A mixed and stepwise research method

The traditional view has been one of isolationism in which the paradigms are seen as essentially based on mutually exclusive and contradictory assumptions, and individual researchers do, or should, follow a single paradigm (Burrell and Morgan, 2005). However, more recently, this traditional dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative research is criticised as being erroneous, especially in entrepreneurship research (Kirby, 2007). There should be no competition between these two approaches, but rather an essential continuity and inseparability between inductive and deductive approaches to theory development (Hine and Carson, 2007). Researchers have started being more in favour of using multiple measures on the same phenomenon and believe that a diversity of research methods and paradigms within the discipline is a positive source of strength (Mingers, 2001; Neuman, 2003; Kirby, 2007).

G. Ma 2013 Chapter 5 Methodology Table 5. 2 Comparison of quantitative and qualitative research method

Criteria Qualitative Quantitative

Purpose Seek to explore, understand and interpret social phenomena

Seek to confirm hypotheses about phenomena

Instrument Instruments use more flexible, iterative style o f eliciting and categorizing responses to questions

Instruments use more rigid style o f eliciting and categorizing responses to questions

U se semi-structured m ethods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation

U se highly structured methods such as questionnaires, survey, and structured observation

Analytical objectives To describe variation

To describe and explain relationships To describe group norms

To quantify variation

To identify statistical relationships To describe characteristics o f a population

Question format Open-ended Closed-ended

Data format Textual (obtained from audiotapes, videotapes, and field notes)

Numerical (obtained by assigning numerical values to responses) Flexibility in study design Som e aspects o f the study are fiexible

(for example, the addition, exclusion, or wording o f particular interview questions)

Study design is stable from beginning to end

R ole o f researcher Participant’s responses affect how and which questions researchers ask next

Participant’s responses do not influence or determine how and which questions researchers ask next Nature o f study Study design is iterative, that is, data

collection and research questions are adjusted according to what is learned.

Study design is subject to statistical assumptions and conditions

Investigate com plex phenomena that are difficult to measure quantitatively.

Test and validate constructed theories. Test constructed hypotheses

Gain insights into potential causal mechanisms.

D evelop sound quantitative

measurement processes or instruments. Contribute to the evolution o f new theories

Offer a snapshot o f the respondent’s experiences and view s.

Provide w ide coverage o f the range o f situations.

Sources: Adapted from Johnson and Christensen (2008), Mack et a l (2005), Lichtman (2006), and Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004).

Smaller enterprises are actually more difficult to study than larger ones, though it can be argued that because their activities lack clear structures and recording procedures, they are reluctant to divulge information about their business, and their forms are extremely different in range, thus, measurement is much more difficult and propositions are more difficult to test (Davis et al, 1985; Curran and Blackburn, 2001). To make the data available, small firm researchers have to struggle to generate explanations which may be superior as accounts of what is happening in the firm but which others see as inferior

G. Ma 2013 ...Chapter 5 Methodology

simply because they are not quantitative enough. Hofer and Bygrave (1992) suggest that the entrepreneurial process limits the application of classic management research approaches and economic models in theory building.

In SME marketing literature, traditional research approaches in marketing management of SMEs have been grounded in predominantly positivist perspective and quantitative methods (Hill and McGowan, 1999) because their merits, such as being able to offer a snapshot of small business owners’ experiences and views, can offer benchmarks for more specific studies, they are valuable at a descriptive level, and they are helpful in providing information on numerical dimensions of the process known to occur (Curran and Blackburn, 2001). Siu and Kirby (1998) also suggest that quantitative research methods will help identify the specific marketing practices of small firms. However, the quantitative research also has been criticised in that it only scratches the surface of people’s attitudes and feelings, and it fails to reveal the complexity of the human soul (Wright and Crimp, 2000); the positivism approaches do not yield a rich understanding of the key issues affecting small firm’s marketing (Hill and Wright, 2001). Scharf et al. (2004) make the following criticism:

The dominant use of positivist methodologies, a prevalence of single-country investigations and a general absence of qualitative triangulation mean that while the problems may have been adequately quantified, there is little real understanding of their context and nature, or of the underlying issues that need to be addressed (p. 103).

Researchers have been claiming that there is a need to seek a more appropriate research approach that can explore the more complex side of humanity, especially in researching the SME context since the late 1980s (Bygrave, 1989; Chell and Gibb, 1990; Stewart, 1991; Haworth, 1992 Hofer and Bygrave, 1992;). For example, Greenley (1983) proposes that in assessing marketing issues in organisations, both the conventional approach, to obtain substantive knowledge through survey research, and the multi-dimensional approach, to achieve process knowledge from in-depth case study methods, are useful and do not exclude each other. Curran and Blackburn (2001) state that in effect, quantitative elements add ‘bulk’ to the findings. They help support implicit/explicit claims to generalisability that

G. Ma 2013 Chapter 5 Methodology

marks all research, while the qualitative elements concentrate on ‘why’ issues: the reasons or causes which might underlie the pattern of findings discovered.

Hill (2001a) argues that when all the SME factors and various competing orientations are taken into consideration, no one research approach is appropriate. Hill (2001a) therefore suggests a syncretised methodology for research in SMEs that in the early stage it is more readily associated with ethnography, in the later data-gathering stage it concentrates on in-depth discussion, and the actual empirical data gathering will shape the methodology, as the research process develops. Davidsson (2005) reinforces Hill’s points and stated:

“I firmly believe that both ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ research is helpful for gaining insight into entrepreneurship our total knowledge development requires the combination of different types of information” (Davidsson, 2005, p.55) the most finitful way forward for entrepreneurship research would be integrated research programs that included several types of research addressing different aspects of the same issues (Davidsson, 2005: p60).

In fact, in business and management research, especially SME research, the practical reality is that research into SMEs rarely falls neatly into only one philosophy domain. It is more often a mixture between positivist and interpretative (Hill and McGowan, 1999; Davidsson, 2005). When it comes to research method into SME marketing, especially research into SME marketing in a non-Western context, it has been suggested that a combination of research methods is most appropriate (Sue and Kirby, 1998). Kirby (1995; 2007) points out that is not about adopting either a ‘quantitative’ or a ‘qualitative’ approach, but about developing a research design that is not just appropriate for the issue under investigation but which uses a ‘battery’ of research techniques in the search for explanation. In the survey on research approaches of SME international marketing behaviour in past decades, Fillis (2001) points out that quantitative works dominate the literature, and there is a drastic shortfall in the number of truly qualitative studies.

G. Ma 2013 Chapter 5 Methodology

Research into SME marketing is a difficult and demanding task because of their notorious lack of attention to keeping complete and accurate records as well as their reluctance to divulge information about their business (Davis et al., 1985). To overcome the methodological problems, researchers suggest using “a stream of research” approach, “a co-ordinated programs” ( Davis, et al., 1985) or “a contextual stepwise approach” (Kirby, 2007). Gibb (1992) also suggests using a stepwise staged approach in small business research in order to achieve a high quality. Carson and Coviello (1996) suggest:

A stream of research “implies individual studies are carefully designed to build on what has been learned in previous studies. In this way, different methodological approaches can be tested, avoiding the discontinuity provided by individual, isolated investigation” (Carson and Coviello, 1996: p.54).

The cornerstone of the “stream of research” approach is that it shows the researcher to combine the ‘best’ and most suitable research methods from the social sciences at specific and appropriate stages of the research” (Carson and Coviello, 1996: p.55).

Kirby (2007: p.235) highlights the rationale and outline of the contextual stepwise approach:

[It] starts in the basement with the researcher’s paradigm and pre-understanding, which is interpretive, qualitative, subjective and inter-subjective. It then moves into the middle floors where data is generated, analysed and interpreted and the approach is largely systematic and objective, but with elements of subjectivity and inter-subjectivity, the data being conceptualised and compared to extent theory and other research in order to generate theory.

The research findings of Siu and Kirby (1999a) suggest that a high degree of data reliability and validity can be reached by using such a co-ordinated research method. Considering the SME management and marketing characteristics and their impact on the selection of a research approach, and the aims of this research, qualitative, quantitative and two step research methods are used.

G. Ma 2013 ... Chapter 5 Methodology