Solution
Qualitative Research
According to Saunders (2011), qualitative research involves the use of non-numeric data or data that have not been quantified and can be a product of all research strategies. This is best explained by Tufford and Newman (2012) study that noted that the effectiveness of the qualitative research is hedged on its efficacy in sourcing culturally specific information regarding values, opinions, behaviours, and social contexts of particular populations. In this case, Saunders (2011) note that the qualitative research can include a short list of responses to open-ended questions using online interview questions to a more complex data such as the transcripts of in-depth interviews or an overall policy documents. Further, to support Saunders (2011) views, O’reilly and Parker (2013) noted that qualitative research is social and scientific research which seeks to answer questions, collecting evidence, producing findings not pre-determined in advance and developing findings that can be adopted beyond the immediate boundaries of the study. Also, the qualitative approach is used in sourcing for an understanding of a particular research issue or topic from the perspectives of the local population involved. Additionally, the qualitative approaches are useful in identifying the intangible factors such as social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicities, and religion. Often, the quantitative approach can be used collaboratively with a qualitative approach for interpreting and having an improved understanding of the reality complexities and quantitative data implications.
Further, according to Saunders (2011), for the different collected qualitative data to make sense, they must be analysed. This is carried out by the use of qualitative data analysis procedures which are effective in allowing the development of theory from the available data. These strategies include the deductive and inductive approaches and similar to a jigsaw construction process, they are ranging from a basic categorisation of responses to processes involved in the identification of relationships between categories.
The significant methods in qualitative research method include the participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus groups (Saunders, 2011). In regard to participant observations, they are used in collecting data in naturally occurring behaviours in their usual contexts. On the other hand, in-depth interviews are optimally used in data collection on people history, perspectives, and experiences. Lastly, focus groups are adopted to source data on issues of cultural norms of a group and broadened overviews of aspects of focus to the cultural groups.
Quantitative Research
According to Saunders (2011), the quantitative research involve the use of data that range from simple counts such as frequency of occurrences to more complex data including the test scores, prices or rental costs. As a best practice, any business and management research being undertaken has a high likelihood of involving numerical data or consisting data that could be usefully quantified for answering the research questions set and meeting expected objectives. In quantitative research, the researcher primarily seeks to explain the phenomena of interest through data that exists in numerical form and can, therefore, be analysed through statistical-based methods. In terms of appropriateness such data is useful in research contexts where the key focus is on providing answers to questions related to how often, how much and how many and who. These types of questions require numerical data to answer (Sachdeva, 2009). One of the aspects that distinguish quantitative research pertains to its focus on attempting to precisely measure the topic under investigation (Creswell & Clark, 2017). It hence offers an elaborate image on the nature of issues being encountered in a specific field of research such as SMEs employees’ performance improvement by focusing on different aspects.
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