The Use of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods in Academic Business - Assignment Example

Compare and contrast the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods in undertaking academic business and management research. The comparison and contrast should critically evaluate the extent to which the two approaches are mutually exclusive and indicate also where they may complement each other in the course of carrying out a study. 1. Introduction The choice of research methods employed in a particular research project is depended primarily on the targets set by the researcher; however, the availability of research tools is not always guaranteed. Two major research methodologies have been developed in order to help academic researchers to respond to the needs of their research projects: qualitative and quantitative research methods. Researchers have to choose among the above research methods when a specific research project needs to be planned and executed; often, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research takes place in order to meet all requirements of such project; in any case, research ethics have a crucial role; other issues like the resources available, the level of success of a specific research method, the availability of sample/ tools, the access to the research tools (e.g. databases) and so on are also likely to influence the decision of researchers in regard to a particular research method. Current paper focuses on the examination of the potential use of qualitative and quantitative research methods for developing academic business and management research. It is proved that in the particular field the common principles of academic research need to be used; moreover, it is also implied that a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods can take place in the context of a specific business research project. 2. Qualitative and quantitative research – overview, characteristics In order to understand the potential use of qualitative and quantitative research methods in business research it would be necessary to identify the characteristics of the above research methods; at the next level it would be necessary to explore the potential forms of these methods – as these forms could be used for the development of academic business research. The distinction between qualitative and quantitative research has been an issue extensively examined by theorists working in the specific scientific field. Regarding this issue, Cassell and Symon (2004: 1993) noted that there is no pure qualitative research – rather a qualitative research method having the role of an alternative to the quantitative research methodology would be accepted. Often, qualitative research is related with literature review; however, in practice qualitative research can refer to a series of research methodologies including ethnography, Internet communication and interview (Silverman, 2004: 95, 140). In practice, qualitative research methods are considered to be more credible – compared to the quantitative research methods; the reason is the variety of approaches and research tools (literature review, ethnography, interview, case studies and so on) used in the context of qualitative research; this variety increases the credibility of qualitative research compared to other research methods (Marshall and Rossman, 2010: 41). As for the quantitative research, this focuses on the collection of empirical data on the issue under examination – usually through survey or a similar research tool. By its nature, quantitative research is often regarded as being less efficient compared to the qualitative research (Newman and Ridenour, 2007: 16). On the other hand, the quantitative research has an important advantage – compared to the qualitative research: it can offer to the researcher an extended sample of data related with the issue under examination; in this context, it is noted that in quantitative research researchers can ‘rely on a large sample to show statistical effect’ (Glynn, 2009: 42); the above fact would be of high importance for the success of a specific business research project. For this reason, quantitative research should be preferred on business research project where market trends (or else the customer preferences) have to be identified in regard to specific products/ services. 3. Academic Business and Management Research In business, the use of research is usually related with the identification of the factors that influence a firm’s performance; moreover, business research can be also related with the strengths and the weaknesses of a particular industrial sector. In other words, business research needs to be partially differentiated from the academic research; the former has to reply to practical issues of modern organizations – the development of theoretical frameworks in regard to these organizations’ daily operations can be also part of business research. In the above context, the choice of qualitative and quantitative research methods for the development of specific business research projects needs to be based on these projects’ needs but also on the resources available. 3.1 Theoretical framework of Business and Management Research Business research is used when issues related with a particular business activity need to be critically explored and explained; at this point, business research have a similar framework with common academic research which can be ‘both an attitude and an activity’ (Briggs and Coleman, 2007: 3). Pugh has been one of the most known theorists in the field of business research; the above theorist supported the positivist methodology of business research – developing – with the support of his team – an extensive research on firms operating in the West Midlands (England) (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Lowe, 2002:35); in accordance with Pugh ‘facts and values can be clearly separated while a system view could be used in order to examine the full complexity of the data’ (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Lowe, 2002:36). The value of positivist research was also emphasized in the work of Hofstede (1991) who supported that ‘mental constructs are more valuable in research than the hard objective facts’ (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Lowe, 2002:36). At the next level, the involvement of academics in business research is clearly explained in the study of Bryman and Bell (2007); in the above study it is noted that ‘academics conduct such research because when reflecting on what is going on in modern organizations questions occur to them’ (Bryman and Bell, 2007: 27). In any case, business research should be based on the general principles of academic research in order to ensure the production of credible and valid results. The framework of business and management research may be designed using specific criteria – setting in the theory and the empirical research developed on the particular field: Ghauri (2005: 56) notes that the structure of business research is depended on the research problem; the structure of business research can be exploratory, descriptive or causal (Ghauri, 2005: 56) in accordance with the characteristics of the research problem. The part of the organization to which the research refers may also be a criterion for the structure of a business research project: an example is mentioned in the study of Belk (2006) where it is made clear that when a marketing-related issue is under examination then a qualitative research method is likely to be chosen (Belk, 2006: 3). 3.2 Qualitative and quantitative research methods available in academic business and management research Research projects are likely to have a specific structure; this structure is indicatively explained by Lewis, Thornhill and Saunders (2009) as follows: ‘the formulation and clarification of research topic, the review of the literature, the formulation of research design, the study of applicable ethics, the selection of sample, the collection of secondary and primary data and the evaluation of data’ (Lewis, Thornhill and Saunders, 2009: 3). Business research projects cannot be standardized; even if the above framework – used in common academic research projects – could be used by business researchers, still important issues would be examined: the most common problem in business research is the identification of adequate participants in order to evaluate existing market trends on a specific business field. Under these terms, it is assumed that common qualitative and quantitative research methods would be appropriate for business research projects; however, the above methods should be appropriately aligned with these projects’ targets and needs; often, the research methods aiming to locate empirical evidence (interviews, surveys and so on) are likely to be preferred – compared to the literature review – by business researchers. 3.3 Evaluation of exclusiveness and interaction of qualitative and quantitative research methods in regard to the academic business and management research The potential interaction of qualitative and quantitative research methods in business research can be made clear by referring to specific examples of business research methodologies – as developed by researches working in the particular field. Dale (2010) refers to a specific type of business research: the use of clickstream data for the identification and the potential improvement of a business website; his study leads to the assumption that ‘web analytics methods can be applied successfully in a B2B application for a technology-oriented company’ (Dale, 2010: 177); through the above study, an innovative business research method, the use of web analytics methods – the example of clickstream data is used by Dale – is tested and proved to be particularly effective as a business research method in modern market – which is characterized by the extensive use of Internet as a tool for developing various business activities. From another point of view, Dawood (2010) emphasized on the use of traditional methods of research in order to identify the effectiveness of specific business initiatives; in the study of Dawood (2010) the 4D planning in the construction industry was set under examination; the above researcher used traditional research methods – used also in the academic research – like ‘literature review, open-ended questionnaire, surveys, semi-structured interviews and historical site records’ (Dawood, 2010: 210); the research methods mentioned above were proved effective regarding the issue under examination. There have been also studies where the need for pure business research methods has been necessary; an indicative example is the study of Sanchez, Potter and Mohamed (2010); the above study focuses on the identification of the causes of supply chain uncertainty and the expected effects on the transport sector in Britain; the business research method chosen has been ‘a methodological triangulation strategy which combines the results of eight focus groups and an online structured questionnaire’ (Sanchez, Potter and Mohamed, 2010: 61); the use of this business research method has been proved to be the most appropriate in regard to the characteristics of the issue under examination. Lee et al. (2010) has presented another example of a research method appropriate for the business research sector; the above researchers used a research method that ‘combines computer-assisted content analysis (CA) and multivariate statistics’ (Lee and Guthrie, 2010: 4); the advantage of the above research method is that ‘combines and extends the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative methods’ (Lee and Guthrie, 2010: 4); at the next level, it is made clear that business research methods could be designed in accordance with the characteristics of the particular business/ industry and not be standardized – a usual phenomenon in the common academic research. It is made clear from the above that the credibility of results in business research is highly depended on the flexibility of the research methods employed; this fact is made clear in the study of Rey-Marston and Neely (2010); in the specific study, ‘the combination of the Venkatraman’s test of coalignment with three different sets of measures - those used by a service provider involved in the research, those used by customers contracting the services, and those documented in 11 contracts studied’ (Rey-Marston and Neely, 2010: 19) was decided because of the complexity of the issue under examination; it was proved that in business research the mixing of research methods can be valuable especially when the precise identification of all expected risks/ failures is not feasible. 4. Conclusion Through the examination of business research projects it is proved that existing qualitative and quantitative methods are often inadequate to respond to the needs of a complex business research project. In this case, the development of existing business research processes may be required – in case that the needs of a specific study are extended or are not adequately addressed by current business research methods; this issue is highlighted in the study of Yen (2009) who noted that business research in the past was likely to be based on ‘quantitative performance measures or qualitative surveys’ (Yen, 2009: 865); however, in the study of Yen (2009) it was proved that the use of an alternative business research methodology based on ‘the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology’ (Yen, 2009: 865) would be decided by business researchers in case that existing business research methods do not respond to the demands of their research project. Existing qualitative and quantitative research methods have been designed in order to respond to research projects that cover specific educational needs. On the other hand, business research is most likely to deal with the examination of problems that occur in daily organizational activities; in this context, the findings of business research need to reflect the actual market trends, the firm’s performance or the participants’ views as related to the business issue under examination. Under these terms, the common framework of existing qualitative and quantitative research methods should be appropriate transformed – as explained above – in order to be aligned with the needs of business research projects developed in modern market. Bibliography Belk, R. (2006) Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing, London: Edward Elgar Publishing. Briggs, A. and Coleman, M. (2007) Research methods in educational leadership and management, London: SAGE Bryman, A. and Bell, E. 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