Methodology例文Word格式.docx

Methodology例文Word格式.docx

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Theresearchaimforthisdissertationistoinvestigatethecurrenthumanresourcemanagementpracticesofsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises（SMEs）inChina.Obtainingeffectivedataandinformationisofvitalconcerntobuildanaccuratepictureoftheissuebeingstudied.Toalargeextent,methodologydeterminestheoutcomesofanyresearch.Therefore,itiscrucialtochooseappropriateresearchmethodsandconductthemeffectivelyinordertoanswertheresearchquestionandmeettheresearchobjectiveswell.

DiscussionofMethodologyTheory

留学生论文网ResearchPhilosophy

Thefirstquestionthatanyresearchershouldraisebeforeconductingarealresearchprojectiswhatresearchphilosophyyouwilladopt,thisisveryfundamentalstepandgenerallyspeaking,therearethreeviewsabouttheresearchphilosophythatdominatetheliterature:

positivism,interpretivismandrealism（Saundersetal.,2003）.

Thekeyideaofpositivismisthatthesocialworldexistsexternal,anditspropertiesshouldbemeasuredthroughobjectivemethods,ratherthanbeinginferredsubjectivelythroughsensation,reflectionorintuition（Smithetal,1991）.Ifyourresearchphilosophyispositivism,youwillassumetheroleofanobjectiveanalyst,makedetachedinterpretationsaboutdatacollectedinavalue-freemannerandemphasizeonahighlystructuredmethodologytofacilitatereplication（GillandJohnson,1997）andquantifiableobservationsthatleadthemselvestostatisticalanalysis.

Bycontrastwithpositivism,interpretivismisoftenassociatedwiththetermsocialconstructionismwhichiscriticalofpositivismandarguesthatrichinsightsintothiscomplexworldareneeded.Theroleoftheinterpretivististoseektounderstandthesubjectiverealityofthosethattheystudyinordertobeabletomakesenseofandunderstandtheirmotives,actionsandintention（Saundersetal.,2003）.Inotherwords,socialconstructionismoffersthatrealityissubjectiveanditissociallyconstructedandgivenmeaningbypeople（Seddighi,2005）.

Finally,realismrecognizestheimportanceofunderstandingpeople’ssociallyconstructedinterpretationsandmeanings,orsubjectivereality,withinthecontextofseekingtounderstandbroadersocialforces,structuresorprocessesthatinfluence,andperhapsconstrain,thenatureofpeople’sviewsandbehaviors（Saundersetal.,2003）.（责任编辑：

留学生论文网）Basedonthedifferencesofthreephilosophies,thisresearchisofanexploratorynaturewhichisakindofsocialconstructionism.AsCooperandSchindler（1998,p.131）statethat,“exploratorystudiestendtowardloosestructurewithobjectiveofdiscoveringfutureresearchtasks”.Besides,MacDanielandGates（1999,claimthat“exploratoryresearchisusuallysmall-scaleresearchundertakentodefinetheexactnatureoftheproblemandgainabetterunderstandingoftheenvironmentwithinwhichtheproblemoccurred”.Allofthesefitwellwiththeobjectivesandotherconditionsofmyresearchproject.Therefore,weadopttheinterpretivismphilosophyofanexploratorynatureinthisstudy.

ResearchApproach

Inductiveanddeductiveapproaches

Therearetwobasicresearchapproachesavailablewhenconductingbusinessresearchincludingdeductiveandinductivemethods（Saundersetal.,2000）.Theircharacteristicsaredescribedinthefollowingtable:

TableComparisonofDeductiveandInductiveResearchApproach

InductionemphasizesDeductionemphasizes

-gaininganunderstandingofthemeaningshumansattachtoevents-scientificprinciples

-acloseunderstandingoftheresearchcontext-movingfromtheorytodata

-thecollectionofqualitativedata-theneedtoexplaincausalrelationshipsbetweenvariables

-amoreflexiblestructuretopermitchangesofresearchemphasisastheresearchprogresses-thecollectionofquantitativedata

researcherindependenceofwhatisbeingresearched

-arealizationthattheresearcherispartoftheresearchprocesstheapplicationofcontrolstoensurevalidityofdata

-lessconcernwiththeneedtogeneralize-theoperationalisationofconceptstoensureclarityofdefinition

-ahighlystructuredapproach

-thenecessitytoselectsamplesofsufficientsizeinordertogeneralizeconclusions

（Saundersetal.,2003）

Thedeductiveapproachisusuallyregardedasaneffectivewaytotesttheories,wherepeopledevelopatheoryandahypothesis（orhypotheses）anddesignaresearchstrategytotestthetheory（Saundersetal.,2000）.Thefocusisonwhetherornotthesuggestedtheoryfits,andisappropriatefortheorganization（Saundersetal.,2000;

Seddighi,2000）.Thedeductiontoresearchowesmuchtowhatwewouldthinkofascientificresearch,inwhichyoudevelopatheoryandhypothesisanddesignaresearchstrategytotestthehypothesis（Saundersetal.,2003）.Ontheotherhand,inductiveapproachisusuallyusedtobuildtheories,inpractice,peopleneedtocollectdataanddeveloptheoryasaresultofdataanalysis.Nevertheless,thetwomethodologiesarenotmutuallyexclusive,inreality;

theyareoftenusedjointlyinbusinessandmanagementstudies（Seddighi,2000）.However,itisimportanttopointoutthatthechoicesofresearchapproachshouldbaseontheresearchquestionandresearchobjectives.（责任编辑：

留学生论文网）

Therefore,thereisnoquestionthattheinductiveapproachisappropriateforthisparticularresearch.Iwillusetheinductiveapproach,fromdatatotheory,bycollectingthedatafirstandthendevelopingnewhypothesisasaresultofthedataanalysis.Inreality,theresearchfocusesonnotonlyunderstandingwhysomethinghappensinthebusinesssectorbutalsodescribingwhathappens.Astheinductiveapproachusuallyonlytellpeoplewhysomethinghappensratherthandescribewhathappens（Saunderetal.,2000）,itwouldhaveadvantagetocombinethetwoapproachesinthisparticularresearchaccordingtothenatureandpurposeofthisresearch.

QuantitativeandQualitativeApproach

Therearetwomaintypesofmarketingresearchintermsofthetwo,essentiallydifferenttypesofdatathataregeneratedbyfundamentallydifferentresearchapproaches-quantitativeandqualitativemethods（Adcocketal.,1995）.

Quantitativeresearchinvolvesthecollectionofinformationthatcanbeexpressedusinganumericalmeasure（BrassingtonandPettitt,2003）.However,itincludesnotonlynumericaldatasuchassalesfigures,marketshare,marketsizeanddemographicinformation,butalsothenumericalaspectsofotherdata,oftenderivedfromprimaryresearch,suchasquestionnaire-basedsurveysandinterviews（Adcocoetal.,1995）.Obviously,thequantitativeresearchusuallyinvolveslarge-scalesurveysthatenableafactualbasetobeformedwithsufficientstrengthtoallowstatisticallyrigorousanalysis（BrassingtonandPettitt,2003）.Therefore,thesuccessofquantitativeresearchtoalargeextentdependsonestablishingarepresentativesamplethatislargeenoughtoensurethatthedatacollectedarereliableandobjective.Duetotimeandfinancialconstraint,obviously,itisunpracticaltoconductatrulyquantitativebasedresearchregardingthetimetableandtherequirementoftheresearchproject.Thatisnotsayingthatquantitativedatawillnotbeutilizedinthisproject.Infact,itisimportanttoobtainthequantitativedatafromsecondarysourcesinordertosupporttheargument.

Qualitativeresearch,ontheotherhand,usuallyinvolvesthecollectionofnon-numericaldatathatisopentointerpretation,suchascustomer’sopinions,wherethereisnointentionofestablishingstatisticalvalidity（BrassingtonandPettitt,2003）.Theessenceofqualitativeresearchisthatitis‘diagnostic’;

therefore,itisespeciallyusefulforinvestigatingattitudes,motivations,beliefsandintentions.Inpractice,theyareusuallybasedonsmall-scalesamples;

therefore,itcannotbegeneralizedinnumericalterms（BrassingtonandPettitt,2003）.Chisnall（1997）furthercharacterizedthemethodasimpressionisticratherthanconclusive,healsopointedoutthattheapproachcouldprovideabetterunderstandingofcertainfactorsthatmightinfluencebuyingdecisions.However,itisimportanttopointoutthattheresultsgeneralizedfromtheprocessareoftensubjective.Butforallitslimitations,qualitativeresearchisaneffectivewaytoreflectthecomplexityoftheinterrelationshipsassociatedwithmarketingactivities（Chisnall,1997）.（责任编辑：

Quantitat