Methodological Perspective
III. The Significance of the Sector
4. Research Methodology
4.4. Data Collection Methods
According to Collis and Hussey (2003), there are two major types of data collection; primary data and secondary data.
Primary data: is data that were collected specifically for the purpose of this study.
Secondary data: were data collected for another purpose but are related to the subject of the study, and which the researcher has gathered to build the theoretical base for this study. The sources of these data were mainly: Referenced books, academic papers, researches, thesis, magazines, newspapers and Internet. Yin (2009) suggests six major sources of evidence to be used in the case study strategy; Documentation, Archival Records, Interviews, Direct Observation, Participation /Direct observation, and Physical Artefacts.
Table (4) Strengths and weaknesses of six sources of evidence
Source: Yin (2009, p102)
Source of evidence Strengths Weakness
Documentation - Stable: Can be reviewed repeatedly
- Unobtrusive : not created as a result of the case study - Exact: contains exact names,
references and details
- Retrievability: can be low - Biased selectivity, if collection is
incomplete
- Reporting bias : reflects bias of the author
- Access : may be deliberately blocked
Archival Records - Same as above - Precise and quantitative
- Same as above
- accessibility may be limited for privacy reasons
Interviews - Targeted : focuses directly on case studies
- Insightful: provides perceived causal inferences
- Bias due to poorly constructed questions
- Response bias
- Inaccuracies: interviewees say what they think interviewer wants to hear
Direct observation - Reality : covers events in real time
- Contextual : covers context of event
- Time consuming
- Selectivity: poor, unless broad coverage
- Reflexivity: events may be processed differently
Participation / direct observation
- Same as for direct observation - Insightful into interpersonal
behaviour and motives
- Same as for direct observation - Bias due to investigator’s
manipulation of events
Physical Artefacts - Insightful into cultural features
- Insightful into technical operations
- Selectivity - Availability
A comparison list about the strengths and weaknesses of these sources is available in Table (4) .Yin (2009) concludes that no single source of data has a complete advantage over others, while the use of multiple sources of evidence can help in clarifying the real meaning of the phenomena being studied. The main method in this research will be semi structured, face to face interviews. Indeed the researcher will use documentations and direct observation as resources to collect more data.
5. Summary
An investigation of both case studies Commercial bank of Syria and Real Estate bank will be conducted to explore the factors affecting the excellence of service quality at Syrian Public banks. Interpritivism paradigm will be the main philosophy of this research depending on the ontological assumption that reality is subjective and multiple, as seen by the views of the interviewees. The research will try to identify an explanation of human actions by understanding the way in which the world is understood by individuals. Deductive and inductive approach will be adopted to achieve the objectives of this research. Case study will be the main strategy to design this research. Simi structured Interviews, documentations and observation are the essential methods to data collection.
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