In order to determine the best research method for this research, different research strategy has been briefly discussed; this has enabled the author to determine the best method to approach this study. A brief introduction of the research strategies, their advantages and disadvantage has been discussed which would be followed by strength and weakness.
3.1. The Research Philosophy
Every embarked research is influenced by way of a researcher's experience and beliefs of particular phenomena that is about to explore. Notably, research philosophy is concerns with the development of knowledge in a particular field (Saunders et al, 2009). The type of research philosophy that a research applies will depend on how the researcher views of the environment surrounding the objectives of the research. Whatever the case may be, the objective of the research must be prioritised.
3.2. The Research Design.
Research design indicates the fundamental step for conducting a research. Research design is define as "the logical sequence that connects the empirical data to a study's initial research questions and, ultimately, to its conclusions" (Yin, 1994). Essentially, social research embodies different designs that have been grouped into three types: exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory (Saunders el at, 2009, Babbie, 2004). In business research, the explanatory research is recognized as causal research (Sekaran, 2000, Hair el at, 2008, Churchill, 1999). They are different in several ways, the aim of the research; the method used to formulate the research questions; the hypotheses formulation process; and the technique used in information collection are differs from each other.
3.3. Exploratory Research
Exploratory research is normally used when researchers wish to investigate a new concept (Churchill, 1999). An exploratory study can be undertaken to better understanding of the nature of the problem (Sekaran, 2000). Exploratory research aims to provide evidence of cause and effect relationships (Aaker el al, 2001).
Exploratory research can be used for any or all the following purposes (Churchill, 1999):
Formulating a problem for more precise investigation or for developing hypotheses;
Establishing priorities for future research;
Gathering information about the practical problems of conducting research on particular hypothetical statements;
Increasing the analyst's familiarity with the problem;
Clarifying concepts.
There are several methods and techniques involves when conducting an exploratory research, An exploratory research can be conduct via a number of techniques including reviewing the literature of the subject in question, interviewing of focus-group, case study if required and experienced survey persons (Saunders el al, 2009).
3.4. Descriptive Research
Descriptive research can be carried out to describe situations and phenomena to be study. A descriptive study is undertaken to describe the characteristics of variables of interest in a situation (Sekaran, 2000). Such research observes the variables and then explains the variable, the Problem aspects can be explained by generating descriptive statistic using statistical software, the data can be interpreted using the mode mean median, and frequency distribution diagrams.
(Churchill, 1999) suggested the following mode of descriptive research used as follows
To describe the characteristics of certain group for instance gender, income, age, educational level,
To estimate the proportion of people in a particular population who behave in certain way;
To make specific prediction for example predicting the level of sale over the next five years separately
This type of design can be undertaken when the characteristics or the phenomena to be investigated are recognized, exist, and need to he described more clearly by offering a profile of the factors; moreover, tested hypothesis will clarify the linkages that exist among variables, and finally will illustrate the establishment of cause and effect relationships (Sekaran, 2000).
3.5. Explanatory Research
This type of research can be used to study a problem so as to explain the relationship between variables (Saunders el al, 2009). It emphasizes how to determine the relationship that has cause the variable and their effects which can he reflected through experiments (Churchill, 1999). Explanatory approach aims to provide evidence of cause and effect relationships (Aaker et al, 2001), and to derive an exact theory which can be used to explain, clarify and justify the prevailing phenomena that prompt the investigation of the assertion. More specifically, researchers conduct a causal study to be able to state that for instance variable X cause variable Y, so when variable X is removed in some way, problem Y is solved (Sekaran, 2000).
A research design considered the blueprint for a study that guides the collection and analysis data (Churchill, 1999,). Research designs are vary in their specifications and different in their investigation of a particular relation.
3.6. Interrelation of Research Design
Despite the differences in these research design they have similarities, for example, exploratory research is fundamentally "general picture" research that can be useful for becoming familiar with a phenomena. Descriptive research is used to describe the characteristics of certain group, to estimate the proportion of people who behave in a certain way. Explanatory research seeks the causal-effect relationships (Churchill, 1999). Exploratory research is conducted when a problem has not been clearly defined, or its real scope is not yet clears. Exploratory research assists to determine the best research design, data collection, and selection methods (Eriksson & Wiedersheim, 1997). Significantly, which design should be used in the beginning of the investigation depends on the degree of clarity of the phenomena.
3.7. Justification of Research Strategy
The author has chosen both primary and secondary research methods due to the nature of data required, from the primary research data shall be obtain from the survey result conducted using the ITS UK while the research will also obtain data from research journals which would give recent information on the state of ITS. A combination of both will give the research a good level of accuracy as possible. With careful consideration of the above research methods, we shall briefly look at some reasons why these methods are most appropriate for this research.
Time consuming of survey: Time constrain is a factor that must be consider by a researcher, Survey of business in the UK is not an easy task to accomplish, it requires a longer time period for this dissertation to be completed, this is why the researcher has chosen to limit the survey within the ITS UK members only.
The cost of the survey: Cost of survey is high especially the current subject matter where many people and many business are required to be involved, this also why the research will be limited to ITS UK members only.
Access to respondent: The survey involves from small to large business, the author considers it unwise to visit business premise over the UK and it could be a very difficult task to have appointment with business managers and other executives, respondents are not easily accessible, therefore ITS UK representative will help to chaise their members to respond to the survey as quickly as possible.
The responds rate: The responds rate is another reason for using secondary data source, considering Internet base survey, the responds rate could be very low or returning data may be inaccurate to fit the survey and response rate are usually very low in this type data collection method.
Having consider the above points, the author deem it wise to use secondary data from reliable sources, which will save time, free or inexpensive and are readily available.
Each strategy can be used for exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory research (Yin, 2003). There are three conditions that distinguish research strategies, the type of research question posed, the extent of control an investigator has over actual behavioural events, and the degree of a focus on contemporary as opposed historical (Yin, 2003).
3.8. Case study
This a form of qualitative descriptive research, case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group in that specific context.
Strengths
Case studies specialize in "deep data," or "thick description" information based on particular contexts that can give research results a more human face.
Provide real examples
Encourage replication
Are generally practical in nature
Provide innovative ideas.
Weaknesses
Case study stress upon deep indebt data source, hence it could be difficult and expensive and unaffordable by small organisation, especially a research that involve large scale research which requires a considerable high cost and resource to be invested.
The case study also relies generally on individual interpretation and there could be intrusion in the result, this may lead to wrong result if the data are used
3.9. Survey Strategy
The current study is based on secondary research and has used data from previous researches which had made used of one or a combination of the above mention research, therefore the author briefly explain "survey strategy" that was adopted by the previous researchers.
Survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in social research, the survey is perhaps the most used research strategy, it answer question like how it "happen, when, what, where and or who" Moreover, the data collected can be used to propose the relationship between variables and to produce a model of their relationship (Saunders el al, 2009).
3.10. Source of data for the research
This research has employed only secondary data throughout therefore it is necessary to discuss in details what it is and how it can be put into use for the benefit of this research as well as other user of secondary data.
Definition: According to (Saunders et al 2009) describe secondary data as "data that have already been collected for some other purpose" and they can be a useful source from which researchers can derive meaningful result. Secondary data includes unprocessed data or summary of information.
3.11.Type of Secondary data
Secondary data include both quantitative and qualitative data, and they are used principally in both descriptive and explanatory research. The data may be raw data collected without correlation, or where there has been little if any processing, or compiled data that have received some form of selection. Secondary data are used in business and management research and such data are used most often as part of a case study or survey research strategy. However, other researches also include secondary data in other research strategies, they include archival research, action research and experimental research.
Researcher such as (Bryman 1989) examined generated data and attempted to classify them for easy understanding, also (Dale et al. 1988; Hakim 1982) have generated a variety of classifications for secondary data. These classifications are not easily distinguished to capture the full variety of data. However (Saunders et al 2008) have used the ideas of the past researcher to create three main sub-groups of secondary data as "documentary data, survey-based data, and those compiled from multiple sources" this have been discussed in details below.
3.10.1. Documentary secondary data
These types of data are often used in research projects that have also used primary data collection methods. However, they can also be use on their own or in combination with other sources of secondary data, for example for a research that involves business, governmental archival or documentary research within an archival research strategy. Documentary secondary data include written materials such as notices, correspondence such as emails, minutes of meetings, reports in an organization, diaries of the of individual, transcripts of speeches and administrative and public records. They could be in the form of written documents including books, journal and magazine articles and newspapers. (Saunders et al 2009) describe this type of secondary data as "important raw data sources in their own right as well as a storage medium for compiled data" It is also important to note that this type of data provide base for analysis of research where data are not easily reachable, for example data for space exploration research can only be reach from approved body having to do with space researcher and are under the control of military laws, They could also be written documents of qualitative data such as managers backed up data that were provided for use in decisions making. Documentary secondary data could also be used to generate statistical measures such as data of staff attendance and sales derived from company account records (Bryman 1989).
Documentary secondary data also include evidence from non written materials such as voice recording of respondent during interview and video recordings, pictures, drawings, films and television programmes (Robson 2002), digital media such as DVDs and CD-ROMs as well as company's or similar organization's databases. These data can be analysed by a researcher either as quantitative data or as qualitative data depending on the source. Additionally, they can form as part of research findings to help to compliment or triangulate findings based on other data, such as written documents and primary data collected through observation, interviews or questionnaires.
As mention earlier, the source of data available depends on possibility of accessing the resource centre, for example organisations granting access to their records.
Survey based secondary data
A survey based secondary data are those data derived from using survey research strategy which has been used for their primary purpose, such data could be collected from individuals or group of people or organisations, they can be raw data in aggregated matrix form, or tables or in the form of increasing or decreasing frequency. Survey data can be collected using three types of survey strategies; they are Regular surveys, Census or the ad hoc surveys. Perhaps the most reliable type of survey strategy is the census strategy, the reason is that it is a government engineered survey and it is mandatory that all eligible households must complete it. Other type of survey carried out includes business survey such as the SMEs survey, the UK annual hourly surveys and earnings.
Continuous surveys are carried out regularly through out the year, regular survey exclude the government census and are repeated over time and at regular interval (Hakim 1982), which could be annually, or monthly. Type of business surveys such as those to determine business annual turnover carried for SMEs are continuous survey strategy. There are private organisation that carry out survey for commercial purposes, in such case their availability may be restricted due to data protection or they need to be purchase for a price, they may be expensive as cost of surveys are also expensive.
Ad hoc secondary data survey
This refers to a one off survey, which are primary targeted to a specific issue or topic of the subject matter. They are specifics to fit the purpose of the research, example is the use of questionnaires, this requires the respondent to answer specific question relating to the subject matter. Secondary ad hoc data are difficult to identify and can be aggregate of raw data possibly from company or organisation that conducted the primary survey.
3.11. Organisations where Secondary research data were obtained
Market data are collected by many organization from their customers or client for a particular kind of research or the other, some organisation collect their data for training and quality measurement purpose, while some do so for marketing research, Government collect data for population and are used for budgeting and business funding such as the numbers of SMEs in the UK, In the UK for example the office of national statistics (ONS) collect data relating to the numbers employees per firm, Such collected data are use to classifies business type for example in SMEs classification which is the subject of this research (See table 5.1). Secondary data have advantage in a research were data are required across the international borders, for example data from a United state company's annual report can be requested in the UK which make it cost effective. A research such as this dissertation benefited from secondary data as it almost impossible to gather primary data for this research, because it would be impossible to get feed back from all the SMEs all over the UK using questionnaires or by travelling around. Hence this report made use of data from reliable sources such the ONS, the TSO, CBI and CEBR. Television channels are also source of data for example the CBNC channel, Bloomberg television provides market data readily available online at their website.
There could be the availability of multiple sources, however there are many situations where data may be available from multiple sources, in such a case data can be obtain separately and compare for accuracy and reliability. Data could be survey secondary data, documentary or combination of both, such data are most common with the big companies.
Chapter 4: Research Methodology
4. 1. Rational Behind Data collection
The data collected in this research are based on secondary research data obtained from carefully selected database. Although this research did not undertake any new survey, this research has used data from extensive and comprehensive data from reliable and independent sources and government bodies such as the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), The Stationary Office (TSO) and independent national newspapers and academic journals. The process of evidence gathering got its approach from consultation of the database from SMEs, which includes the analysis of finances, and survey data from CBI.
This study also uses statistical data from Office of National Statistics (ONS), The Stationary Office (TSO) and the result of survey a from CBI SMEs trend.
The study therefore primarily relies on non-experimental secondary data from various sources (Hakim, 2000). For such documentary data which have been compiled for other purposes, it is particularly important to pay attention to measurement validity, reliability, sample coverage, unmeasured variables and potential measurement bias (Saunders et al. 2009).
The research seeks to establish the value relevance to the roles of SMEs in the United Kingdom (UK) as a country which is under recession. It is essentially theoretical in nature and coincides with what has been labelled research in which an existing theory, technique or group of ideas is re-examined, possibly in a different organizational or social context" as suggested by (Easterby-Smith et al, 2002).
4.2. Data collection methods
Qualitative research method is use to measure the way people feels, why they act in a peculiar way and the way they think, in qualitative research fewer participant, qualitative is more in-depth probing into a phenomena, qualitative research as an unstructured, primarily exploratory design based on small samples, intended to provide insight and understanding (Malhotra and Birke 2007).
Qualitative research is divided into three main methods of data collection, Focus groups, Observation and In-depth interviews (Sounders et al, 2009).
Focus groups bring a topic to be disused by a small number of respondents, the group size is kept intentionally small, so that its members do not feel intimidated but can express opinions freely. A topic guide to aid discussion is usually arranged in advance and the researcher usually 'chairs' the group, to ensure that a range of aspects of the topic are discussed.
Observation is the second data collection technique in qualitative method, data are collected by an external observer which can be a non-participant observer or the data can be collected by a participant observe and the researcher become part of the population being studied.
In-depth interviews is particular interested in an individual respondent, similar to as in a focus group, this could be the respondent home, office or any convenient environment for the interview
Bryman (1988) argues that both quantitative and qualitative research are regarded as competing views about the ways in which social reality ought to be studied, and as such they are essentially divergent clusters of epistemological assumptions. (Carson and Coviello, 1996) Therefore, mutual confirmation, whilst desirable, is not necessarily the primary objective of employing multiple methods.
4.3. Differences in Quantitative and Qualitative Research
In their research (Stainback and Stainback, 1988) examined the quantitative and qualitative paradigms across a number of dimensions. Table 4.1 highlighted the complementary benefits that a combined research design offers. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches will therefore combine discovery and verification, understanding and prediction, validity and reliability within the research design (Jarat, 1996).
Table 4.1. Summary of difference between qualitative and quantitative research
Dimension
Quantitative research
Qualitative research
Purpose
Prediction and control
Understanding
Reliability
Stable - reality is made up of
facts that do not change
Dynamic - reality changes
with changes in people's
perception
Viewpoint
Outsider - reality is what
quantifiable data indicate it
to be
Insider - reality is what
people perceive it to be
Value
Values free - values can be
controlled
Values bound - values will
impact on understanding the
phenomena
Focus
Particularistic - defined by
the variables studied
Holistic
Orientation
Verification
Discovery
Data
Objective
Subjective
Instrumentation
Non-human
Human
Condition
Controlled
Naturalistic
Result
Reliable
Valid - the focus is on design
and procedures to gain real,
rich and deep data
In principle based on the argument that the use of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative method is most likely a better way of finding solution to the research problem, the author has employ both methods, Secondary data that were derived from survey and indebt research from interviews by the CBI, ONS, etc. where selected for use in this research. There is an assertion from (Oppenheim and Abraham 1992) that in conducting a research it is necessary to use a suitable research design that would generalise the wishes of the researcher in order to determine the relationship between the research problem and the research objective, the variable and the findings to be able to make a good conclusion.
