Application Draft Qualitative Proposal
Introduction
This paper purposes to propose a draft qualitative proposal for a study into crisis management. The paper will have a selection and justification of one research method. It will then a) describe a survey, b) explain the rationale for the study, c) evaluate data collection methods, d) choose a sample size, e) evaluate some survey instruments, f) evaluate some research variables and then check on the data analysis and its interpretation in a qualitative manner.
This being a qualitative study will be modeled along some previous qualitative studies. For instance, Wooten and James’s study (2008) evaluated the role or the characteristics of human resources on crisis management. The study evaluated issues such as leadership and organizational structure. Some of the issues analyzed qualitatively were communication and public relations as reactive measures to crisis. The article noted other quantitative aspects such as lack of training and experience as contributing factors to organizational crisis. Following in the footsteps of the study by Wooten and James’s study (2008), the study on crisis management shall focus on the loopholes that come about due to the differences in the size of the companies.
The study shall take note that the crisis issues that rocked many companies in the US in early 2000 had an effect on small as well as large companies. It shall look at the human resource issues as highlighted by Wooten and James’s study (2008).
The first way of researching for the qualitative aspects of the issues at hand shall be work-based investigation of the modern workplace in order to establish an overview of underlying issues (Lester, 2010). In addition, a review of post-doctoral studies as suggested by Boud and Tennant (2006) shall exposes some qualitative issues in crisis management among differently sized companies. The post-doctoral studies and reviews shall provide a theoretical background and situational analysis of the current study.
The third method of studying the quantitative issues in crisis management shall be one-on-one interviews with managers and employees in different companies. The respondents shall be required to explain in details the issues such as workplace facilities, the human resource management as well as other areas that breed crisis in companies. The establishment of these issues forms bedrock for the formulation of standards for effective crisis management.
The hypothesis shall be - The suitability of a crisis management plan relies on establishing a proper scope, the traits of a potential crisis and countering that with relevant resources.
The questions to respond to this hypothesis are-
- What is the scope of the crisis that different companies envisage?
- What are the traits or characteristics that companies consider signaling a crisis in their industry?
- What is the nature of resources that the companies put in place to counter the potential signals to a crisis?
These questions shall be posed to the respondents in a one-on-one interview. According to Jonson and Johnson (2010), the following are some of the benefits of such as feedback mechanism-
- There is a minimal chance that the respondent will misunderstand the question
- It allows the researchers to confirm the accuracy of data, dates among other issues
- Reduces the chances of respondents claiming that the researcher misunderstood their responses
- It also allows the respondents to shape the summary and conclusions
The research design shall also take into consideration the following issues:-
- Ensuring that all the respondents understand the purpose of the study
- Ensuring transparent recruitment of respondents/participants
- Ensuring the use of proper data collection tools
- Ensuring the confidentiality with the respondents
- Checking and addressing conflicts of interest
- Ensuring that respondents have a right to informed consent and withdrawal from the research
- Avoiding biases and discrimination during the research
- Minimizing the risk posed to respondents
Rationale for the Research design
Creswell (2007) notes that qualitative studies have a number of benefits to researchers. First and most importantly, stakeholders (managers) get the opportunity to voice out their concerns in crisis management. Since crisis management has a lot to do with human experiences qualitative study becomes the best way for obtaining vies, experiences, training needs and strategies to handle a crisis in different organizations. The king of a qualitative study envisaged for this study is in line with the social constructivism view where individuals can construct and give meaning to their real life experiences.
The hypotheses can be tested on limited ways since it responds to qualitative aspects that are subjective. Upon the establishment of some criteria to evaluate the responses, the data gathered can be analyzed in a subjective manner. The methods used shall be participatory knowledge claims, open-ended interviewing, and narrative design. The researcher aims to create patterns out of the responses obtained and use those patterns to classify the organization as having effective or ineffective crisis management plans.
The target population for the study is 10 senior managers from different companies (five big-companies that have more than 250 employees and five managers from small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs) companies with less than 250 employees).
Going by Creswell’s (2007) view the use of open-ended questions in a one-on-one interview portends to offer the best platform for people to respond to the research questions raised earlier on crisis management. When the information gathered from the interviews and the observations is combined with that gathered from literature reviews and post-doctoral studies shall be substantive adequate. These data collection means are complementary to each other, and they improve the quality of the data obtained.
The quality of the data obtained shall be ensured by obtaining the relevant approvals from different managements and authorities prior to commencing the study. When dealing with approved authorities and respondents, one stands to gather more credible and truthful data. The use of the one-on-one interviews also offers a platform for gathering credible data. Observations can also serve to ensure credibility of the data obtained. In addition, recruiting only the willing respondents ensures that the research gathers credible data.
The researcher can use phenomenological research whereby a researcher identifies the importance of human experiences about a given phenomenon that is described by participants in the study (Creswell, 2007). The narration of diverse experiences by managers on crisis management can serve as a crucial and credible way of investigating the issue. The data obtained is treated in a subjective manner with the availability of crisis management teams serving as an independent variable and the management issues themselves being the dependent variables. Correlations shall be drawn between the presence of crisis management teams and the nature of the crisis.
The target audience for the study shall include company managers, business owners, business executives, and business students. Each of the groups has a direct or indirect interest in the study in order to minimize the effect of losses during a crisis. The results of the study increase awareness and offer insights to the development of standards of crisis management by large companies as well as SMEs.
Conclusion
The paper has presented a draft proposal including the research method for a qualitative study. The most appropriate method would be one-on-one interviews with the selected respondents. Ten managers-five from large, and five from SMEs would be adequate to address the issue. The Observations and literature reviews especially post-doctoral studies on crisis management can serve as proper backup methods of data collection for the qualitative study. In addition, the data ought to be treated and analyzed subjectively since it presents qualitative information. In addition, the essay presented the business executives, business students, and analysts as the main targets of the study. The validity of the research was ascertained to as obtaining relevant approvals, use of interviews, sourcing credible literature and proper structuring of open-ended questions that allow free expression. The other issue addressed includes the ethics of research and the handling of the research. As such, the study successfully selected and justified the rationale for a qualitative research design that can investigate crisis management in differently sized companies.
References
Boud, D., & Tennant, M. (2006). Putting doctoral education to work: Challenges to academic practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 25(3), 293–306. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach (Laureate Education, Inc., custom Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Johnson and Johnson. (2010). Phenomenology and participant Feedback: Convention or contention. Nurse Researcher, 17(2), 25-33. Retrieved from Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Lester, S. (2004). Conceptualizing the practitioner doctorate. Studies in Higher Education, 29(6), 757–770. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Wooten, L. P. & James, E. H. (2008) Linking Crisis Management and Leadership Competencies: The Role of Human Resource Development. Advances in Developing Human Resources. Sage Publications.
