The rationale and impact of Banques Populaires transformation from a cooperative to a commercial bank

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

III.1 INTRODUCTION

^{This chapter is about the overall approach to the research process, from the rationale underpinning the study to the collection and analysis of the data. The chapter explains how the researcher collected the data, the nature of data, which was collected, where data was collected, and how it was analyzed. It presents the methods and methodological techniques and approaches that applied in data collection, sampling techniques as well as problems encountered in the study.}

III.2 METHODOLOGY

^{Bailey (1978: 26) defined the term methodology as the philosophy of the research process. This includes assumptions and values that serve as rationale for research and the standards the research will use for data collection, interpreting and researching conclusions.}

^{Cohon and Mario (1985) argue that research is best understood as the process of arriving at the dependable solution to problems through systematic collection, analysis, interpretation of data.}

^{It is a paramount tool for promoting knowledge, progress and to enable humans relate more effectively to their environment and accomplish their purposes and solve their problems with reference to the research questions.}

^{It is important to decide on the sources of data that would give most appropriate responses to the questions and which methods and tools most appropriate to collect the relevant data. Therefore, this research used triangulation methodology, which combines qualitative and quantitative.}

^{Quantitative is an approach that believes in quantifying responses in different levels, it uses mathematical conclusions such as mean, percentages, standard deviation etc... to show the degree of correlation of responses from different respondents.}

^{In this research data was analysed through the sample tabulation of the targeted population and percentages was calculated to describe the degree or level of correlation of the results collected from different respondents.}

^{Qualitative approach on the other hand, it may use some mathematical conclusions and analysis, it stresses the human interaction through explanations, descriptions, relationships or reactions and so many other human interactions. In this research, qualitative approach was used to analyse some expressions from respondents such as having been satisfied by BPR becoming a commercial bank.}

III.3 RESEARCH DESIGN

^{This study was carried out in BPR SA from its headquarters, Interviews and questionnaires were used with the intention of accessing the rationale and impact of Banques Populaires transformation from a cooperative to a commercial bank and find out possible recommendations to other financial institutions so that they could achieve efficiency in their operations. It can also be defined as a pre-arranged program for collecting and analyzing the information needed to satisfy the study objectives at the invest cost (Williamson et al., 1987: 39)}

III.4 SOURCES OF DATA

III.4.1 PRIMARY DATA

^{According to Audrey (1989: 57), primary data comes straight from the people a researcher is researching from and is therefore the most direct kind of information a researcher can collect. The primary data is said to be the first hand observation and investigation. In this research, the primary data is composed by information from interviewees.}