The research design is the grand plan that illustrates the “methodological congruence” (Morse & Richards, 2002, p. 34) between the research problem the research, the research methods and the collection and handling of research data.
The most significant determinant of the research design adopted for a study is the researcher’s worldview orientation (Saunders, 2011).
In the context of the current study, a narrative of the researcher’s worldview orientation has been presented in the preceding section. It has been established that the researcher has a preference for the interpretivist worldview but in a more pragmatic sense. As Saunders (2011, p. 149) explains, “pragmatism is an intuitively appealing recourse” because it provides the researcher with the latitude required to enable focus on the research questions and the execution of the research process in a manner that is deemed to be feasible and doable. Before a commitment to a specific research design is proposed, it is essential to advocate a classification for a research project so that the research design can be identified in a manner that facilitates methodological congruence. According to Saunders (2011, p. 170) the three main types of research classifications are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory.
Exploratory research is a means of establishing ‘what is happening’ and to obtain new insight into a phenomenon. It is often used when knowledge of the research domain is vague and there is a deficiency of previous empirical research into the topic. The principal mechanisms of conducting an exploratory study is to compile an extensive literature review and to conduct interviews with experts on the subject matter. A descriptive study is undertaken in order to compile in-depth information about a person or event. Descriptive studies are rather static and are usually used as a precursor to an exploratory or explanatory study. An explanatory study is used when the main objective of the study is to establish a causal relationship between variables of a study.
In order to propose a classification type for the current study, reference is made to the first 2 research questions that underpin the study. These are:
What are South African software practitioners' perspectives on Agile Software Development Methodology (ASDM) from a technical perspective?
How does organisational culture influence the implementation of ASDM?
Both these questions require an in-depth engagement with software developers in South Africa. From an empirical perspective, there is a paucity of knowledge that is available from in-depth research oriented interactions with software practitioners in South Africa. Based on the argument presented, the exploratory approach is deemed to be the most appropriate classification for the initial empirical phase of the current study. The output of this phase of the study will consist of a static and a dynamic component. The static component will be a report on the current status of agile software development as experienced by the cohort of South African software practitioners. The dynamic component will be the development of a framework or a set of models that guide the future practice of ASDM. The choice of research design for the planned phases of the study is guided by the array of research designs presented in Creswell (2013, p. 11). An overview of these designs are presented for reference.
Quantitative Research Design
The two main methods of quantitative research designs are experiments and surveys. The underlying strategy is to generate numerical data that is context independent. The analysis procedures are predominantly deductive and entail the use of graphical analysis and statistical tests of significance to faciltate objective accuracy and enable generalization of results, Quantitative research designs have a strong affiliation to the positivist worldview that upholds the principles of objectivity and a single reality with minimal latitude for researcher bias.
Qualitative Research Design
Qualitative research is based on the philosophy that reality or knowledge can only be obtained in the context it exists. Qualitative designs rely on textual,
image and video data that is analysed by the use of inductive and deductive methods to develop greater insight into a phenomenon. There is a strong alignment to the interpretivist worldview although Huberman et al. (2013, p. 7) suggest that it is more appropriate to label qualitative researchers as pragmatic realists. The purpose of qualitative research is to make sense of the complexities that exist around social phenomena from a cognitive and practical perspective. The participants in a qualitative study are selected on the basis of their knowledge or experience with the main phenomenon of the study. The outcome of qualitative inquiry is to discover new meanings, themes and generate explanations and conceptual frameworks to explain complex situations or cultures(Rubin, 2012).
Mixed Methods Research Design
Methodological pluralism is a strategy that is gaining traction in the domain of business and organizational research (Saunders, 2011) as well as research in the domain of information systems development (Frank et al., 2014;
Mingers, 2001). Traditionally, research in these areas have been dominated by a positivist philosophy where reality is considered to be objective and quantifiable.
However, Mingers (2001), Petter and Gallivan (2004) and Frank et al. (2014) point out that the multi-disciplinary nature of studies within information systems development necessitates multi-method research approaches that embrace both positivist and non-positivist traditions. This strategy will help to broaden understanding because it incorporates elements of objectivity and scientific rigour as well as interpretivist and qualitative rigour. The diversity of research approaches will arguably ensure that the researcher is in a position to leverage the strengths of both research paradigms thereby mitigating the complexities inherent in information systems development research.
According to Saunders (2011, p. 185), mixed methods research is a reference to a research design where quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques are used for different phases of a study. The phases of such a study are done either concurrently or sequentially. The choice of design strategy is guided by the researcher’s intuition and perspective.