RESEARCH STRATEGY

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) suggested that, by developing a research strategy, the researcher builds a general plan that helps him to achieve the research objectives and answer its question/s. They continue to indicate that it is inevitable that the way the researcher chooses to answer the research question/s is highly influenced by the research philosophy and approach and, most importantly, the purpose of the research. Therefore, the study purpose must be defined before discussing in detail the research strategy.

 The research purpose

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) described three categories of research purposes: exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. The purpose of exploratory research is to find out

„...what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a

new light‟ (Robson 2002, p. 59). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), studies

that aim to investigate relationships between variables and test hypotheses are categorised as

explanatory research and studies that seek further description of the phenomena prior to data collection are termed descriptive.

The study started by assessing the implementation of criteria of quality DL from the perspective of DL stakeholders which fulfils the exploratory purpose of the study. Then, as the study progressed, it strived to detect factors that negatively influence the implementation of quality DL and find relationships between them in order to achieve the ultimate aim of developing a strategic approach which reflects an explanatory purpose. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill‟s (2009) definition, this places the study purpose within the theme of exploratory research, as a piece of explanatory research. Given that this study does not seek further description of the phenomena prior to data collection, the descriptive purpose is therefore not reflected in this study.

 The research strategy

Identifying the research philosophy, approach and purpose in the previous sections paved the way to defining a clear research strategy. One way of providing a clear base for the chosen research strategy is to discuss why other research strategies were not chosen in the light of the research question/s, objectives and purpose. Although this way seems simplistic, it can offer a way of justifying briefly the research‟s strategic approach.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009) classified research strategies into seven categories and suggested that each of these have strengths and weaknesses; no strategy is superior to another or cannot be used as part of another strategy.

These seven strategies are: experiment strategy, action research strategy, grounded theory strategy, ethnographical strategy, archival research, survey strategy and case study strategy which are discussed briefly in light of their characteristics.

The experiment strategy purpose described by Hakim (2000) is to study causal links between variables which involve assigning two groups of participants and a planned intervention or manipulation. In this study, no intervention or assigning of experimental groups is needed, therefore the experimental strategy was not applicable. The action research strategy,

indicated by Coghlan and Brannick (2005), advocates a direct researcher involvement in a cycle of actions, starting by diagnosis of the problem, then planning for action to take place and finally evaluation, which does not suit the study purpose and time schedule. The

grounded theory strategy, as described by Glaser and Strauss (2009), suggests that data collection should begin without any theoretical framework or theory to lead the investigation. This is not the case in this study as this study starts with a theoretical framework that is drawn from the literature to lead the study investigation.

The ethnographical strategy, according to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), requires the researcher to immerse himself completely in the context of the phenomena over an extended period of time, which, because of time limits and limited access, is not a suitable nor a feasible strategy to adopt in this study. The archival research strategy, that is suggested by Bryman (1989), restricts the study principal data source to administrative records and documents and does not serve the study purpose of investigating the phenomena from three different perspectives (administrators, faculty members and students). The survey strategy, according to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), suggests the collection of quantitative data to be analysed using descriptive or inferential statistics. This limits the study variables to a certain number and methods of analysis if it is used exclusively. Accordingly, it was used as part of the study strategy.

To fulfil the study aim and objectives (see Chapter I), the study used a strategy that utilised multiple sources of evidence from different perspectives to gain rich data about the context of the study. This reflected the characteristics of the case study strategy described by Robson (2002) as a strategy that uses multiple sources of evidence to investigate a particular contemporary phenomenon in its real context. The study adoption of a case study strategy is to seek a clear understanding of the phenomena (DL quality) through multi-level views (administrators, faculty and students) to gain insights from the real context (KAU in Saudi Arabia as a case study) and reflects the characteristics of a critical realists‟ position which, according to Easton (2010), is the predominant theme adopted by critical realist researchers. Yin (2003) suggests that the use of a case study strategy enables the researcher to gain rich understanding of the research context through the use of various data collection techniques. Accordingly, it allows the researcher to triangulate data that are collected from multiple sources to promote the trustworthiness of the findings. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), the use of a case study strategy helps the researcher to answer the question of what is happening and why it is happening, which makes it a widely used strategy in exploratory and explanatory research. By using a case study strategy, the study was able to serve its purpose of exploring phenomena through answering the question of what is happening in KAU with regard to the implementation of quality DL using data collected from multiple sources of data (observation; interview; survey and document review). Moreover, it helped to serve the explanatory part of this study through its rich understanding of the context to answer the question of why DL quality criteria were not implemented and how it can be implemented. In summary, the choice of a case study strategy resonates with the study question, aims and objectives and reflects the research philosophy and purpose.

 The case study dimension

Given that the case study has been identified as the study strategy, it is essential to define the dimension within which this study falls. Yin (2003) distinguished two dimensions for case study strategy: single case versus multiple cases and holistic case versus embedded case.

Single case is often used when the case is unique or provides insights into phenomena that cannot be provided in other cases; this situation does not apply in this study. He continues to describe the characteristics of these two aforementioned dimensions. In his description, the use of a multiple case study strategy often reflects the need to generalise the findings, which is not required in this study; furthermore, because of time and access limits, it will be hard for the researcher to investigate the implementation of quality DL in different universities in different areas of the country.

The holistic case study strategy refers to the investigation of phenomena in an organisation as one unit, while the imbedded case study strategy suggests that the investigation can encompass logical sub-units within the whole organisation. According to Yin (2003) the use of an embedded case study strategy offers a clearer understanding of the phenomenon, as it provides the researcher with a multi-case view within one case, which fulfils the study purpose in a feasible process.

To conclude, this study uses an embedded case study strategy as it investigates the phenomena in one organisation as a whole by examining logical sub-units within the organisation. It treats KAU as the whole organisation with four logical sub-units represented by the four DL colleges in KAU.