Report R5.3 Qualitative Challenges of a Quantitative Thesis Seminar Leader: S. S. Ganesh, XIMB ssganesh[at]ximb.ac.in The seminar was based on the seminar leader’s experience as a doctoral researcher. It focused on the doctoral research process and the difficulties encountered at various stages, from choosing a topic for research to the final defence before the examination committee. The seminar revolved around the researcher’s journey through these stages: (a) Identification of Domain/Topic: Reviewing the research literature facilitates the identification of a topic. Of course, the topic should interest both the researcher as well as the research guide. An assessment needs to be made as to the amount of work involved and whether it can be accomplished within the timeframe. Usually, one goes through a process of narrowing down the focus to make the topic precise and researchable. (b) Research Design: This requires the identification of a research perspective, which would guide the researcher’s engagement with the chosen domain/topic. Any research perspective presents a set of methodological notions and standards associated with it. For example, a particular research perspective provides notions such as population, sample, measurement, hypothesis, and so forth. It sets out standards such as representativeness, validity, reliability, and so forth. Following the relevant notions and standards, one spells out a design for the overall research process such that following the process would ensure that sufficient conditions are created for knowledge generation. (c) Data Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation: This stage involves an implementation of the research design within the practical setting of the chosen domain/topic. As it often turns out, no matter how specific and how detailed the research design, the practical setting always throws up surprises to which the research process and the researcher must adapt. (d) Documentation or Thesis Writing: Documenting the process, results, and interpretations requires several skills. Usually one goes through a process of writing and rewriting the thesis document several times before reaching a final version. (e) Defence: This is the final stage in a doctoral research project. The researcher is expected to defend the thesis and answer any queries or objections raised by the examination committee. The session leader’s choice of his doctoral research topic was influenced by the context of his employment as an Academic Associate. His performance review was coming up and the continuation of the contract depended on the results of the review. By that time, he was familiar with the literature in human resource management, which suggested that, despite the intended purpose of employee development, performance appraisal systems can be used as yet another mechanism for managerial control. In his personal situation, he realised that the continuation of his employment contract (as an academic associate at IIM, Ahmedabad) depends on his performance review in which progress in his doctoral work was an important element. This triggered in him the interest to study performance management as a topic, especially from the viewpoint of the appraisee, i.e., one whose performance is being appraised. The research focused on the following questions: What happens to the persons whose performance is being appraised? Do they experience alienation? A review of the literature revealed multiple dimensions of alienation, namely powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, and self-estrangement. Similarly, the literature also revealed multiple dimensions of performance appraisal systems, namely design, process, sources, formats, and outcome. On one hand, the research guide was appreciative of the topic since performance appraisal and employee alienation constitute two different disciplines (human resource management and sociology). On the other hand, the guide was also apprehensive about the ability of the researcher to examine the sociological concept of alienation from the functional human resource management perspective. However, the research scholar’s persistence and conviction in the topic won his guide’s approval. Reaching this decisive stage took nearly two years. Each dimension of performance appraisal system and alienation needed to be operationalised through a number of variables. However, the more the number of variables, the more complicated the research design becomes. Therefore, as is common in such studies, a pilot study was conducted, followed by exploratory factor analysis. This reduced the number of variables. One methodological issue in this study was the possibility of common method bias. This bias can occur when the data-collection instruments affect the scores or measures being gathered. Under its influence, some correspondence between the independent and dependent variables can arise due to the fact that both are being provided by the same respondent. Quoting from the literature on research methods in behavioural science: “. . . some sources of common method biases result from the fact that the predictor and criterion variables are obtained from the same source or rater, whereas others are produced by the measurement items themselves, the context of the items within the measurement instrument, and/or the context in which the measures are obtained.” (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003, p. 881) This issue was addressed by selecting the technique of snowball sampling to find potential respondents and thereby reducing the probability of common method/source bias. In snowball sampling, one respondent suggests names of other respondents who in turn suggest names of still other respondents and so on. It is a useful method for getting respondents from a hard-to-reach population. Some researchers tend to focus too much on data analysis and pay less attention to the interpretation of results. One needs to allocate time judiciously to the various stages of the research process. The session leader emphasised the need to ensure that the thesis should defend itself. It should contain answers to questions which can be anticipated beforehand. References Ganesh, S. S. (2007). An exploratory study of executive alienation and their experiential perceptions of performance review systems in organizations. Doctoral dissertation, Dharamsinh Desai University, Nadiad, India. Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903. Retrieved August 3, 2007, from http://www.usq.edu.au/users/patrick/PAPERS/Common%20Method%20Variance.pdf
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