The impact that a diverse and inclusive workforce has on Trucking companies organizational productivity

Task 3: The Nature of the Study

This is a narrative assignment using the appropriate template and headings. See the Document Contents section of this guide for additional guidance.

Your submission will include the following: Please make sure to have subheadings for each.

The body of the document will include:

Introductory Paragraph
Discussion Research Paradigms – Discuss all primary research paradigms and identify what the Researcher’s Paradigm is and why.
Discussion of Design
Discuss Fixed, Flexible, and Mixed Methods Designs and what types of research each is best suited to study.
Discuss the appropriateness of Flexible Designs for this research project and why the others were not the best choice.
Discussion of Method
Discuss Narrative, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, and Case Study Methods and what types of research each are best suited to study.
Discussion of the appropriateness of Single Case for this research project and why the others were not the best choice.
Discussion of Triangulation
Discuss qualitative methods that will be used for triangulation.
Summary

PLEASE USE THE BELOW SECTIONS TO HELP WITH THE ABOVE TASK.

Research Paradigms

A research paradigm is essentially a worldview that a researcher brings to their study. It represents the researcher’s view of reality or truth. While there is ongoing discussion regarding which paradigms exist in the modern research community, it is useful to focus on Positivism, Post- Positivism, Constructivism, and Pragmatism for applied business research. You should conduct research on this topic to understand what your research paradigm is as it will shape how you approach your problem. It is also important to note that while some paradigms lend themselves better to certain methodologies, the choice of methodology does not change the paradigm. This is part of who you are and how you view the world. For this course and your research project, you will identify which of the following best describes your view of the world and reality, you should also be able to describe why that is the case:

Positivism – Single objective reality that we seek to discover.

Post-Positivism – Single objective reality that we seek to discover with the understanding that we never will fully understand it.
Constructivism – Reality is determined by the individual and the researcher seeks to understand that view of reality.
Pragmatism – Focus on the ‘problem’ rather than the view of reality, using any tools available to understand the problem.

Design and Method

The methodology is how the researcher will study the problem at a very high level, all research will be conducted using one of the following research approaches. The researcher will need to be able to explain the application and benefits of each type of research:

Fixed Design using Quantitative Methods
Flexible Design using Qualitative Methods
Mixed Methods Design using Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Fixed Designs are fully defined (fixed) as part of the research proposal and following the proposal, the researcher executes the research and analysis using quantitative tools as described in the research proposal. Flexible designs on the other hand are defined in a general sense as part of the research proposal and following the proposal, the researcher is free to adjust (flexible) the research as is necessary using qualitative tools as described. Mixed Methods Designs as the name implies, use a combination of both in relatively equal amounts. This should not be confused with a Flexible Design that might use a small number of quantitative methods to provide for triangulation of the data found through the primary qualitative methods, such as the use of descriptive statistics to show demographics or other relevant numerical data. The choice of research approach is guided by the research problem, purpose, and research questions.

Within each research approach, there are specific methods (the research tool) that can be employed. The table below lists the most common methods employed in the three research types of research designs. Once selected, the method becomes the methodology or specific ‘research design’ for the study.

Fixed Design Methods
Experimental
Quasi-experimental
Nonexperimental
Descriptive
Correlational
Causal-Comparative Flexible Design Methods
Narrative
Phenomenology
Grounded Theory
Case Study
Single Case Study
Multiple Case Study
Ethnography Mixed Methods Design Methods
Convergent parallel
Explanatory Sequential
Exploratory Sequential Transformative
Common methods for fixed, flexible, and mixed research designs.

An effective way to begin the discussion of methodology is to start with the sentence: “This study will be conducted with a XXXXX design using XXXXX method(s) specifically, a XXXXX design will be used”.

The DRP will exclusively use a Single Case Study which means that the discussion of methodology will begin with:

This study will be conducted with a flexible design using qualitative methods specifically, a single case study design will be used.