Research methodologies

3.1 Introduction:

In order to successfully complete the research study by using and accessing the reliable and authentic information usage of proper methodology is always considered as important. Research methodology plays a vital role in any research project and is considered as a backbone of any research as it is designed to support or challenge already existing facts of scholars in relevant academic area. This chapter of the research study will discuss the research methodology used in the research, methods of data collection, sampling and will explain the necessary justification to choose one methodology over another one.

3.2 Research philosophy:

Saunders et al (2009) explains the research philosophy and is of the view that research philosophy with which researcher sees the world. It is really vital to have a proper research philosophy in relevance to the research objectives of the research study. According to Saunders et al (2009) some of the mainly used philosophies of the research all over the world are positivism, realism, interpretivism, and pragmatism. This research study is inductive in nature and researcher aims to use qualitative approach in order to attain the objectives of the research.

3.3 Reasons for choosing pragmatism philosophy:

Researcher has chosen philosophy of pragmatism in order to attain and achieve the objectives of this research due to several reasons. Some of the main reasons to choose pragmatism over other research philosophies are:

• This study of the research is external and researcher has many views about the issues of research.

• Researcher has observed the issue and decided to conduct an investigative research on it by using qualitative method. As the research is inductive in nature and using qualitative methodology the most suitable philosophy would be pragmatism.

• Philosophy of pragmatism gives the extra bit of flexibility to the researcher while asking questions in the primary research from the respondents.

• It also gives an opportunity to incorporate the observation and subjective meanings of the words used in this research study.

• It also provides the freedom to the researcher to incorporate his views and perceptions about the issue of research.

3.4 Inductive and Deductive Approaches:

Trochim (2006) calls deductive approach as a top down approach where discussions starts from a general issue and get to specific with the span of time. It is normally referred to as top down approach, on the other hand inductive approach is known as a bottom up approach where research starts from the observation about any specific thing, similarly different strategies and established facts are discussed to draw the most appropriate findings about the issues and problems of the research.

3.5 Why inductive:

By using the inductive approach it is highly possible that researcher would observe more details and builds more understanding about the issue of research and would finally come up with some substantial findings of the research. This proposed research study is dealing with the qualitative data as it demands to understand the perception, feelings and words of people. Whereas deductive approach demands to have quantitative data, since this research is based on qualitative data and gives importance to words and feelings of people rather than numbers and statistics the most suitable approach to be used in this research study is inductive which is already chosen for this study by a researcher to complete it with success and attainment of the objectives of this study are made sure.

3.6 Qualitative Method:

While explaining the history of qualitative method of research Merriam (2009) believes that a word qualitative research tens of years ago in the time when different anthropologists used to inquire people living both in village and cities about the meaning of life to them. Importance was given to the words and feelings of people who responded to the questions about life to these anthropologists, which is believed to become the root of qualitative approach of the research. Due to change in the world setup where humans became important in societies this methodology started to get popular because it was designed to collect data about the feelings and perceptions of people. Gall et al (2003) argues that qualitative research is an approach where feelings and thoughts of people are recorded about the certain issue or a problem of research. Furthermore, different techniques may be used to collect qualitative data from respondents such as case studies, questionnaires, surveys, interviews etc. The essence of qualitative research is that it gives importance to so many issues, which may otherwise be ignored if quantitative approach is being used to collect data. Thoughts and feelings of people are given importance in this approach and other different kinds of techniques are used to compress the collected data and draw some unique outcomes out of it.

According to Rossman & Marshall (1980) it is absolutely essential to study the behavior, thoughts and perceptions of humans and don’t only rely on the collected statistical data because statistics may give the most accurate outcome of the research but would fail to capture the bigger picture which is to record the thoughts of humans who are relevant about the issue or a problem of research. Mangen & Hantrais (1996) argue that qualitative research should be considered as better option than opting into the quantitative research because qualitative approach of a research provides the opportunity to the researcher to dwell deep into the research issue and get as much information as he or she can from the respondent, on the other hand by using quantitative approach of a research many issues or problems relevant to the research may be left uncovered if not dealt with the qualitative approach. Similarly according to Swetnam (2007) qualitative approach can be looked upon as an instigation process to help make a way to conduct quantitative approach of research, so that numeric and statistical data about the issue of research may be collected and results may be withdrawn.

It is really important to define and plan the technique of collection of data with the emphasis on research methodology to be used in the research. This research study would be focusing to use qualitative approach to conduct the primary research. An open-ended questionnaire containing relevant questions about the issues and problems of investigation of research would be floated and distributed in the sample of people who can be called upon as respondents to record the real information i.e. primary information about the issues of research from these respondents. It is essential to design the questionnaire in a way where relevant questions must be asked from the respondents and recorded in professional way to make the research authentic and reliable. As explained in the introductory part of this chapter methodology is considered as the backbone of research, this research study will also use qualitative approach to uncover some of the interesting facts, which were left out or ignored, and ultimately researcher aims to add something unique and substantial into the academic world.