Research

3.0 Research Methodology and Methods

Saunders et al. (2003) describe the means by which we have chosen to depict the issues underlying the choice of data collection methods in terms of the research process ‘onion’. They argue that before coming to the central point of which method to choose, there are important layers of the onion that need to be peeled away. The research process onion is shown in the following diagram:

Source: Saunders et al (2003)

The research methodology and data collection methods are discussed in terms of this research onion process.

3.1 Research Philosophy

There are three predominant views about the research process which dominate the literature: positivism, interpretivism and realism. According to Saunders et al. (2003) they are different, if not mutually exclusive, views about the way in which knowledge is developed and judged as being acceptable.

Positivism is what Remenyi et al. (1998) describe as ‘working with an observational social reality and that the end product of such research can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists’. Saunders et al. (2003) go on to state that ‘the researcher in this tradition assumes the role of an objective analyst, coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have been collected in an apparently value-free manner’ and Gill and Johnson (1997) state that there will be an emphasis on a highly structured methodology to facilitate replication.

The interpretivist research philosophy argues that ‘the social world of business and management is far too complex to lend itself to theorising by definite ‘laws’ in the same way as the physical sciences’, (Saunders et al., 2003). The strongest argument an interpretivist could raise according to Saunders et al. (2003) is the necessity to discover what Remenyi et al. (1998) describe as ‘the details of the situation to understand the reality or perhaps the reality working behind...