around the world. The conceptual framework is aligned to ensure the results reflect the true state of diversity in the workplace. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

Methodology and Design

The research design that I am going to use for this assignment is the qualitative research design, as used in my assignment of week 5. Qualitative research designs may take various forms as I had illustrated, the first one being the grounded theory, which is used as a different approach for the developing theories, as arising from an established relationship after the process of data collection and analysis. This theory arises after a systematic gathering of data (Patten, 2017). The other form of qualitative data is case studies. This design analyses a set of issues within the limits of a given organization, situation, environment and so on. A case study may take the form of explanatory, exploratory or descriptive design.

Data Collection Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: When explaining data collection or the first steps to any methodology, you must explain who your population and sample are first. That way, when you explain how do you get the data, you will already have stated from where you will have received that data. Therefore, the reader will not be confused as to who is doing what to whom as here.

Data collection in grounded theory was based on observation notes by the participant through getting engaged in people's daily activities and the subjects in question. Data was also collected through interviewing the subjects. The use of texts and artifacts was as well used to gather data. In the case of study, data was collected was on the description of a situation by a subject, and answered the question of how and why. The explanation was based on a real-life event, and as well used the question who and what. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: In this paper, everything should be in future tense because you have not collected the data yet. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Is the participant observing something and taking notes on it? This is what you explained within. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: ?? Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: It is unclear what this means.

The best method to use in the study of diversity in the workplace when applying the grounded theory is interviewing. Interviews will be conducted with Human Resources officers from various companies studying the impact of diversity in the workplace. The interviews will be formal and will be accompanied by a questionnaire. The interviews will be complimented by artifacts from reputable publications such as the Washington Post, and the New Yorker. The sample for the study will be purposive by taking 20 top companies in my area and studying their workforce to see their levels of diversity. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Within your paper, you must pay attention to detail and have the same detail throughout the entire paper. In this section, you state you will be using human resource officers from 20 companies. Within the purpose statement, you state that you will use employees from the Pepsi Corporation. Which is it? If you place your population and sample in one place and at the beginning of your methodology, you will not have this problem. Note the method that many of your research journal articles use. Notice where they put who, what, when, and where they will conduct their data. You should use the same method that APA style sources use. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: How will this occur? you need more information on the detail of what you will be doing.

There are four major ethical protection issues that must be considered when doing the research. There must be informed consent, beneficence, respect for confidentiality, and respect for privacy. The first thing that will be done is have the participants sign a consent form with the full information about the study and how the results will be used. At the same time, the researcher has to guarantee that the information that is provided does not incriminate anyone and will be used for the sole purpose of the research. At the same time, the details provided in the interviews need to be kept away from unnecessary access. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: This is not what the author was asking for when he asked for the four elements of trustworthiness. Within this statement of four articles, you have two principles of human subject research from the Belmont report and two ethical ideas in research. These are not the four elements of trustworthiness. Review your required reading. Citation is needed. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

Data Analysis

Qualitative research comes up with a wide range of data that is derived from various sources like interviews, observation notes, questionnaires, and official documents. Due to a wide range of respondents as well as the participants well as a variety of researchers, it is important to classify and organize data to make its understanding easier (Creswell, 2013). The following five steps are the steps involved in organizing data.

1. Reviewing the whole set of data so to bring out themes or patterns, which are then assigned symbols or numbers to make it easier for the analysis.

2. Creating a table for the codes to ensure that there is consistency in the codes and that such codes are accessible from several researchers.

3. Classifying data into various groups according to various codes, make easier for the analysis and discussion. This may focus on themes that are independent as recorded in the data.

4. Organizing the data survey inform of a sub-topic or question to analyses data easily. This organization may take the form of question or subtopic

5. Coding the already transcribed data and labeling it to make data readily evident. In this case, it would be easy for a researcher to access information which has been analyzed, grouped and transcribed. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed.

Coding and thematic development Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: This section and the following sections were not viewed for extensive feedback or grade because these are sections that belong in assignment 8. Make sure that read your required reading for help with that assignment. Remember to proofread your assignment prior to submitting it. There are multiple errors within.

In qualitative research, coding refers to the main method that is used in the development of themes or the patterns of meaning in data classification (Saldana, 2015). Thematic development is concerned with examining themes or general patterns within data analysis. In this case, coding defines the data being analyzed. Iterations process identifies a passage within a text or any item of data like an image or a photograph, getting the concepts and looking for the relationship that exists between them. Coding is therefore seen as the process of linking data to an idea. In my case, concept and data-driven codes are being used to getting an idea from the research data. Thematic development, on the other hand, enroots on identification and interpretation of the pattern of meaning or themes used in the research work (Ryan, 2016). In my case, this was done through discourse analysis after the interviews and interpreting the observational notes. coding and thematic development make it easier to understand data.

Triangulation

This is the process of using a variety of data sources to make data comprehension easier. Triangulation also has found to test data validity through the convergence of given information from many sources. In this case, many methods are used to collect data to ensure data validity. Triangulation also increases a reader's knowledge as information is availed from different sources (Rothbauer, 2015). In my example, I have triangulated my qualitative study in data collection, where I used ground theory and the case study, to come up with more information on the research. This has helped widen the scope of research.

Using software applications

It is important to use software for qualitative analysis of data. This software system helps in processing discourse analysis, content analysis, text interpretation coding of information and interpreting information to enable a person to make informed decisions. In this case, I will use the SPSS software program for my qualitative research study. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: Citation is needed. Comment by Vicki Lindsay, PhD: SPSS is not the proper software for qualitative research. You will need to use the proper software for qualitative research.

References

Harrison III, R. L. (2013). Using mixed methods designs in the Journal of Business Research, 1990–2010. Journal of Business Research, 66(11), 2153-2162.

Atieno, O. P. (2009). An analysis of the strengths and limitation of qualitative and quantitative research paradigms. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 13(1), 13-38.

Cameron, R., & Molina-Azorin, J. F. (2011). The acceptance of mixed methods in business and management research. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 19(3), 256-271.

Walliman, N. (2017). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.

De Aquino, C. T. E., & Robertson, R. W. (2018). Diversity and Inclusion in the Global Workplace. Springer.