Research Onion

Research onion shows the phases that a researcher must cover while developing research strategy. According to the figure of research onion, first, the philosophies of the research should be defined which serve as the starting point of research. After that, the approaches, strategies, choices, time horizons and techniques and procedures are identified step by step. The advantage of research onion is that it provides a series of step to researcher to take while conducting or developing research methodology.

1.      Philosophies: The philosophies of the research provide a set of belief on what basis the research is being conducted. Research philosophies also depend on the objectives of the study being conducted. According to research onion, there are four main research philosophies:

·        Positivism: In positivism philosophy, only the factual information gained via observation is considered. The researcher role is limited to data collection and interpretation and research findings are usually observable and quantifiable. In addition, the researcher personal or any other human interests have no place within the study.

·        Realism: The philosophy of realism is that the researcher and reality are independent and will not create biased results. The only difference is that realism believes that scientific method is not perfect.

·        Interpretivism: Interpretivism involves researchers to interpret elements of the study, thus interpretivism integrates human interest into a study. In this philosophy, it is important for the researcher as a social actor to appreciate differences between people.

·        Pragmatism: Pragmatism believes that the concept that supports action is only relevant. Further, only one way can’t be relevant so there are many ways to interpret things. Research questions are the most important factor in this philosophy.

2.      Approaches

·        Deductive: Deductive means that you start with a statement or question and your research sets out to answer it. In other words, the deductive approach develops the hypothesis based upon pre-existing theory. This approach is suitable when research is about whether the observed action satisfies the result of previous research.

·         Inductive: Inductive is the opposite of deductive as it starts with observation and the end result is the generation of new theory.

3.      Strategies: Research strategies involves plan of future such as how he/she intends to do each and every step in order to accomplish the goal of the research.

·        Experiment: Experimental research refers to the strategy of creating a research process that examines the results of an experiment against the expected results.

·         Survey: In survey, the researcher considering size of population selects sample and sends them standardized questionnaire to collect data and conclude results.

·        Case study: Case study research is the assessment of an object or event in order to draw result from study. Case study is suitable in financial research such as comparing the effect of investment in difference scenario.

·        Action Research: This strategy is concerned with addressing issues to find and implement solutions. The process of Action Research moves from a clear objective to diagnosis of the problem and generation of a list of actions to solve the problem.

·        Grounded theory: Grounded theory is a qualitative methodology that draws on an inductive approach whereby patterns are derived from the data as a precondition for the study.

·        Ethnography: Ethnography involves the close observation of people from their own perspective and aims to understand their customs, habits and mutual differences.

·        Archival research: This strategy centers its data collection on existing data sets or archive documents. This allows for exploratory, explanatory or descriptive analysis of changes tracked over a long period of time. However, the accuracy and breadth of information available may be an issue for a researcher relying solely on this type of secondary data.

4.      Choices

·        Mono method: The mono-method involves using one research approach (qualitative or quantitative methodology) for the study.

·        Mixed methods: The mixed-methods required the use of two or more methods of research, and usually refer to the use of both a qualitative and a quantitative methodology.

·        Multi-method: The multi-method approach is where the research is divided into separate segments, with each producing a specific dataset; each is then analyzed using techniques derived from quantitative or qualitative methodologies

5.      Time horizons: The Time Horizon is the time framework within which the project is intended for completion

·        Cross-sectional: The cross sectional time horizon is one already established, whereby the data must be collected. The data is collected at a certain point. This is used when the investigation is concerned with the study of a particular phenomenon at a specific time.

·        Longitudinal:  A longitudinal time horizon for data collection refers to the collection of data repeatedly over an extended period, and is used where an important factor for the research is examining change over time.

6.      Techniques and procedures: Data collection and analysis is dependent on the strategies and approach used. The process used at this stage of the research contributes significantly to the studies overall reliability and validity. Regardless of the approach used in the project, the type of data collected can be separated into two types: primary and secondary.

·        The Primary Data: Primary data is first-hand sources, or the data derived from the respondents in survey or interview data.

·        Secondary Data: Secondary data is that which is derived from the work or opinions of other researchers.