Social Behavioral Sciences



Social Behavioral Sciences

Question 1

Analyze and compare the qualitative and quantitative research methods. Critically review at least one study on IT leadership conducted for each of the methodologies. Compare and contrast the theoretical orientation, sampling approach, data collection, and analysis methods used in each of the selected studies.

The importance of Research Design

A research design is the blueprint that guides the phases of data collection and analysis of the research project. It is the structure that specifies the type of information to be collected, data sources and data collection procedure. A good design usually ensures that the information obtained is consistent with the objectives of the study and the data are collected through accurate and economical procedures. There is no research design standard or ideal that guides the investigator, since many different designs can achieve the same goal. Clearly, the objective of the research project determines the characteristics desired in the research design. Qualitative research can go beyond the figures and numbers.

More flexible, the methods used in qualitative research emerge more flexibility in data collection, allows exploring and identifying previously unknown issues. In the qualitative research, there is going to be a need to customize the methodologies in order to extract as much information as possible. The research method that will be mostly based within the research study is the qualitative research method. The qualitative research method is an important research methodology that will be performed by taking into account the past studies on the online purchasing. The study also adopts the mixed research methodology by employing both qualitative and quantitative method for analyzing the research topic. Both primary and secondary methods are even used for the analysis of the research topic by taking into account the past studies and analyzing the effectiveness of the contents of the topic.

Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitaive Research

Nowadays, qualitative methods are widely used in the research study. However, there has been a long debate about positivism, represented by quantitative methods and about interpretation whose problems are better approached by qualitative methods. Possibly due to historical reasons of the rapid emergence of positivistic approaches in natural sciences, the qualitative methods did not enjoy a great endorsement from managers as well as scholars. Qualitative research is often questioned in terms of reliability and validity since homogeneity of data and coefficients cannot be computed. However, data triangulation can be applied in order to improve the truthful contents of qualitative studies. The concept of data triangulation used for centuries in topography and navigation was introduced by Bickman and Rog (2008) into the social science as a synonym for convergent validation. Triangulation means looking at the subject of research from more than one source of data. The main goal is to limit personal and methodological biases in order to enhance study generalizability. Triangulation could be considered at the very start of the research work. However, according to Bickman and Rog (2008), the core role of triangulation strategy is in the data ...