3.3.2 Research Strategy
The research strategy is concerned with data collection and its
analysis (Saunders et al., 2007). The choice of research strategy is guided by
the research question, the objective (s) of the research and the amount of
resources available. The most commonly used research strategies are:
experiments, surveys, case studies, action research, grounded theory,
ethnography and archival research.
Experiments are a form of research strategy that aims to
establish causal links between variables and are widely used in exploratory and
explanatory research to answer used to answer `how', `why' questions and
typically involve an hypothesis that has to be tested and a sample of
individuals from a known population (Saunders et al., 2007).
Surveys are a research strategy commonly used in business and
management research and associated with the deductive approach that involve the
collection of quantitative data following a pre-established strategy giving
more the researcher more control over the overall research process (Saunders et
al., 2007).
Case studies are a research strategy associated with an empirical
investigation of a phenomenon in its real life context using multiple sources
of evidence to answer why, what and how questions and are commonly used in
explanatory and exploratory research (Saunders et al., 2007). The case study
strategy can be single case, multiple cases, holistic case and embedded case.
Single case studies represent an extreme or unique case and are used
to provide an opportunity to analyse a phenomenon that has not been considered
before. The Multiple case studies strategy is used to establish
whether or not the findings of the first case occur in other cases (Saunders et
al., 2007). Holistic case studies focus on a single phenomenon as a
whole while embedded case studies focus on units within a single phenomenon.
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Action research is a research strategy which puts emphasis on the
purpose of the research, the involvement of practitioners in the research, the
iterative process of diagnosing, planning, taking action, evaluating and the
implication of the research beyond the project's boundaries (Saunders et al.,
2007).
The Grounded theory strategy is associated with both the
inductive and deductive approach and is used to explore different issues in
business and management with data collection starting without the formation of
an initial theoretical framework making it possible for a researcher to
discover or build a theory or theories through the analysis of data (Saunders
et al., 2007).
Ethnography is a research strategy used to describe and explain
the social world and it is rooted in the inductive approach (Saunders et al.,
2007).
Archival research involves making use of records and documents as
the primary data source (Saunders et al., 2007). The archival research strategy
allows the research to study changes over time by focusing on the past.
This dissertation uses the multiple case study research strategy
to understand how programmes and projects are selected and managed in
International Development Organisations. Fifteen international development
organisations were identified for this research and five out of these fifteen
organisations were analysed. These five organisations were selected because
they give a good representation of the sectors in which International
Development Organisation are involved, mainly: education, poverty alleviation,
health, water and sanitation, child protection, women empowerment and children
rights. Through the use of this approach, it was discovered that no universal
framework was used by the five selected organisations but that instead they all
use different tailor made frameworks. These frameworks are different in terms
of process and the organisational structures that support them but are similar
in that they help these organisations implement cost-effective programmes and
projects. The data collection technique chosen for this research is documentary
through the analysis of annual reports and strategic documents to capture the
strategic objectives and goals of the different International development
organisations and how these organisations implement their strategies through
programmes and projects. The documents that will be analysed will consist of
year end activities reports. The documentary analysis allowed me to understand
how the
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frameworks developed by these five organisations are different in
terms of operations and organisational structure and how they are aligned to
their strategic objectives. Getting this understanding helped me develop my own
framework using some of the key components of the five frameworks analysed.
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