The Extent of Employee Satisfaction in the Health Sector in General - Research Paper Example

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3 Introduction The section is aimed at elaborating over the research methodology that shall be used in conducting the research at hand. The research was conducted to analyze the extent of employee satisfaction in the health sector in general. This research topic assists the researchers to understand the symmetric and linear relationship between the employee satisfaction and the level of employee engagement (Boselie and Dietz, 2003; De Mello, Wildermuth and Pauken, 2008). The research sheds light upon the variable that are internal as well as external in raising employee satisfaction through a qualitative as well as quantitative study. The research undertakes a mix of qualitative and quantitative aspects of study in order to arrive at desired observations. The questionnaire is circulated online to access a wide range of responses. Additionally, few open ended questions allow for greater knowledge on certain areas of study through the questionnaire format. The study has also undertaken a telephonic interview apart from the secondary data research to support quantitative facts by reliable and verifiable information sourced from the interview and qualitative research. 3.2. Research Philosophy According to Tobin and Joseph, (2006), research philosophy is the manner in which one gathers, organizes and analyses the data for the purpose of researching a particular problem. The common research philosophy has two main principals associated which are known as the positivist philosophical process and the interpretivism or the phenomenological style. Both the models are effective tools for carrying out the research activity but the difference arises in the objectivity of the model. According to the positivist approach, theory is established prior to conducting the research activity. The positivist research can be carried out in a two pronged approach, the descriptive research and the experimental research. The research model based on the positivist approach is primarily focused upon bringing together an analysis of the dependency of the external factors and the internal factors of the research. Philosophically, the positivist research method is based on ontological and axiological perspectives of a research problem. The phenomenological model of interpretivism was developed by Edmund Husserl and is the way of research that conducts the research in a manner that is influenced by human perceptions (Somekh and Lewin, 2004). The particular model of research lays focus on the micro level sociological issues like the prime motives behind the behaviour of people. Such a model of interpretivism assists in getting an understanding over the non statistical aspects of a research including emotions, social motives and human perceptions (Cohen, 2000). Interpretive models focus on qualitative data and try to analyze the individual behaviours generally by using unstructured interviews that might allow for description of answers instead of having exogenous or endogenous variable facilitating the mathematical approach. The model makes use of the inductive and qualitative tools like observation, discussions and interviews in order to address the research question. 3.2.1. Ontology Ontology is the theory or science of being. It is related to the question of being. According to Marsh and Furlong, (2002) the stances of methodology and approach taken by the researchers are pivotal to research of political science and they are critical in shaping up the theory and method of a research. In other words, ontology is the nature of a social or a political contest for which there is a desire for knowledge. 3.2.2. Epistemology Epistemology is the theory of awareness. The epistemological position of one’s research represents the view of what can be known about the world and the manner in which it can be done. There are two main divisions to this. The question of objectivity relates to the possibility of gaining knowledge about the world that has no interfaces. This requires that everyone views the thing in the similar manner. The second is that any observation is not objective and rather affected by the constructions of the reality. This implies that epistemology and ontology having almost nothing in common (Hay, 2002). As per the positivist approach of epistemology as discussed above, it is believed that there is objectivity in terms of observations and that all sciences can be measured empirically. Thus positivism believes in the experimental nature of the research. This research also is a positivist approach where it is believed that each behaviour has an explanation and relies largely on quantifiable data for the research (Vaivio, 2008). This reality refers to the objective reality of facts and information. 3.3. Approach 3.3.1. Deductive Approach (Source: Shaheen, n.d.) Deductive research approach is the method in which the study is analyzed in the waterfall manner. This implies that the research tries to establish theory first and then generates a hypothesis after which the behaviour of the variables is observed and finally, the research arrives at definitive conclusions. The model does not quite fit with the objective of this research study. The researcher aims to test the validity of assumptions and thereby places theory before carrying out any assumptions shall prove futile. Hence the researcher rejects the deductive approach of research (Robson, 2002). 3.3.2. Inductive Approach (Source: Shaheen, n.d.) The research selects the inductive model of research where the observations are converted to theoretical conclusions. The model first observes behaviour and the inter-connection between the different variable of the study. The research creates a tentative hypothesis and analyses the data or findings of the research to accept or reject the hypothesis and thereby arriving at a final conclusion. The researcher tries to observe the theoretical relationship between the variable and then formulates a hypothesis for the purpose of carrying out the research study. 3.4. Strategies and Choices The study has chosen the particular research methodologies after careful and critical calculation of the exogenous factors and data collection conveniences, economic conditions of data collection, macro environmental matters and demographic issues of the sample under study. The research strategy was chosen for the purpose of converting data collected into understandable information in an accurate and an unbiased manner. The researcher has chosen a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods in combination with a semi structured interview in order to carry out the research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil, 2009). 3.4.1. Qualitative Methodology There is some sort of fix pattern associated with the research design that is adopted by the researcher. In this study, the researcher aims to use the benefits of both, qualitative as well as quantitative models while analyzing the data and there come to conclusions in addressing the research problem (Delery and Shaw, 2001). The qualitative research is aimed at a scientific research methodology that is descriptive in nature. Scholars have argued that the qualitative model can address the research questions and problems in a more comprehensive way as compared to the quantitative study. The qualitative research is useful in estimating issues associated with social beliefs, behaviour, human opinions and culture (Berger, 2000). This study has chosen the qualitative approach with a view to analyze the opinions presented by the employees of health organizations in open ended questions and telephonic interviews. 3.4.2. Quantitative Methodology The Quantitative method of research uses data collected in a systematic and arranged format such that it can be analyzed with the use of statistical and mathematical tools and techniques for arriving at conclusions that are again numerical in nature (Read and Marsh, 2002). The researcher also used descriptive statistics in order to analyze the data found in close ended questions so as to arrive at the most popular choices. The study is analyzing the symmetric and linear relationship between the employee satisfaction and the level of employee engagement and hence quantitative data in this regard shall be helpful in arriving at specific choices and conclusions (Yanow and Schwartz-Shea, 2006). 3.4.3. Quantitative Vs Qualitative data (Source: Family Health International, n.d.) 3.4.4. Semi-Structured Interview The researcher had divided the empirical study in two different phases. In the first phase, the researcher carries out a global online survey of the employees within health sector through a questionnaire which has a mix of open and close ended questions. These employees included a good mix of people in the junior and senior positions within organizations. In the second phase, the researcher conducts a telephonic interview in a semi structure format (Kothari, 2008). A semi structure interview is a good tool to gather crucial and relevant information pertaining to the complex trends prevailing within the industry. The interview involved open ended questions that were put before the interviewee and the answers sought had a whole lot of information that encompassed varied data crucial and relevant to the research question (Carmeli and Freund, 2004). The interview method gathers information from a reliable source that helps the researcher gain an in depth knowledge over the research problem. Detailed discussions over the interview helped the researcher gain valuable insights over the issues and topic of research by allowing freedom in speech and expressions to both the ends of the interview. 3.5. Data Collection The data collection methods have been identified by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil, (2009) to be the method that comprises of different elements like sampling of data variables, selection the sample to be targeted for data collection, secondary data collection, scheduling interviews, observations on responses received and questionnaire survey methods. The researcher has used up all five methods mentioned above for the purpose of this research and collecting relevant data from the respondents. The methods chosen for collecting the data from the respondents have been illustrated as below. 3.5.1. Secondary Data Collection The research uses different sources of secondary data for the purpose of establishing results pertaining to research questions. These secondary data sources include books, published journals, newspapers, online databases like Proquest and Emerald, research papers published by scholars and magazines. The literature review also used historical data under the review sections that was necessary to get an understanding about the research context and associating it with the research problem and developing valid hypothesis (Kruger, 2008). 3.5.2 Sampling The questionnaire prepared by the researcher was floated online for wide availability of data and spreading out of the respondents from different geographical locations. Additionally, the online format also helped in making available, a great mix of senior as well as junior employees of different health companies. 3.5.3. Questionnaires The questionnaire had a mix of open and close ended questions that were set by the researcher. The questions were designed and directed towards the research objectives and prepared in order to provide objective and subjective answers to the research questions. The closed ended questions had responses that were based on the likert scale where the responses could be quantified. The aim of using close ended question is to get numerically verifiable data that can help in ascertaining the importance and relevance of known facts. The open ended questions within the questionnaire were aimed at bringing in personal views and opinions of the respondents in order to gather additional information to the issue of employee satisfaction of employees in health sector. It has been identified that interviewees do not want to answer too long questions and hence the number of open ended questions were limited supplemented by more of close ended questions. 3.5.4. Semi Structure Interviews / Telephonic Interview The telephonic interview was targeted in getting some reliable information pertaining to the research questions through a knowledgeable and reliable source of information. The interview was conducted over the telephone where the researcher had interview questions prepared (Kumar, 2011). The respondent was free to express his views and opinions over the questions and this allowed access to multitude of information. The conversations also led to cross questioning and such questions were not included within the prepared set of questions. 3.5.5. Observation The responses received t the interview as well as through questionnaires were analysed and put together to get comprehensible results. Quantitative data was put together for statistical and mathematical analysis while the qualitative data was organized and classified to present similar information as a single idea and thereby make findings understandable to the reader. 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