QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY IN RESEARCH: A REVIEW OF BODDY’S ARTICLE ON THE MARKET RESEARCH INDUSTRY
Introduction
The market research industry in the United Kingdom has been among the few subjects that exist in the study of businesses and international trade. However, this subject is the focus of Clive Boddy’s work. In looking at the setting in 2001, the research tried to present a view of the market research industry of UK through a qualitative methodology. Normally, a quantitative method is employed when measuring levels of success in the business setting. However, Boddy to a different step in addressing this type of subject. In employing a qualitative based analysis of the subject, the discussions may possibly compromise certain aspects of the findings of the paper considering that the information employed are not based on figures and facts. This might pose a notable threat in the findings considering that the data that has been used are based solely on the perceived success indicators of the market research industry. To this end, this study intends to analyze the methodology employed by the study of Brody in addressing the perceived reasons of success in the market research industry in UK. Specifically, the employment of such methods revealing a qualitative nature will be the focus of the discussions.
The Qualitative Method in General
The work of Boddy has chosen to employ the qualitative method in conducting his study. In the field of business, using such methodology has acquired several issues. To illustrate, it has been established that the qualitative research is deemed as a minority and even a marginalised activity within the context of business (2004). This means that the employment of qualitative methods is not normally used in the study of the business sector. Moreover, similarly contend that the data specify that the implementation of qualitative research in the business setting could be deemed as a mediocre career move with an unappealing potential for doctoral students. A variety of contributors provides a well-built case on the subject of the relative overlooking of qualitative research by the main journals that dedicate itself in issuing business research. Nevertheless, even though the noticeable marginalisation of qualitative research works, vehemently contended that it is very important that qualitative researchers still carry on to present their work to major journals even though it appears that the channels seem to be practically blocked.
The relative scarcity of the employment of qualitative research in business studies has similarly been apparent in the work of Boddy. There may possibly be a variety of motives for the pitiable representation of qualitative research in top- level periodicals (2004), nevertheless this obvious predisposition towards quantitative researches has brought about setbacks for the progress of business studies. It merges practical suggestion and theoretical argument, tackling and discovering a lot of the subjects that confront academics who take on qualitative research and sums up inclinations and discussions in the field.
Moreover, in employing such a methodology, the work of Boddy has also achieved several things. In keeping with (1984), qualitative methods help academics who wish to comprehend intricate social phenomena. They are suitable when seeking out information with reference to the basic features of a phenomenon being examined prior to hypothesizing about it. This information frequently comes to light by means of close contact with issues of a study, permitting the author to identify with their perspectives and knowledge with the phenomenon. Nevertheless, the propensity of qualitative methodologies in granting responses to inquiries regarding phenomena connected to administration and organization science has been held up by the mix-up on the subject of the character of qualitative research.
Academics even conflict on the characterization of "qualitative." For instance, a number of researchers employ terms like naturalistic and descriptive, on top of field, product, and case study. Possibly the best means to resolve a number of the misunderstanding on the subject of qualitative research is to look at a number of its most established methodologies and attributes. (1992) suggests that there are three common kinds of data-gathering practices in qualitative research: experiencing, enquiring, and examining (). These three practices are employed, Wolcott contends, in such different qualitative methods like case studies, interviews, and participant observation. As indicates, most qualitative research is anchored on a case study that employs a single or more than a few of these qualitative methodologies, permitting academics to engross themselves within a culture or a situation, creating questions to chase for additional research and knowledge of the phenomena.
The Analysis of the Methodology Employed by Boddy
Boddy stated that he had employed the qualitative form of research in order to “maintain an objective approach to the study” and characterizes it as “exploratory in nature.” This reveals that making use of qualitative research techniques are much preferred in such studies so as to build theories consequently. However, it is still apparent that quantitative research methods are more efficient and competent for testing one’s theory. (1992) Whether or not one concurs that qualitative methods have capabilities in testing theories in conjunction with quantitative methods, qualitative methodologies are a familiar initial step in quantitative studies.
In looking into the previous discussion regarding the characteristics of a qualitative research, it appears that Boddy has bee able to acquire a technique that is more amenable to the regulating and refining of study ideas as an investigation develops. Similarly, the researcher appears not trying to influence the research background, but somewhat aspire to comprehend naturally occurring phenomena in their naturally occurring conditions. Inductive analysis, in preference to deductive way of thinking, is frequent in qualitative research, in company with content or holistic study representing statistical analysis.
Moreover, in the case of Boddy, the contextual and subjective character of qualitative data can be an alarm for the researcher who intends to generalize the judgments of the study. What is accurate in one instance or circumstance may not be factual for another. To triumph over this fear, data need to be acquired in different contexts, which acquire substantial time and effort. Consequently, researchers who might have been under pressure to publish may not possibly see a qualitative study as a viable research model. This shows that the work of Boddy might have been done with much time in order to rationally present his findings before it is published.
Analysis of the Utilized Sampling Method
Based on the work, Boddy implemented a purposive sampling technique to gather his data. Purposive sampling implies choosing a sample anchored researcher-recognized selection measures. In this case, the sample was members of the AMSO, particularly senior board level directors, managing directors, managing owners, or chairpersons of the companies. At the end, six interviews were completed.
Using such sampling technique might have been detrimental to certain factors of the study. To illustrate, using such technique does bounds the generalisability of discoveries beyond the research sample employed in the academic work. Nevertheless, this sampling process is a suitable option, particularly for exploratory studies that are principally purely descriptive, which is actually what the study of Boddy possesses.
Use of Interviews as a Main Source of Data
The study under consideration employed interviews as its primary source of information with regards to the discussions in his study. (1991) suggest that focus groups tender business researchers a well-off basis in which to assemble authentic data with reference to participants' opinions, knowledge, and outlooks which offer a foundation from which to construct a theory. An additional variation of interviewing methods suggested by (1992) is the Delphi method. This is close to what Boddy has used in his study. This method is helpful in acquiring information on a theme from a panel of experts. In the case of Boddy, he used board-level directors such that they are more knowledgeable in the business and in the industry to provide such information.
Moreover, research methods like the employment of open-ended interviews, which have previously been an element of a more qualitative research ritual, authorize study to be an instrument not merely for acquiring data but for personal and group empowerment in addition to action and social change. For instance, qualitative models can offer a medium for respondents to enlighten their narrative in their own words. Such results imply possibilities for the kind of transformative and empowering knowledge that Boddy stated originates from contact with others.
The authority of qualitative methods to write down the reality of people's knowledge turns out to be a basis of empowerment by insisting the actuality of a community's historical knowledge and documenting that knowledge in printed form. Moreover, this will also facilitate the distribution of these communal narratives through periodicals and oral diffusion to a more extensive audience, a procedure which can consecutively acquire superior attention and resources to the requirements and fears of society as a whole.
Conclusions
The use of qualitative method in the study of Boddy has been sufficiently discussed in the paper. In looking is the said discussions, qualitative investigators believe they can get nearer to the actor's viewpoint by means of thorough interviewing and observation. They contend that quantitative researchers infrequently are capable of seizing the subject's viewpoint for the reason that they have to be dependent on more isolated, inferential empirical matters. This is significant in that a cost of diversity needs that people labour to incarcerate and state perspective of others who may possibly be dissimilar from oneself. Moreover, qualitative research does not start with surveys created from the standpoint of the researcher or copied from universal models which may possibly possess small relation to the settled knowledge of the group of interest, in this case the players in the market research industry. Furthermore, qualitative researchers make out that there may possibly be a number of features of a phenomenon that are failed to spot if people limit people to forced-choice responses. In its place, qualitative techniques like in-depth interviews support the researcher's capability to acquire the viewpoint of the respondent.
Similarly, the capacity to confine and appreciate the perspectives of dissimilar research respondents includes new and vital voices to one’s perception of phenomena, which consecutively provides new information that can be employed to build up new or amended models. As it was claimed earlier, qualitative research can similarly be perceived as revealing an alternative scientific theory. From this standpoint, it reveals values of science that does not give emphasis to the significance of scientific objectivity and interpersonal indifference in the research development. In its place, reality is perceived as being strained through local, historical lenses. From this perspective, the best opportunity of understanding the world is by understanding these numerous, local frameworks and accounts and acquiring rich detail concerning them.
A vital consequence to this is the appreciation that researchers similarly see the world by means of local and historical lenses and therefore require considering their individual values and partialities as they control the research procedure. Qualitative research, in its concentration on broad account of particular contexts may similarly assist the public to pay closer consideration to the exceptional connection of researcher and respondent and similarly offer liberty for a cautious deliberation of the researcher's individual stance and its implication on the research.
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