Research methodology.research methods Dissertation

Research methodology.research methods - Dissertation Example There are different styles of research which are in practice, including the document study which is exploratory one, the questionnaire study which is analytical and the interview study which is based on theoretical observations. Document study is about collecting facts, while interview and questionnaire methods are to understand individuals’ perceptions in the descriptive and theoretical manner (Bell, 2010). Interview research uses non-numerical and unstructured data, more than this, it has research questions which are more general at the start, and get specific as the study progresses (Teddlie, 2009). This chapter introduces three methods of research; the interview, the questionnaire, and the document research methods. Furthermore, the strengths and weaknesses of each of the method will be highlighted. The chapter also discusses the ethical code of conduct of the study. Introducing the Research Methods (Interview, Document and Questionnaire) Document Method (Strengths and Wea knesses) First method is the document research which is based on analysis of primary and secondary documents. The primary documents may include the experimental data, such as responses’ data of a particular company or organization. Secondary documents may include books, periodicals, journal articles and scholarly abstracts which assist the researcher to collect secondary-theoretical information on the study (Johnson & Christensen, 2010). There are two main sources of data collection in document research: secondary and primary documents (Guest, 2011). Further, the document research applies two approaches: source-oriented document research and problem-oriented document research. The source-oriented research means collection of the secondary documents which is to build the ground of the research - the subject. On the other hand, problem oriented research refers to collection of the primary documents which aim is to identify the problem, objective and purpose of research (Johnson & Christensen, 2010). One weaknesses of document research is that it entails a large set of data from documents, which needs to be filtered out for conducting the research. Apart that, document method applies to the HRM subjective studies and therefore provides the reason to the researcher to get it adapted for its research (Teddlie, 2009). The Questionnaire Method (Strengths and Weaknesses) The second common research method is the questionnaire which is based on a designed set of closed-ended questions (Griffith & Layne, 1999). The researchers had to have a certain aim before they apply the questionnaire method. As the method requires certain objectives, they limit the method with its purpose of application. Moreover, as the questionnaire is designed on the basis of close-ended questions, it cannot produce the effective descriptive information on the study which is the most essential to conduct a research. The responses collected through questionnaire are fixed and not changing, t hey are more specific and less detailed (Griffith & Layne, 1999). Interpretation and findings in questionnaire are entirely based on statistical elaboration. The more effective the statistical analysis of the study is, the more useful and effective the information will be in the questionnaire to get used as findings or interpretation. The Interview Method (Strengths and Weaknesses) The third adaptive method is the interview, which is based on formation of thematic questions and questions to be deployed on interviewees for thematic answers. The interview is in a way similar to questionnaire method, as it details questions; but still it differs as it brings descriptive information from the respondents (Griffith & Layne, 1999). The interview guideline based on a set of thematic questions can generate productive information for research. It can bring changing perception of individuals and also changing opinions of respondents on a particular subject or theme, which a questionnaire canno t do (Griffith & Layne