Justification for Choice of Research strategies and Methodologies

Justification for Choice of Research strategies and Methodologies
Research strategies and methodologies define the approaches that are used for collecting and
analyzing data in a business research. A research needs to have clear objectives and to
achieve these objectives, it is essential that information collected is correct and accurate.
Also, the data that is collected must be sufficient to be able to analyze. With the selection of
right methodologies for data collection and analysis, the meanings of the data can be better
understood. Every research method has its own strength, weaknesses and most appropriate
applications. When a research needs to be conducted to test an existing theory, a deductive
approach is required but if the researcher is not aware of the prominent patterns of data in the
industry, then one have to use an inductive approach to explore the data for deciphering
patterns (Chilisa & Kawulich, 2011).
The research can use either qualitative methods of research or quantitative research. In
qualitative research, it can use primary research strategy involving interviews with the
potential customers of Earthily Delights to gather data. This data can then be analyzed using
aa qualitative analysis method like thematic analysis. In thematic analysis, the text obtained
from the interviews is analyzed to identify key themes of the research project. These themes
are coded and combined to form a comprehensive list which gives the holistic view of the
research. This method is most appropriate when the researcher is unaware of the categories or
themes that can be directly explored to gather data that can help resolve objectives of the
research. This is an exploratory approach that can help the research in the cases the researcher
is unaware of what is happening in the field of research. With least information already
available on the subject, the researcher can still frame interview questions and gather the data
from the market. Interviews are usually conducted with a limited audience and contain an in-
depth inquiry into the subject with each interview respondent. One drawback of this research
is that it would need personalized attention of the respondent and thus, researcher would have
to dedicate the time for the interview. Also this can be very time consuming. The researcher
should also know the skills of the moderate to be able to gain right and needed responses
from a in interviewee (Hoyos & Barnes, 2012).
Another qualitative research method that can be used is conducting research using the
secondary data from the previous literature. The researcher can collect data from authentic
research sources that have already explored the subject and then analyze the data obtained
through a qualitative method like critical analysis. This research strategy is most appropriate
in the case where the research subject has already been widely explored by other researchers

Justification for Choice of Research strategies and Methodologies
but the topic of the research can still not be resolved because of the lack of unified or
comprehensive views (Bolondi, Branchetti, & Giberti, 2018). The researcher can utilize
critical analysis skills to collectively analyze the data and make necessary interpretations. A
benefit of this research is that the researcher has less dependencies and can easily gather data
which makes the process both easier and faster. However, it also has limitations as the data
that is to be used for the research would be limited and may not be specifically related to the
subject directly. However, this method is very useful in the cases where the data is available
on the subject but is highly unstructured. This unstructured data can be utilized by the
researcher to find out the answers to research questions (Creswell, 2012).
Research can also use quantitative methods of analysis in which a survey can be used as a
method of data collection and a statistical data analysis can then be applied to it to find
answers to research questions. This type of research strategy is most appropriate for the cases
where a theory is already known and a questionnaire can be prepared to test it by involving
respondents in data collection. A benefit of using this approach in a consumer research is that
it enables the researcher to reach out to a wider number of audience to gather data and thus, it
is possible to test theories and assumptions that researcher may form during the research by
investigating the same from the perspective of respondents. The survey is also easier to
administer, less time consuming and more generalizable. For this research strategy, a
statistical tool like SPSS is mostly utilized on which the data obtained is coded and then
analyzed using statistical methods. The data collection happens through a questionnaire that
is designed alongside the research questions so that the responses of the questions can help in
finding answers to the research questions. The questionnaire prepared gives the researcher an
opportunity to make the process more structured and easier for the respondents to follow. A
large number of people can be reached out through surveys and the analysis of results can
then be generalized to a wider business population. This strategy usually involved
identification and proving of a research hypothesis (Williams, 2007).
A quantitative research can also make use of the secondary data available on the subject from
the secondary sources. This method is used when the data needed for the research is readily
available through authentic sources like government websites or have been provided by other
researcher who have studied the similar subject. A drawback of this research approach is that
its interpretation is largely dependent on the limited data that is available. In case the data is
available with another researcher who has conducted a similar research or the subject in the