CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
5.11 Methodological choice
Choosing an appropriate methodology is one of the most important elements in a research study because it facilitates the flow of the study. There are two commonly used methodological approaches in research design, namely qualitative and quantitative approaches (Leedy and Omrod, 2010).
5.11.1 Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a systematic, subjective research design used to describe experiences related to life and situations to indicate or reflect the meaning of something (Chen et al., 2011). Chen, Shek and Bu (2011) furthermore found that researchers who used this approach adopted a person-centred perspective to comprehend the experiences of human, without focusing on specific concepts.
In addition, qualitative research is a form of an enquiry that embedded on social environment that focuses on the way people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live. It is apparent that this type of research is a general term relating to investigative methodologies and techniques, which are naturalistic in nature (Saunders et al., 2012; Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2010).
The qualitative approach possesses a number of characters such as richness in quotation, description and narration, as researchers attempt to capture conversations, experiences, perspectives, voices and meanings because mostly words are used, and much less numbers (Chen et al., 2011).
A qualitative study is concerned with methods that are not statistical and uses small samples, often selected purposively (Chen et al., 2011). This type of research puts emphasis on the value of looking at variables in their natural setting (Leedy and Omrod, 2010). The collection of data is by means of open-ended questions. The interviewer plays a pivotal role in the investigation because the researcher interviews the respondents.
Again, qualitative research seeks to discover and identify fundamental or underlying concepts and relationships between them (De Vos et al., 2011). Qualitative research is all about exploring matters, understanding phenomena and answering questions, while providing an inductive view of the relationship between theory and research.
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Furthermore, De Vos et al. (2011) qualitative research involves the use of predominantly qualitative research methods to describe and evaluate the performance of programmes in their natural settings. This is a collaborative design that minimises suspicion and distrust of research, and increases trust and credibility (Saunders et al., 2012).
A number of advantages are associated with a qualitative approach. To name one, qualitative research is useful during the early stages of a study, when the researcher may be unsure of exactly what to focus on.
However, the disadvantage of this approach is that the researcher engaged in a research study using qualitative research is heavily involved in the process, which gives the researcher a subjective view of the study and its respondents.
Furthermore, the researcher interprets the research according to his or her own biased view, which might not be a true reflection of the data gathered. In addition, this method is time- consuming and can take months or, in some instances, years.
5.11.2 Quantitative research
Having discussed qualitative research, it is of great importance to discuss the second type of research, quantitative research. It is nevertheless prudent to highlight the main differences between qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research is concerned with complete and detailed descriptions of events, whereas quantitative research creates statistical models to explain events.
The influence of quantitative research is by means of the hypotheses and objectives of the research study (Babbie, 2013b). This research type is vital in that it guides the research study in respect of data collection instruments to give it reliability and validity. Quantitative research includes the gathering of data that describes events and then organises, tabulates, depicts and describes the data collection process (Cohen et al., 2011).
The depiction of data more often than not uses visual aids such as graphs and charts to assist the reader with understanding the data distribution (Saunders et al., 2012). The reason for this is that the human mind cannot extract the full import of a large mass of raw data.
Therefore, it is important to display data simply. In order to reduce the data to a manageable form descriptive statistics comes in handy.
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To note though is that most quantitative research falls into two areas, studies that describe events and studies aimed at discovering inferences or causal relationships (Babbie, 2013a).
Descriptive studies intend to find out "what is", therefore observational and to collect descriptive data survey methods is appropriate (Babbie, 2013a).
The strengths of quantitative research lie in exactness, controllability and generalisation through presumed experimentation to lead to valid and reliable statements about causation (Babbie, 2013b). However, there are advantages associated with quantitative research, as there are in any other kind of research.
The main advantage of quantitative research is that it allows the researcher to measure and analyse data using various statistical methods (Babbie, 2013b).The main disadvantage of quantitative research is that it (quantitative research) does not study phenomenon in a natural setting for different people, as is the case in qualitative research (Babbie, 2013b).
5.11.3 Justification of research design
The main objective of this study was to design a HRM model for the similar treatment of employees in provincial legislatures in order to keep motivation at an acceptable level.
In order to achieve this objective of the study, the collection of data was through a questionnaire (survey approach) completed by the respondents. The use of the survey was to get the views and opinions of a large group of people at the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provincial legislatures.
The survey approach, using a questionnaire aims to gain insight into the typical experiences of the respondents in order to arrive at sound conclusions. A survey questionnaire for the collection of data is associated with quantitative research studies, and with deductive approaches.
In this study, a quantitative research was in line with the set of research objectives and hypotheses highlighted in 5.5 and 5.6 of this study. In order to determine various relationships between and among variables of the study, data was collected, analysed and interpreted.
Quantitative research moreover allows the researcher to measure and analyse data using various statistical methods and as such, the studying in detail of the relationship between
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variables is imperative. This is advantageous because the researcher is more objective about the findings of the research.