Integration of Agile Practices into Waterfall for Business Advantages - Research Paper Example

?CHAPTER 3-METHODOLOGY Introduction This chapter explains the procedures that were taken to test the hypothesis of this study “Agile practices can beintegrated into Waterfall yields business advantages.” The selected qualitative research design proceeded in four phases. The first and second phases involved reviewing of relevant literature followed by questionnaire development respectively. The third phase involved gathering a list of survey participants and distribution of the survey by following IRB guidelines. The fourth, which marked the final phase involved analyzing the data findings and then comparing it with existing literature. Rationale for Qualitative Research Design Acknowledging that people are masters of their own lives, research on how programmers and their managers adopt to new policies and procedures can not be done without interviews those impacted by those new policies and procedures. As Marshall and Rossman (1999) Put it, One cannot understand human actions without understanding the meaning that Participants attribute to those actions—their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, and assumptive worlds; the researcher, therefore, needs to understand the deeper Perspectives captured through face-to-face interaction. (p. 57) Thus, qualitative research is the best way to understand such personal, individual perspectives. Qualitative research tends to investigate essential and distinctive features of actions and experiences as lived by a person. Groves (2004) explained that qualitative research does not take place in the lab, but happens in the real world. It deals with how people give meaning to their own experience. Furthermore, it aims to interpret the behavior and meanings that people have given to their experience. Kwiatkowska (2013) observed that the goal is to describe and possibly explain events and experiences. The typical language used are the case study, field study and context. The research types include the case study research, ethnographic research and grounded theory. Qualitative research method is used in research with an aim of gathering an in depth understanding information. It investigates the how and why of making of decisions. Therefore, samples that are smaller but focused are often used instead of large samples. According to Groves (2004), qualitative research methods give information on specific studies cases and general conclusions on informed actions. Groves (2004) observed that the qualitative researchers basically are concerned with processes and practices rather than the outcomes. The focus is mainly on the experiences and perceptions of the participants. Qualitative research involves fieldwork typically whereby observation and recording on events are done. The researcher goes to the site, setting and the people physically to observe the subjects naturally and normally. According to Kwiatkowska (2013), the method was seen as appropriate due to its several advantages: 1. It uncovers the experiences of the people 2. It is less expensive because of the focus on small groups 3. It is flexible The assumptions made for this research were: 1. The information gathered will be sufficient to make a general conclusion on how the integration process can be. 2. The available data on integration of waterfall and agile processes were holistically researched since it was difficult to break down the study into small independent factors. 3. The research will contribute a substantial amount of data that can be used by future researcher to ascertain the requirements for integrating agile into traditional processes. However, the limitations of the qualitative research method approach in a research include: 1. Research error is associated with survey research especially where assumptions on a sample are made that are inaccurate. 2. Qualitative research method only collects data on selected group of participants. This data cannot be used in making general assumptions. 3. The method does not allow conveniently for statistical data collection 4. Qualitative research method is prone to rigidity when questionnaires are developed. The survey questionnaire applied and the method of administering at the beginning by a researcher cannot be changed in the data gathering process. 5. The survey research is not also ideal for issues that attract controversies, or cannot be answered precisely by the participants. 6. Possibility of inappropriateness of the questions. This is because of the standardization of the questions to accommodate large populations Phases of the Research The research process was undertaken in four-phase steps. The first phase examined the literature on Waterfall and Agile methods of development that exists. This formed the basis of Chapter two. It showed that the two methods were researched extensively, but little exists if the two methodologies were combined. To fill the gap, the researcher focused on studies that analyzed the constraints and advantages of Waterfall and Agile integration. In the second phase, this researcher developed a survey questionnaire. The survey questions focused on: (a) core business, size, culture and structure (b) characteristics of the participants such as experience and qualification (c) Details on the methodology of the software including the challenges and the process (d) Details on Agile and Waterfall integration including the advantages and constraints (e) The critical factors for success In the third phase, software developers were selected who work for company A, A multinational financial corporation that is based in US. This is because company A has many Agile and Waterfall projects that were ongoing. Furthermore, the participants in the survey reside in Columbus, OH. This site has approximately 150 application projects using Agile and Waterfall methodologies. There were 250 candidates who listed as IT resource, selected from company employee directory. The survey was emailed to the selected participants of company. Before emailing the survey, the participants were asked to provide their experience level in dealing with methodologies of Agile and Waterfall and years of experience. Participation requests and inquiries on individual participants experience were sent in email. The information was used to filter the respondents to get only the ones eligible for participation. Eligibility included at least 2 years of experience working on a project for development where one or all the methodologies of Waterfall and Agile for instance, the Crystal, XP and Scrum were applied. The informed consent form was sent to the participants before sending the survey questionnaire. The participants who signed the consent form were then emailed the survey. The research aimed at securing a broad spectrum of representation across job titles and representations. The respondents who fell within the direct experience of the developers of the software’s were not considered for the research study. The request for participation was sent through email. The goal was to get a minimum sample of 25 developers of software from company A. However, all the people who responded were included in the research study. The necessity enabled solicitation of the initial figure of 250 until the eligible 25 were gotten. The research activity of selecting participants took about 2 months. The qualification for inclusion of a software developer in the study required a participant to have several qualities, including the minimum 2 years experience with both methodology of Agile and Waterfall. This ensured that the selection got participants who were familiar with both methodologies of software development. Participants were selected based on the background and common experience so as not to restrict the results of the survey. The participants included the skilled managers, architectures, programmers; team leads and certifies IT experts. The management and the technicians were given priority in the study. The selection criteria ensured that the participants felt the effect of both methodologies of software development on business and technical issues. The participants who were selected participated in the survey is listed below: 1. Survey_PID_01 2. Survey_PID_02 3. Survey_PID_03 4. Survey_PID_04 5. Survey_PID_05 6. Survey_PID_06 7. Survey_PID_07 8. Survey_PID_08 9. Survey_PID_09 10. Survey_PID_10 11. Survey_PID_11 12. Survey_PID_12 13. Survey_PID_13 14. Survey_PID_14 15. Survey_PID_15 16. Survey_PID_16 17. Survey_PID_17 18. Survey_PID_18 19. Survey_PID_19 20. Survey_PID_20 21. Survey_PID_21 22. Survey_PID_22 23. Survey_PID_23 24. Survey_PID_24 25. Survey_PID_25 26. Survey_PID_26 27. Survey_PID_27 In protection of the confidentiality of the data collected, an informed consent form was provided. Furthermore, the information obtained was not recorded in a manner in which the human subjects can be identified directly or by the linked identifiers to the subjects. The records were also kept under lock and key for their safety. The research records were labeled with specific generated codes by the number of the respondents. The data was stored in the computer, is password protected. The computer holding the information will also have password protection to ensure it is inaccessible by unauthorized persons. There were 27 qualified participants that accepted the participation. The allowance on inclusion of all the people who responded catered for the additional two hence 27 was still within the sample size out of the initial figure of 250. The fourth phase presents the data findings; describing participants' experience in the methodologies and analyzing the factors that help or hinder integration of Agile and Waterfall. The findings will also be compared with the existing literature. Summary Research into the real world of software developers and managers which takes into account the real world practicalities requires a quantitative research design. To test the hypothesis “Agile practices can be integrated into Waterfall yields business advantages”, the research proceeded in four phases. The first phase, literature review, showed that while much has been written on waterfall and agile, little has been written covering the integration of the two. The second phase, survey development, focused on core business, size, culture and structure, characteristics of the participants such as experience and qualification, details on the methodology helped in filtering participants to the ones that met research requirements. The third phase, participant’s selection, involved getting a list of qualified participants from company A. 27 out of 250 participants accepted the participation and were all included in the project. The 27 participant received Survey requests that they needed to confirm. The fourth phase, data analysis, involved analyzed the data findings as well comparing it with the existing literature. Out of the data conclusions and recommendations were derived. The next chapter explains how data analysis, interpretation and strategies were conducted in this research. References Groves, R. M. (2004). Survey methodology. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley. Kwiatkowska, Agnieszka. (n.d.). Online Data Collection: The Current State of “Click” Research. Leffingwell, D., & Widrig, D. (2010). Agile software requirements: Lean requirements practices for teams, programs, and the enterprise. Boston, Mass: Addison-Wesley. Larman, C. (2004). Agile and iterative development: A manager's guide. Boston: Addison-Wesley. 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