Justifying research methodologies in the economic world - Free Essay Example

This Chapter will discuss the methodology used in this research. The justification for the chosen methodology will also be analysed. It will also look at the data collection technique and the approach to be used for analysis to arrive at the findings. Exploratory research such as structured questionnaire will be used to obtain the primary data. This questionnaire was analysed using both the qualitative and quantitative approach. The primary data will also be supported with secondary data such as text books, journals, and the banks website. The goal of this research is to critically analyse Operational risk Management is UK banks, a case study of Barclays UK retail bank. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE CHOICE OF METHODOLOGY According to Saunders, (2007), a research strategy can be exploratory, descriptive and explanatory, taking an inductive or deductive approach. Whatever the case, it is important that the choice of strategy is guided by the research questions, objectives, the extent of existing knowledge , amount of time and other resources available and the researchers philosophical underpinnings all geared towards answering the research questions and meeting the researchers objectives. The three main research strategies are; Exploratory research strategy, according to Creswell, (2009) explores a phenomenon by using quantitative data in the interpretation of qualitative findings. It is particularly useful for a researcher who wants to explore a phenomenon and at the same time expand on qualitative findings. Saunders, (2007) however, noted three principal ways of conducting exploratory research; Literature search Interview of experts in the subject Conducting focus group interviews. D escriptive research strategy is used to gain insight of the variable of interest as it naturally exists and to capture interesting, behaviours that occur naturally (Gravetter and Forzano, 2009). The Observational research, survey research and case study research are the three researches are seen as the different types of descriptive research. Explanatory research strategy studies a situation or a problem in order to establish a causal relationship between variables. Quantitative and qualitative data are therefore used in explorative research strategy (Saunders, 2007). These strategies make use of two distinct approaches; the Induction and Deduction approach. Induction approach observes a relationship in a single case which will be used to observe in several other cases in order to construct a general theory to cover all the cases. The deduction approach simply uses theory to observe particular observations (Gilbert, 2008). For the purpose of this study and in order to achieve the aims and objectives of this research, the researcher will combine the descriptive and explanatory research strategies, using the inductive approach. This is because a framework or theory will be used to analyse a case study. The descriptive research will further portray the accurate profile of the events or situations in the case study. The researchers choice of descriptive strategy will be the use of Survey and Case study research and Archival research. Survey strategy will be used to collect quantitative data which will be analysed quantitatively using descriptive method. The researcher will also be able to bring out possible reasons for particular relationship between variables. The merits of this method, according to Saunders (2007) are that the researcher will have control over the research process. The samples generated will also be a representation of the whole population. However, the limitation is that this process is time consuming as the analysis is depend ent on the respondents. However, the respondents might be bored with the questions if the questions are much. Yin, (2009) describes a case study as an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are clearly not evident. This, he argues makes a case study distinct from all other researches. Saunders, (2007) emphasized on the importance of case study saying it has the ability to answer the questions on Why, What and How with particular emphasis to What and How. The data collection techniques employed in a case study are usually observation, interviews, documentary analysis and questionnaires. A case study can either be single or multiple case study (Yin, 2009, Saunders, 2007). Single case study provides the research an opportunity to observe and analyse a phenomenon, hence single case study defines the actual case. On the other hand, a multiple case study es tablishes a benchmark, using the findings of a first case to analyse the other cases. In addition, a case study can be holistic or embedded. It is holistic when the research is on a single organization as a whole and it is embedded when a number of sub-units within an organization are used for analysis. A multiple case study will be employed in this research as the research will engage in assessing the actual performance of the operational risk framework of Barclays UKRB against its policy framework. The researcher will issue questionnaire, one to the senior management, the managers, supervisors and the staff. This aim is to analyse how operational risk is viewed at the top and how its implementation at the bottom. This will give an in-depth analysis and draw a single set of cross-case conclusion. Archival research makes use of archival records by using administrative records and documents as the principal source of data (Saunders, 2009). The historical undertone however does not mean its only historical documents, modern documents can also be used. These products are important as they form part of the day to day activities of the organization in order words they are part of reality being studied. Archival research also has its limitations. Some documents are classified confidential documents and as such might not be accessed. Secondly, the available data might not contain the information needed or meet the objectives of the researcher (Saunders, 2009). This research will make use of archival documents sourced from annual reports, independent sources and company websites. This will be used to support the survey, explanatory and descriptive strategies. This will give an in depth knowledge on the activities of the banks, culture and strategy thereby helping the researcher achieve the research objectives. RESEARCH DESIGN To illustrate, before a good building is put in place, there is an initial design by an architect who has a style. A research design deals with the aims, uses, intentions and purposes of research. It also deals with the constraints of location, time, money and availability of staff. Just like an architect, a research design has its own unique style with the researchers preference and ideas (Hakim, 2000). The three approaches to research are Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed method research. Qualitative research explores or understands individuals or group attributed to social or human problem (Creswell, 2009). Woods, (2006) noted that a good qualitative research focus on natural settings, interest in meanings, perspective and understanding, emphasizes on process and uses an inductive analysis and grounded theory. He however lists eight methods of qualitative research as observation, interviews, sampling, written materials, questionnaires, validity, ethics and qualitative research assessed such as documentary analysis, observation and interviews. Qualitative research is also seen as a situated activity which locates the observer in the world (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003). This is usually subjective because the researcher interprets the data based on participant observation, in-depth interviews, observation of data collected etc. One good advantage is that the researcher tends to be in control of the research. Qualitative research technique is also more likely to present better quality results and easily interpretable findings (Pickard, 2007). Ritchie and Lewis (2003) emphasized on the importance of a qualitative research when they stressed that their natural and interpreting approach is attached to the meaning that individuals ascribe to beliefs, actions, values and decisions. Robson (2003) highlights on the richness and fullness of the qualitative research, emphasizing on its ability to restore a subject in as real a manner as possible. Quantitative Research is a means for testing individual theories by examining the relationship among variables which can be measured with instruments, using statistical procedures to measure numbered data (Creswell, 2009). The quantitative method also referred to as being realist or sometimes positivist aims to uncover an existing reality (Muijs, 2004). One good advantage of Quantitative research is its simplicity and lack of ambiguity (Gilbert, 2008). Surveys are the most common type of quantitative method. Mixed Method research combines both the quantitative and qualitative methods. This method is increasingly used for business and management research. It uses the quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures. The mixed method performs the triangulation method by using two or more independent sources of data collection to corroborate research findings .It also uses qualitative methods to explain the relationship between quantitative variables (Saunders, 2009, Creswell , 2009). This research will employ the mixed method research, using questionnaires, written documents, documentary reports and secondary data to support the analysis. Mixed method is highly recommended for case studies as it helps the investigator address a broader range of historical and behavioural issues. The findings are however accurate and convincing (Yin, 2009). However, the limitation of this method according to Yin, (2009) is that it can be overly burdensome and more expensive than the single method. DATA COLLECTION Two methods of data collection to be employed are the Primary and Secondary data collection methods. A questionnaire will be issued to respondents through online software (Qualtrics) who will answer the same kind of questions. This is because it is an efficient way of collecting responses and opinions from a large sample before analysis. It also gives individuals the opportunity to express their honest views anonymously without fear or prejudice. Secondary data will be collected from secondary sources such as annual reports, Barclays bank websites, intranet, independent sources and online sources. This will be used to complement the primary data. DATA ANALYSIS The data collected using from the primary source which is the questionnaire will be analysed using both excel spreadsheet and SPSS which will run descriptive statistic to identify trends and patterns in the data set. Simple relationships using bar charts, histograms, line graphs, and scatter plots will be developed with excel. More in-depth analysis will then be carried out using SPSS which will investigate the relationships between the identified metrics and provide significant values based on the analysis. The choice of SPSS was because of its ability to do statistical analysis in addition to data management (case selection, file reshaping, creating derived data) and data documentation. The descriptive statistical process will be used to confirm the normality of the distribution of the data set. Some of the exploratory analysis will test for normality in the data set. A normally distributed data set will have 68% of the data fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean, 95% of the data will fall within 2 standard deviations of the mean, and almost all (99.7%) of the data will fall within 3 standard deviations of the mean. Correlation analysis will be used to describe the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two metrics and will quantify how much two uncertain quantities vary together and the relationships between them. The qualitative data will however be used to support the quantitative analysis.