Research Methods and Materials Overview

Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to detail the methods and materials used in the research. The chapter will consider various layers of the research onion and unpeel them in order to help readers clearly understand the techniques that were adopted for the study. Among the layers that will be discussed are the research philosophy, research approach, research strategy, research choice, time horizon, and research techniques and procedures (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2009). Additionally, data analysis dissertation help will be considered to provide a comprehensive view of how data was interpreted and utilised in the study.

Research Philosophy

Among the research options under this layer are positivism, realism, interpretivism, and pragmatism (Saunders 2009). Of these philosophies, the researcher adopted the interpretivism philosophy. The choice of this philosophy was informed by the need to derive subjective meanings rather than law-like generalization (Sahay 2016). Therefore, the researcher studied a social phenomenon in its natural environment: the researcher mingled with the phenomenon, reflected on it, and interpreted the results to establish its existence in its environment. The researcher adopted an empathetic stance through which he was able to make sense of the world around him. To achieve this, the researcher entered the social world of the research subjects in order to understand the world from their point of view. The findings in this study are therefore informed by the researcher’s understanding of the responses collected.

Research Approach

This is the second layer of the research onion from the outside. The layer is composed of two approaches to research namely inductive research and deductive research (Saunders et al. 2009). In deductive approach, the researcher develops a theory/hypothesis, which is then subjected to rigorous test while in inductive approach, a researcher analyses data in order to develop a theory (Bryman 2016). In this study, the deductive research approach was adopted. The researcher held that ethical human resource practices have a significant effect on working conditions in the Bangladesh ready-made garment sector and data was collected to test this hypothesis.

The deductive research approach was prioritised in this study for it has various important characteristics. First, this approach helps establish the relationship between the study variables (van Wyk 2012). In this study, the researcher sought to establish the relationship between ethical human resource practices and working conditions in Bangladesh RMG sector. After studying the ethical human resource practices in this sector, the researcher was able to establish the relationship between these practices and working conditions. Second, the deductive approach was adopted in this study as it helps in quantitative measurement of facts (De Vaus 2013). In this study, the deductive approach helped the researcher establish what constitutes ethical human resource practices in the Bangladesh RMG sector. Additionally, the deductive approach is associated with the ability to generalise the study results (Ormston et al. 2014, p 53). In this study, the researcher collected data from a large sample that promoted generalizability of the results.

Research Strategy

The research onion outlines various strategies to research including experiment, survey, case study, action research, grounded theory, ethnography, and archival research (Saunders et al. 2009). Of these research strategies, the researcher adopted the survey strategy for this study. According to Fowler (2013), the survey research strategy is always used together with the deductive research approach thus helping the researcher answer various research questions as who, where, what, how much, and how many among others.

The researcher adopted the survey research strategy influenced by its characteristics that deemed significant for this study. First, surveys allow researcher to collect large amount of data from a sizeable population and in an economical way (Mukhopadhyay and Gupta 2014, p 112). The researcher aspired to attain generalizability thus had to collect data from a large population and given the academic purpose of this research, the researcher had to ensure it was conducted in an economical way. This influenced the choice of the survey strategy. According to Bell, Bryman and Harley (2018), the survey strategy often uses a questionnaire to collect data from the study sample: the questionnaire is normally standardised, which allows easy comparison of the results thus saving time. This is another reason the survey researcher design was adopted for the study. On the other hand, Brannen (2017) writes that surveys allow collection of data that can be used to suggest potential reasons for particular relationships between variables. Given the researcher had a hypothesis to test, the survey strategy was beneficial.

Criticising the survey research strategy, Bryman (2006, p 112) states that the researcher must spend a lot of time in ensuring the sample is representative and a good response rate is attained. In this study, obtaining a representative sample was not a problem because the RMG sector employs people with varied demographics. Additionally, this sector has a large number of employees and seeking consent was not a problem. Therefore, the researcher was able to overcome the above limitations in the survey research strategy. On the other hand, Almalki (2016, p 290) criticises the survey research strategy pointing out that it takes a lot of time to analyse the generated responses. To overcome this limitation, the researcher used a semi-structured questionnaire, which helped simplify the process data analysis.

Research Choice

The research onion lists three choices to research including mono method, mixed methods, and multi-methods (Saunders et al. 2009). In this study, the mixed methods research choice was made. In this research choice, the researcher collects both qualitative and quantitative data and analyse the information using corresponding analysis techniques. However, the researcher must be keen to analyse quantitative data using quantitative analysis techniques and qualitative data using qualitative analysis techniques (Halcomb and Hickman 2015). In this study, the researcher collected quantitative data using structured questionnaires and the generated information was analysed using SPSS. Additionally, the researcher conducted interviews, which were aimed at collecting qualitative data. The analysis results were then cross-tabulated.

The mixed-method design was adopted for this study as it is easy to attain triangulation using it. According to Guest (2013, p 146), mixed methods use two or more independent sources of data as well as different data collection methods, which helps the researcher corroborate the research findings. In this study, the researcher used both questionnaire and interviews to collect data, which enhanced triangulation. The mixed methods is also associated with higher quality results as limitation in one method can be overcome using the other method (Creswell 2014): this also influenced the use of this method for this study.

Time Horizon

The research onion outlines two time horizons over which research studies are conducted namely cross sectional and longitudinal horizons (Saunders et al. 2009). A cross-sectional study is conducted at a particular time while a longitudinal study is conducted over time. This research study was undertaken for academic course and therefore time constrained, which underscored the need to use the cross-sectional horizon. According to Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson (2012), the cross-sectional approach may not allow a researcher enough time to collect enough data to test the hypothesis. To overcome this limitation, the researcher used the survey research strategy, which allows a researcher collect large amount of data from a sizeable population over a short time period. A questionnaire was used and the researcher had control over the interviewing process to ensure more essential information was collected within the allocated time for every session.

Research Techniques and Procedures

This is the innermost layer of the research onion and concerned with how data is collected and analysed.

Data Collection

In this study, data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Saunders et al. (2009) identify two types of interviews including self-administered and interviewer-administered questionnaires. In this study, the self-administered questionnaires were adopted. In this approach, the researcher designs the questionnaire and issues it to respondents for completion. The researcher delivered the questionnaire by hand to the respondents and collected them after completion. The questionnaire was structured into two sections with the first section collecting general information and the second section collecting data on respondents’ perception of ethical practices. Questionnaires have been criticised for their failure to collect in depth and detailed information. To overcome this limitation, the researcher also used interviews to obtain more information about the respondents’ perceptions of ethical practices in the RMG sector. The researcher used a structured guide to ensure only relevant information was collected. Each interview session was scheduled to last 30 minutes. Only the 6 management staff were interviewed while the remaining respondents completed the questionnaire.

Study Population

This study targeted population was staff in the Bangladesh RMG sector. The researcher identified three companies in this sector from which study sample was selected. The researcher sought approval from these three companies after which the study sample was selected.

Sampling Technique

Uprichard (2013, p 9) categorises sampling techniques into two including probability and non-probability sampling. The researcher adopted both probability and non-probability sampling techniques. There are various sampling techniques under this category including purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling among others (Saunders et al. 2009). The researcher adopted the purposive sampling technique and it allowed collection of data from the most knowledgeable sources. In this study, data was collected from internal stakeholders including employees, union members, and staff members (personnel in the human resource department) as they were deemed to be more knowledgeable.

After a list of the internal stakeholders was obtained, the researcher used stratified random sampling to determine who should be included in the study. The researcher divided the population into employees, union members, managers, and human resource personnel. From each strata, a desired number of persons was selected.

Sample

A sample refers to a subset of the entire population from which data is collected. In this study, the researcher collected data from a sample of 192 respondents. These included 150 employees (50 from each company), 18 union members (6 from every company), 18 HRM and procurement staff (6 from every company), and 6 management staff (2 from each company).

Data analysis

This study used the mixed methods and therefore data was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Quantitative data obtained from the questionnaires was coded, edited and fed into a Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) for analysis. The results were presented using descriptive statistics in which frequency graphs, and measures of central tendency were used. On the other hand, qualitative data was analysed used thematic analysis. The results of the qualitative and quantitative data were cross-tabulated in order to establish and confirm the effect of ethical human resource practices on working conditions.

Ethical Considerations

According to Walliman (2017), any study that involves the use of humans and animals should uphold ethics to make sure the subjects are not hurt having participated in the research. In this study, several ethical considerations were made. First, the researcher sought approval from the three companies before conducting the study. Second, the researcher sought respondents’ consent before including them in the study. Third, personal information that could lead to tracing back information to the source was not a salient feature in this study. Additionally, the researcher allowed respondents to only respond to questions they were free to participate. Further, the respondents were given the right to withdraw at will. Finally, confidentiality was upheld and the collected data was only used for the purpose it was collected. The information was also coded before analysis to ensure the respondent could not be identified.

Conclusion

The study discusses the approaches adopted for the study. The chapter considers all the layers on the onion research: the interpretivism philosophy, deductive approach, survey strategy, mixed-methods, cross-sectional, and the use of questionnaires and interviews for data collection. The chapter also discusses the data analysis techniques used including descriptive and thematic analysis. Finally, the chapter presents the ethics observed in the study including informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, withdrawal at will, and organisational approval.

References

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