NIGERIAN BREWERIES INDUSTRY

Research Reflection Report: Determinants of profitability in the Nigerian Breweries Industry

Research Methods and Processes

For the development of my Major project, I chose the mixed research method where both the qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Mixed method research was chosen because it incorporates strategies from both research approaches to increase the strength of a study. Utilizing a mixed methods approach allowed for more detailed and rich data to be gathered in this unexplored area. The concurrent triangulation model was chosen for this design because of a desire to corroborate and inform the current body of knowledge on the perception and experience of the participants about the determinants of profitability. The main rationale behind choosing this research method was that the primary research provides data that can comprehensively look into the issues and answer the research questions. The questionnaires were used to gather information from primary sources. The primary research design was selected since the nature of this study calls for a holistic analysis of the research questions. Due to the exploratory nature of this study and the desire to employ a culturally sensitive research approach, this study targeted a relatively small geographic area. This allowed the researcher to be more available to the economist and the public policy makers and have more personal contact for follow up questions. In my research, quantitative study was useful in measuring the psychological attributes; however, there is not any supporting definition for it. Variables of quantitative method are often ambiguous, as their interpretations do not have any meaning. In quantitative research, these researchers believe that variables nature, ontology or reality and epistemology have been ignored. It is not possible to make meaningful interpretations by just stating information in coding without knowing it. Quantitative methods has another disadvantage, in this method the phenomena is not investigated. Quantitative research emphasizes on the magnitude of a construct. This studies “how” and “why” of the problem. Researchers do not only criticize quantitative research but also numerous researchers have criticized qualitative research method. In qualitative research a researcher decides what data to highlight. This gave me an opportunity to identify and select what information will best suit the study's needs. I believe this leads to subjectivity and conclusions of a qualitative study. The other disadvantage of qualitative research method is that there is no generalizability. Therefore, the use of mixed methodology helped in achieving the effectiveness of my research from both aspects of qualitative and quantitative methods.

The mixed research method was used for the development of my Major Project in order to have reliable data which could be tested to achieve more reliability and validity. By using the primary and secondary sources of data, a detailed research was conducted which helped in gaining in-depth knowledge about the research questions. The brewery industry in Nigeria could be understood more thoroughly by understanding the internal and external factors which contributed towards profitability. The use of qualitative and quantitative research methods had its advantages and ...