Research Strategy

According to Crotty (1998), designing a research strategy involves the consideration of four

distinct but closely related elements of the research process: methods to be utilised in the study,

the methodology governing the choice of methods, the theoretical perspectives embedded in the

methodology, and the epistemology that supports the theoretical perspective. Creswell (2007),

also discusses research design and whilst the primary focus of Creswell is on five different

approaches to research (Narrative, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, and Case

Study), Creswell also discusses the importance of the researchers epistemological perspective in

relation to the development of the research strategy which he incorporates within the context of

the researchers philosophical assumptions. An additional important aspect discussed by Creswell

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referred to as a paradigm or world view. The research strategy proposed by Creswell will form the

basis of the decision making process for the methodology for this research.

The four paradigms that Creswell (2007) discusses are Postpositivism, Social Constructivism,

Advocacy/ Participatory and Pragmatism. The underlying world view in the context of this

research is considered to that of a ‘Social Constructivism’. Social constructivism, which is often

combined with interpretivism, is a worldview whereby individuals seek understanding of the

world in which they live and work. Within this paradigm, researchers recognise that their own

background shapes their interpretation and they position themselves within the study more closely

than in the other three paradigms and in many ways, become a key part of the study. Whilst all

four paradigms were reviewed in relation to this aspect of the research, the interpretivist nature of

the social constructivism world view aligns more closely with the values of the researcher and the

overall objectives of the research.

The research strategy used is classified as a descriptive study. According to Page and Meyer

(2000), a descriptive study is a study that sets out to describe a phenomenon or event as it exists,

without manipulation or control of any elements involved in the phenomenon or event under study.

A common descriptive research method in a management context is the ‘case study’. A case

study is an in-depth description of an individual, group or organisation, either for the purpose of

testing whether the case fits a particular theory or fits one theory better than another or, to simply

determine what makes the particular case superior, inferior, or different to other otherwise similar

cases (Yin, 1994). A case study strategy is considered to be an appropriate choice of methodology

for research adopting an interpretivist perspective (Walsham 1995). Whilst other research

strategies such as action research are also possible methodological choices from an interpretivist

perspective, these are not closely aligned with the aims of this study. For instance, this study did

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the aim was to design a study that would help address the research question in the best possible

way.

Adopting a case study methodology also requires making decisions in relation to the unit(s) of

analysis and whether a multiple or single case design would be the most appropriate. Patton (2002)

indicates that that when selecting and making decisions about the appropriate unit of analysis, a

key consideration is to determine what unit it is that the researcher wants to be able to say

something about at the end of the research. He argues that ‘each unit of analysis implies a

different kind of data collection, a different focus of analysis of data, and a different level at which

statements about findings and conclusions would be made. In the context of this research, a

multiple case design is deemed the most appropriate to meet the objectives of the study. The unit

of analysis is also closely linked to the primary research question of the study.

Since the research question in this study relates to understanding the relationship between

inventory levels and demand forecasting and communication within a specific supply chain, the

units of analysis adopted for this study are:

(i) the relationship between inventory levels and demand forecasting in achieving optimal

inventory levels.

(ii) the interaction between the different functions within the supply chain and decision makers

in achieving optimal inventory levels.

According to Yin (2003), case research that involves more than one unit of analysis is classified as

an embedded case study. The primary advantage of an embedded case study approach is that it

forces the researcher to consider a specific phenomenon in operational detail. As the setting for

this research is focused at the operational level within the context of a specific business

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suitable methodology for this research. As discussed, as this research involves two units of

analysis, different data collection methods need to be incorporated into the research to support an

in-depth study of each phenomena of interest. The primary units of observation in this research are

the products (SKU’s) and the managers within the business from which the data will be collected

in relation to the two units of analysis and the research question. The data collection methods

adopted for this research are discussed in the following section.