Research Methodology: Qualitative And Mixed Methods

Research Problem

The Methodology chapter covers the research design, the population targeted in the research and the sampling techniques to be handled. The section also presents information regarding the data collection methods to be used, the research procedures and the method to be used during data collection. Research validity and reliability is also covered together will relevant ethical consideration that the research used.

The purpose of this assignment is to identify an appropriate methodology for research.

This document is structured as follows. First, a review, analysis, and summary of the existing methodologies reported in the collected literature will be given.  Then, the methodology to be used will be proposed to solve the selected research problem.

Research Problem	Sub-problem Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Collected Literature
What are the effects of social networking sites (SNS)?	• How is user privacy assured in the social networks?	• Malekhosseini, Hosseinzadez and Navi, 2018 • Boyd, 2007 • Nyland et al., 2007
	• How is user privacy assured in the social networks?
	• How does SNS contribute to character modification of its frequent users?
What is the impact of global warming on the African continent?	• What is the cause of climate change and what threats lie ahead for Africa?	• Slobodník 2018 • Schneider et al. 2007 • Boko et al. 2007
	• What measures can be taken to solve this problem?

Table 1: Research problems and recognized literature

The issue of global warming has been a serious issue that. The research problem statement is to study strategies used by various companies to reduce the rate of carbon emissions.

A study by Rauch et al. (2009) explains that carbon emission is one of the key factors that hinder the rate of performance among certain companies. Vishal & Gupa presents a believe that if companies could come up with initiatives to reduce the emission, then there is a high possibility that they could reduce the rate of pollution. According to this researchers, there is a strong relationship between the entrepreneur skill and administration of the company. There are many literature that looks into this topic in details. This methodology part has just handled it in brief.

According to Shuttleworth (2011), research involves the gathering of data, information, and facts to advance knowledge.  The primary purpose of research in Field (2011)’s view, is to contribute to new knowledge, expand and make valid the already existing knowledge.

Kathari (2004) defines Research methods as all the steps and procedures employed during the process of research. Methodologies act as a guide for the researcher in data collection and analysis after that. There are three main methodologies namely; qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. The other methodologies include case study, surveys, and experiment.

Wayne (2010) argues that a quantitative method is a systematic and structured approach used to quantify variables. This method tackles research from a statistical perspective. It is characterized by the use of numerical facts in the data collection, interpretation and presentation processes. On the other hand, Carter and Thomas (2005) suggest that qualitative research is a systematic but unstructured method that uses a descriptive approach in data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.

Collected Literature

In my view, both the qualitative and quantitative methods of research should go hand in hand. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, none is above the other. The qualitative approach generates a theory for the quantitative method. Apart from that, qualitative research serves the purpose of validating the said theories.

In my research, I opt to use qualitative methodologies. I arrived at this decision because this methodology is investigative in its approach to research problems. The type of research problem I choose to embark on requires much interaction with the target group. The research is dependent on the respondents’ view, opinions and ideas on the impact of social networking sites. In the end, the results of qualitative methodologies are descriptive.  A researcher describes exactly what he or she observed when carrying out the research activity.

Literature #	Research Problem	Methodology	Your Sub-problem	Relevance
1. Barker [37] 2. Griffins 2000 3. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8 4. Sussman  et  al.  [15] 5.Lkert scales [90]	What are the effects of social networking sites (SNS) on its users?	1. Qualitative research which will involve the use of interviews and group discussion. 2.Quantitative research: the use of questionnaires and surveys.	How does SNS contribute to character modification of its frequent users?	The collected literature is highly relevant to the research.

Table 2

In my research, I opt to use qualitative methodologies. I arrived at this decision because this methodology is investigative in its approach to research problems. The type of research problem I choose to embark on requires much interaction with the target group. The research is dependent on the respondents’ view, opinions and ideas on the impact of social networking sites. In the end, the results of qualitative methodologies are descriptive.  A researcher describes precisely what he or she observed when carrying out the research activity.

Another proposed methodology for this researcher is the mixed methodology. This a process that combines both the concept of quantitative and qualitative design methods. From the analysis, it noted that the quantitative is aligned to numerical results while qualitative approaches basically adopts a subjective point of view. In this research, quantitative method will let us understand the approaches that are responsible for the research. However this will not in any way go to an extent of providing an explanation of how the results re achieved.

In this regard, the two methods will be used to fill the gap the other method will not fill. The researcher therefore needs to make use of quantitative techniques to provide a description of the relationship that exist between the two variable and as result gives the strengths of the two relationships. With mixed methods, the researcher is able to collect and analyze data and provide a series conclusion.

Research methodology also come with certain sampling design. Sampling design is defined as list of elements the sample is obtained from. This is therefore defined as a list of give population, having a sampling design list in out methodology is useful simply because it will reduce the timeframe required to complete the entire study. Apart from time reduction, it will also give a more manageable way of coming up with a random list of participants.  Sampling frame gives a physical representation form which all the study sample is drown.

Methodology

The research also at sampling frame as a direction giver and an accurate identification notification of the members of the target population.

It is further defined as a by noting that each member of the population should only be mentioned once in a sampling frame. Cochran (2013) is of the view that given the fact that a sample so drawn mirrors the population. Sampling enables the researcher to attain the overall accuracy compared to what a census could have attained.

When presenting the research methodology, it is not complete until the orale method of data collection is methods. For this study data is going to be collected using two major method namely questionnaire and interviews.

A questioner is defined as a structured way of collecting quantitative data. Most structured quatinanir are based on the suited for collecting data simply because the respondents are not given so much time to deviate from that main questions. This actually makes it possible for the researcher to perform a comparison of variable. The use of this method also makes the researcher to get more information from a a large group of people who are distributed.

This process is basically adopted from an unstructured approach. The key area is thematic approach an additional point of the view of the researcher. In most cases, the ill perform an interview from different individuals who related to the topic. The researcher may chose professionals such as the universality lectures, economics information technology specialist. From this group the response may vary depending on the likes and preferences of an individual and this means that every information received will be based on the researcher selection. Interview must be physical or online. This way, the researcher will be able to identify the type of respondents they are dealing with. Unstructured interview normally has a large latitude compared to structured interview. In most cases, it ensure that the research has latitude depending on the setting of the target audience. One is also bale to explore the areas f interview and focus on the improvement strategies and due to this, they will get more information required for the research.

The research targets a large number of people.  Due to this the research will largely depend on an accurate sampling techniques. This means that the researcher as to make sure that all the respondents are benefiting from the research. As regards the interview, purposive sampling will be used to select 25 respondents to be interviewed. This are respondents that researcher believe have the formation to shed more light on the research issues.

Qualitative Research

Denzin (1989) claimed that the qualitative research approach produces the detailed description of participants’ feelings, opinions, and experiences; and interprets the meanings of their actions. The fact that the researcher interacts with the responded provides much information based on both behavior and information procession. Real life interactions also help to dispel fear in the respondents hence providing truthful information. Another advantage is that qualitative research assumes an unstructured design thus it can be modified anytime to suit the situation.

Despite its ability to gather in-depth information, the qualitative methodology has its shortcomings. First, it is time-consuming. Much time is spent especially in the data collection process. Each respondent or focus group requires time to express what they feel or think about an issue. Another limitation is that the data obtained here is not generalizable to a bigger population. This is because human beings assign different meanings to different issues in the society. Lastly, interpretation and analysis of qualitative data become a very complex process. In this regard, Berg and Lune (2012, p. 4) say that qualitative research is a long hard road, with elusive data on one side and stringent requirements for analysis on the other.

Research problem:  The impact of Social Networking Sites on its frequent users

Methodology: Qualitative research

Data collection process: Conducting surveys

Carry out one on one interview

Undertake a case study

Interpretation and analysis the of collected data

There has been two type of methodology. That is qualitative and quantitative methodology. A quantitative method is a systematic and structured approach used to quantify variables. This method tackles research from a statistical perspective. It is characterized by the use of numerical facts in the data collection, interpretation and presentation processes. On the other hand, Carter and Thomas (2005) suggest that qualitative research is a systematic but unstructured method that uses a descriptive approach in data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.

This part presents a relationship that exist between the problem and the solution. In this research the main problem is the rate of carbon emission while the sub problem is how to mare company reduce and comply with the low f the country.

This a process that combines both the concept of quantitative and qualitative design methods. From the analysis, it noted that the quantitative is aligned to numerical results while qualitative approaches basically adopts a subjective point of view. In this research, quantitative method will let us understand the approaches that are responsible for the research. However this will not in any way go to an extent of providing an explanation of how the results re achieved.

According to the research, the research problem I relevant to the method used because it will provide a channel in which the government will channel its reduction agenda t the targeted company. The research problem is also relevant simply because it allows the researcher to have a proper structure of the research.

List of References

Bisma S. Khan and Muaz A. Niazi, 2018, Emerging topics in Internet technology: A complex networks approach, Internet Technology Letters.

Boko, M, et al. 2007, “Executive summary.” In Parry, M.L. et al. (eds.). Chapter 9: Africa. Climate change 2007: impacts, Cambridge University Press (CUP): Cambridge, UK: Print version: CUP. This version: IPCC website. ISBN 0-521-88010-6. Retrieved 2011-09-15.

Carter, Y, and Thomas, C, (2005), Research Methods in Primary Care, UK: Redcliffe medical press Ltd.

Denzin, N, & Lincoln, Y, 2011, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: SAGE.

Fields, K, (2011) Importance of Research, Available at www.expressandstar.com (Assessed on 12/3/ 2015).

Griffiths, M, 2000, Internet addiction—Time to be taken seriously? Addict. Res, 8, 413-418

Kathari, C, (2004), Research Methodology, Indian: New Age International (p) Ltd, publishers.

Nyland  R,  Marvez  R and Beck  J, 2007, MySpace:  Social Networking or Social  Isolation? Proceedings of the Midwinter Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Reno, NV, USA, available at https://medium.com/fuergy/trends-in-climate-change-i-is-the-sky-falling-d9a1f3969bef

Razieh M, Mehdi H, and Keyvan N, 2018, Evaluation of users’ privacy concerns by checking of their WhatsApp status, Software: Practice and Experience.

Slobodník, J, 2018, Sept 20, Trends in climate change I: Is the sky falling? Available at https://medium.com/fuergy/trends-in-climate-change-i-is-the-sky-falling-d9a1f3969bef

Schneider, S, et al., 2007,   19.3.3 Regional vulnerabilities, In Parry.

Shuttleworth, Martyn 2008, Definitions of Research, Explorable, Explorable.com, available from 14 August 2011.

Timo G, and Markus A, 2017, Narcissism and Social Networking Behavior: A Meta?Analysis, Journal of Personality.

Wyne, S, 2011, Research methods, Available at www.snapsurveys.com, accessed on 24 Sept. 2018.