Qualitative Methods In Business Research

Literature Review and Creating Themes

Discuss about the Qualitative Methods In Business Research.

Literature review is an integral part of a research paper as it establishes the knowledge that the researcher has on the topic and the variables associated with the topic. Literature review that the researchers have conducted has helped in establishing the hypothesis of the research. One of the main features of literature review is the theme or the segments that are created by the authors in order to organize the though and document the knowledge (Flick 2015). The review is spread over six themes which are: leadership coaching, defining variables through focus group discussion, leader role-efficiacy, trust in subordinates, subordinates outcomes and coach behaviors. Another element in literature review is referencing the statement that has been used form the work of other authors. In this paper the researchers have used APA style referencing to cite the journals or literary work that has been used to gather the knowledge (Punch 2013). Furthermore, in order to analyze leadership coaching as an effective leadership development tool the researchers have firstly introduced the concept of leadership coaching for the readers so that the concept and the aspects associated with the concept is clear in the minds of the reader.  It is one of the functions of the literature review to form the foundation of knowledge that is required to undertake the research hence for the reader of the paper also it serves the same purpose. Therefore it can be said that the first theme that is used by the researchers is appropriate. The theme analysis establishes an unbiased opinion on the variable where both for and against the topic has been stated by the researcher (Mackey and Gass 2015). This establishes that the author has used argumentative approach in the literature review. The first three themes are analyzed and the first hypothesis is built on the knowledge that has been gathered form the first three themes.  The second theme is based on a focused group discussion in defining the variables of the topics. This is based on primary research and offers valuable insight on the topic. Which is further used in order to develop the hypothesis (Flick 2015). The approach of the secondary research is argumentative as mentioned above. There are five hypotheses that are derived from the literature review.  All the themes that are created by the researchers are developed in order to improve the understanding of the topic and the concept of research (Lewis 2015).

Mixed Methodology and Defining Variables through Focus Group Discussion

There are three approaches of research that are used by academic researchers’ secondary, primary and mixed. Secondary research is based on the analysis of the information which is available already and is used in the research in order to develop analysis based on the information available in order to arrive at a conclusion. However, based on the topic of research and the variables associated with the topic the researchers can choose to adapt both primary and secondary data analysis which is called mixed method and this is the feature of the research design that has been adopted by the researchers in this study. Some of the features of the mixed method is that it provides a holistic approach to the study as it not only relies upon one kind of data collection process. The process includes the analysis of the data in both qualitative and qualitative methods. A field experiment is conducted in order to test the hypothesis that is developed while writing the literature review (Flick 2015).

“The objective of the research is to understand the effect of coaching on LRE and LTS compared with a control group (between-group analysis) and whether changes in trust had any effect on subordinates, and to test whether facilitative coach behavior would predict variation in the two leader outcome variables (within-group analysis)”.

The methods that have been adopted by the researchers in order reach the objectives are sufficient as the approaches undertaken by the researchers have enabled them to test the hypothesis that has been created. With the help of quantitative approaches the hypothesis has been tested and furthermore with the help of thematic analysis of the discussion of the results has been formulated (Lewis 2015). The research design that has been undertaken in order to reach the conclusion is appropriate as there are several variables that have to be tested and has to be understood with a thematic analysis the research can from the foundation of the field experiment that has been undertaken in the process. The three variables that are important are: leadership coaching, leader role-efficacy and trust in the subordinates (Flick 2015). However, only using the process of quantitative analysis of the testing the hypothesis would also suffice the result as the literature review that is conducted before the primary data analysis would thematically analyze the variables. But the above stated objective can be divided in two parts: to contribute to substantive theory building on leadership coaching as a leadership development tool which would require the field experiment on the other hand, the second part of the objective is to generate knowledge that would positively impact the HR managers to develop leadership programs, and in order to do this secondary research along with qualitative analysis is important (Lewis 2015).

Testing the Hypothesis with Quantitative Analysis

In primary research selecting a sample size is one of the most important aspects of the study. If the sample size or the samples that are used in the research are incorrect the results can be impacted largely reaching an undesirable conclusion. The process of sampling from a population is a process that the researchers have to undertake. In the focus group discussion that has been undertaken in the literature review there are participating coaches invited from a leadership coaching institution, however it has not been mentioned what institute is chosen. All the seven coaches were invited out of which only five turned up. In this case there is no sampling as the population of the study were invited out of which five turned up (Flick 2015).

For the second part control group participation was observed by the researchers where they collaborated with a small coaching company. The process of choosing a coaching company is random. The process is appropriate for the study as the population of the study is itself limited because there are not many organisations that provide leadership coaching. It has been stated that seven experienced coaches with certified qualification has volunteered to be a part of the research. Here only six of the participants responded both the times.

On the other hand the field experiment that has been undertaken to prove the hypothesis in the second half of the study states that a questionnaire was distributed to conduct a survey of the leaders who has been undertaking the coaching for the past 6 months. 34 leaders were recruited to the project. One week before the coaching had started they had received the questionnaire. Out of which 30 people responded. At the end of the six months session another follow up survey questionnaire was sent in order to get their perspective on the coaching. Out of these 30 participants six did not reply which resulted in a 24 participants. The response rate of the process was 74 percent.

Furthermore, form the leaders 192 subordinates address was received and they were also included in a survey. However the respondent of the survey per leader was 2.7 on an average.  In the entire process the sampling method that has been undertaken is random as is explained that the population of the study is limited.  The process is appropriate for the researches as they have less risk of error in this process (Beer and Faulkner 2014).

Sampling in Primary Research

In the research methodology “linking with the objective” is the result that the researchers aim at the end of the study. The mixed methodology that has been undertaken by the researchers are the process by which they have aligned the hypothesis with the objective of the research and furthermore proving the hypothesis mean that they have linked their results with the objectives of the research. The measures that have been stated to prove the quantitative analysis are: Facilitative coach behavior, Empowerment and turnover intention, Leader’ trust in subordinates (LTS), Leader role efficacy (LRE).  This has helped in establishing the metrics that will be used to analyze the information that has been gathered. The results that have been discussed after the analysis is also divided in a thematic way and are linked with the objectives. Firstly, it provides substantive theory on leadership coaching as a leadership tool, as the findings state that the behavior of the coach is an integral part in the leadership development (Flick 2015). The way they motivate, support and guide not only that the way they challenge the people and provide them with feedback is important to develop the leadership skills. Therefore it can be said that the coaching is an effective tool in leadership development. Another part of the objective of the study is to provide the management of organisation, the HR managers and practitioners with knowledge regarding the leadership developments in the organisation (Roberts 2013). This objective has been fulfilled as the people who have taken the course of leadership have been proven to have better skills. It is dependent on the coach who is responsible for teaching the leaders but then it is effective. The results also reveal several theoretical approaches of the concept like: Leader Role-Efficacy appears to be a strong outcome of leadership coaching; there is further scope of research on this element of the topic on the other hand it has also been established in the study that Leader’s Trust in the Subordinates is also an important outcome of leadership coaching. This concept also has scope of further research, thus staying true to the objective of the study (Flick 2015).

Reference list:

Beer, A. and Faulkner, D., 2014. How to use primary and secondary data. Chapters, pp.192-209.

Eriksson, P. and Kovalainen, A., 2015. Qualitative methods in business research: A practical guide to social research. Sage.

Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.

Neuman, W.L. and Robson, K., 2014. Basics of social research. Pearson Canada.

Punch, K.F., 2013. Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. sage. Creswell, J.W., 2013. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.

Roberts, T., 2013. Understanding the research methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis. British Journal of Midwifery, 21(3).