A justification of the Research methodology.docx

A justification of the Research methodology.docx

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AjustificationoftheResearchmethodology

2.AJustificationofResearchMethodology

2.1.IdentificationofStudyRequirement

Themainresearchobjectiveofthispaperistoanalyzethemodernsocialbusinessmanagementstrategiesandtoconstructthemintoastandardizedframeworkwithinaninternationalcontext.Itisexpectedtohelptoenterprisestoholisticallyanalyzeandmanagementtheirintegratedsocialbusinessorganization,inordertoachievefurtherbusinesssuccess.

Toachievetheabovetarget,somedata,informationandrelevantempiricalanalysisarerequiredtosupportfurtherstudy.Thedataandinformationrequiredaregenerallyqualitativeonesthatrelatedtothecompany’sunderstandingaboutsocialbusiness,howtheyintegratedailybusinesswithsocialmedia,whatistheirmostconcernedissuesandwhatthemajorproblemsareforthecompaniesinthismoment.Thecoreaimtocollecttheseinformationisthattheyareneededforfurtherjustifyingthenecessityofthisresearchtaskandinspiringthenewframeworkconstructionworkwiththedemandsandexperiencesofthecurrentpractitioners.

2.2.ResearchMethodSelectionandJustification

2.2.1Introductionto“ResearchOnion”Decision-makingStrategy

Inordertoeffectivelyacquireusefuldataasaboveandtosystematicallyconducttheprojectresearch,theselectionofappropriateresearchmethodologieshavetobeconsidered.ThisselectionshallbeconductedaccordingtotheREMEOnion,whichispresentedbySaundersetalin2003,asFigure2.

Thefirstlayeroftheresearchonionpresentsthechoicesofresearchphilosophy,whicharerespectivelypositivism,interpretivismandrealism.Thesecondlayerclarifiestheresearchmethodologiesintotwomaincategories,whichareinductiveanddeductiveresearchapproach.Thethirdlayercarriesthevariousofresearchstrategies,suchasinterview,casestudy,experiment,survey,groundedtheory,actionresearchandethnography.Thefourthlayershowsthechoicesoftimetimehorizonslikecross-sectional,andlongitudinal.Lastbutnotheleast,thecorestandsfortheactualdatacollectionandanalyzeaction.

2.2.2TheChoiceforResearchPhilosophy

Astothefirstlayers,positivismstandsforthephilosophyapprovesthatthepossibilitytoobserveanddescriberealityfromanobjectiveviewpoint.Ontheotherhand,aninterpretivistbelievesthatitisnecessarytounderstanddifferencesbetweenhumansinourrolesassocialactors.Apositivismresearchtypicallyemphasistheobservationandexperimentsshouldbeobjectiveandrepeatable,whileaninterpretivismresearchnormallyselectqualitative,non-quantitativemethodsasitsmainchoice,becauseitadmitthatpeopleondifferentstancecanhaveadifferentpointofview,andtheresultcanhardlybeexplicitlymeasured.

Thisstudymainlyfocusontheanalysisofsocialbusinessasacommercialtrendandabusinessmanagementstrategy.Itisaanalyticalsciencestudy,inwhichmostoftheconcernedquestionsarenon-quantitativeones.Sothat,thisstudyshouldbedefinedasainterpretivismstudy.

2.2.3TheChoiceforResearchApproach

Thesecondlayerdescribethechoicebetweeninductiveapproachanddeductiveapproach.Adeductiveapproachindicatesthatthestudyshouldbeconductedfromgeneraltospecific.Firstly,atheoryshouldbedevelopedfrompreviousstudy;andthenoneshoulddriveahypothesisfromthetheory;afterthat,relevantobservationshouldbemade,whichisbettertoberepeatable;atlast,onemayobtainaconfirmationofthehypothesis.Ontheotherhand,ainductiveapproachindicatesthatthestudyshouldbeconductedfromspecificobservationstogeneralfindings.Theobservationfromsocialphenomenonsandreactionsshouldbemadefirst;andthenpatternscanbeconcludedfromtheaboveobservations;basedonthepatterns,oneshallcreateahypothesisandexploreit;atlastatheorycanbeformedfromthehypothesis.

Aswhathavebeenpresentedintheabovesection,socialbusinessstudyisatthefrontierofthetechnologytendencyandmanagementmethodinnovation.Althoughanumberofinstitutionarealsostartedtostudyhowtosolvethisissue.However,mostoftheprocessesthattheyhavepublishedonlyconcernedaboutsomespecificroleorabilityassocialbusiness,suchastheprocessforsocialmediaanalysis,butlackofasystematicandstandardizedprocesstoguidetheoveralldecisionmakingandsystemmanagement.Asaconsequence,ainductivestudy,whichaimstosystematicallyconcludeaframeworkforsocialbusinessmanagementfromcurrentpracticesandtrends,isapreferablechoice.

Basedontheabovedecision,thiscoreprocessesofthisstudyshallbeorganizedinthefollowingway:

afterthedefinitionandjustificationofoverallresearchmethodologies,thecoredataconcernedandthetheoreticalfindingsthatrelevanttosocialbusinessmanagementshallbecollectedandanalyzed;afterthat,basedontheinspirationsfromliteratureandinterviews,theauthormayconstructastandardizedframeworkforsocialbusinessmanagementinaninternationalcontext,andaproposalbasedonWMGshallbeconducted,inordertofurtherdemonstratethestandardizedframeworkofsocialbusiness.

2.2.4TheChoiceforResearchStrategy

Thethirdlayercarriesdifferentkindsofresearchstrategies.Fordifferenttypeofstudywithdifferentdatatyperequirements,theselectionofmostfittedstrategycanbevarious.Thefiguresofmostpracticedstrategiesshallbedemonstrateasbelow（ThomasHanne）:

Surveys:

themaingoalofsurveysisfindingpatternsindata.Itisapracticalstrategyforinductiveandempiricalstudy（ThomasHanne）.Bycollectiondataandinformationfromagroupofpopulation,onecansystematicallyevaluateandstatisticthedata,especiallywhichwerenotexpected.Andtheninterpretthesefindsintoresult.Thetypicaltechniquesforconductingsurveysarerespectivelyobservation,measurement,questionnaires,interviewsandliteratureresearch.Theresearchercanchooseoneormoretechniquetoconductthesurvey.

Experiments:

themaingoalofexperimentsistotesthypothesis.Itisnormallyinvolvedinpositivist,deductiveandquantitativeresearch（ThomasHanne）.Thetypicalprocedureofanexperimentisasfollow.Firstly,theresearcherneedtoformulateacertainhypothesis.Andthen,oneneedstocollectevidencesthroughcarefullydesignedexperimentsinordertotestthehypothesisbasedontheevidence.Sometypicaltechniques,likebenchmarkingandstatisticalsignificancetestarewidelyusedinexperiments.

Casestudies:

themainofconductingacasestudyistostudythecharacteristicsofareallifeinstance（ThomasHanne）.Thisstrategyisnormallybeappliedininterpretivist,inductive,empiricalandqualitativeresearch,inordertobetterproveacertaintheorywithqualitativedata.Atypicalprocedureofcasestudycanbedescribeasbelow.Firstly,theresearchershouldselectaninstanceforstudy.Andthenthiscaseshallbeanalyzedandinterpretedinasystematicway.Afterthedatacollectionandanalysis,theresearchershallreadintothesedatainordertobetterproveatheory,ortoobservesomenewfindings.Discussions,interviews,questionnairesandmereobservationsarethemostcommontechniquestoapplyinacasestudy.

Ethnography:

ethnographyisasystematicwaytostudypeopleandculture.Normally,itisformoretimeconsumingthensurveysorcasestudies,becausetheethnographersshalldeeplyinvolvedinthelivesoftheirstudyobjectiveinordertoinductculturalphenomena（Lewis,1985）.Duetothetimelimitation,itisnotpossibleforthisstudytoconsiderthisoption.

Groundedtheory:

groundedtheoryisadatadrivenresearchmethodologyinthesocialscience.Throughsystematicallyobservation,analysisandconstructionofdata,theresearcherexpectstoobservetheinterrelationshipofdifferentcategoriesofcollecteddata,andfinallytriestodevelopatheoryoutofthedatacollected（Creswell,2003）.Unlikepositivistresearch,astudyusinggroundedtheoryusuallystartwithrelevantqualitativedatacollection,ormerequestions.Asthedataisreviewed,conceptsandcommonelementscanbeextracted,inordertoguidemoredatatobecollectedandreviewed.Theaboveproceduremustberepeatedseveraltimes,withmoreandmoredatabeingincludedandre-reviewed,untilthebasisofanewtheoryisformed.Asaconsequence,astudybasedongroundedtheoryshallincludeseveraldatacollectionandobservingstages,whichrequiresalongstudytimeframe.Duetothetimelimitationandavailabilityofessentialdata,groundedtheorycanhardlybeasuitableoptionforthisstudy.

Forthispaper,aswhathasbeendiscussedabove,Itcanbecategorizedasaninterpretivist,deductivestudy,withmainconcentrationonqualitativedataandempiricalanalysis.Tomatchthosefivementionedstrategies,apparentlyconductingsurveysisthemostsuitablechoiceasthemainresearchstrategy.Thereasontoexcludetheothersshallbeexplainedasbelow.Astheaboveparagraphs,ethnographyandgroundedtheoryshouldbeexcluded,mainlybecauseandresourcelimitation.Experimentshouldbeexcludedbecausethisstudydonotemphasisquantitativeresearch,nordoesitapositivistone.Casestudywillnotbeincludeasmainresearchapproachbecauseitsmainfittingareaisinductiveresearch.Basedontheabovedetailedarguments,forthethirdlayer,surveyisthefinalchoiceasmainresearchstrategy.

2.2.5TheChoiceforTimeHorizon

Accordingtothefourthlayer,thisstudyshallchoosebetweenlongitudinalresearchandcrosssectionalresearch.Themainapproachforcrosssectionalresearchistomeasurevariablesinashorterperiodoftime,soastoviewthesemeasu