Identification, description, and history of development of instruments to be used in data collection
Research design is the process of choosing between diverse methods necessary for gathering data and analysis (Leavy 2017). It implies that it chooses whether a qualitative or quantitative research design is suitable for the study. On the contrary, Almalki (2016) has defined research design as the strategy that includes detailed description of the methods and steps used for gathering information and examining it for addressing the objective of the research. This research will choose a mixed method research design which implies that both quantitative and qualitative research methods will be used in this investigation.
This research will use the explanatory research design as it facilitate in developing a highly structured research where causal relationship, behavioural description and predictive models can be developed (Alavi et al. 2018). However, the current research will use a sequential explanatory research design where a sequence will be used for gathering data and examining it. Initially, quantitative data will be collected and examined to generate relevant results and then qualitative evaluation will be performed to prove and validate the results from the quantitative investigation.
Research philosophy includes the assumptions, beliefs and values necessary for gaining knowledge in the research. The philosophical stance in the research determines the assumptions made in every phase of the study while gathering and evaluating the data. This research has chosen pragmatism as the philosophical position for the current study. Pragmatism provides flexibility to the research design by solely focusing on the research questions for developing effective methods for information gathering and inquiry (Da Veiga 2016). It implies that research methods are chosen based on each research question as different approaches may be required to address different questions in the research. Pragmatism suggests that multiple realities exist and there are different ways of interpreting a single problem as long as valid justifications and actions can be provided for the theory (Gog 2015). It will helps in moving from the continuum away from general stances of positivism and interpretivism. Pragmatism will help in choosing methods suitable for addressing each of the research questions. It implies that all the research questions can be streamlined effectively in this research.
In case of the approach, the research will choose an approach that matches up to the chosen research philosophy. As pragmatism has been chosen as the research philosophy, the research can choose both inductive and deductive for the research but the deductive approach is more suitable for the current research. The deductive approach uses a logical approach for collecting data and evaluating it using quantitative and qualitative methods (Da Veiga 2016). The deductive approach will facilitate in testing the hypothesis and validating the theories discussed in critical analysis of the past literary sources. It will also facilitate in performing content analysis of the data collected by identifying the patterns within the in depth answers.
Explanation of, and justification for, the suitability of the data collection instrument(s)
In this these two research instruments will be used for gathering information and evaluating it. Research instrument consists of the tools used to gather data in the current research. The first research instrument to be used in the research is the survey questionnaire which is used for quantification of data and is used to collect data from large sample size of respondents (Catlett et al. 2017). The survey instrument will include 15 questions in the research and this questions will be close ended questions. Close ended consists of questions which have bounded answers and the respondents have to choose among the available options. This implies that it requires less though as the available options help the respondents in choosing the perfect option suitable to their opinion. The close ended questions are used in stances where the respondents lack technical knowledge on the research so the questions are developed using simple languages which facilitates them in answering these questions (Rozendaal, Opree and Buijzen 2016). However, it is not necessary to include only close ended questions within the survey questionnaire and it may include mixed questions to gather both in-depth answers and quantitative data from the survey.
The survey questionnaire will consist of questions divided into various where one sections includes the demography of the research participants and the remaining question addresses the independent and dependent variable in the research. The demographic questions will include factors such as gender, age, occupation, income, education and tenure (Rozendaal, Opree and Buijzen 2016). These factors are critical in understanding the mediating impact of these variables on the independent and the dependent variable. It implies that there are instance where the behaviour of the respondents vary based on their education level, income, gender and income. These nuances can provide better understanding the demography of the overall population in the research. Similarly, the other questions will facilitate in establishing the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. However, the survey questionnaire will make sure that the questions are kept simple so that all the respondents can understand the questions (Svanholm, Vogel and Grässer, Trimble 2015). There are words that may have multiple meanings so use of clear wording is necessary in the research. Moreover, the ranking options will be limited to 5 so limit the abundance in the research. The questionnaire will consist of multiple options for facilitating selection of appropriate answers. Each question will also focus on one point or subject at a time which provides clarity on the subject to be followed while answering the questionnaire. It will also provide options to questions which may not be applicable to all the respondents.
Explanation of how the instrument(s) will be validated, including reference to specific statistical and/or other analyses
The survey questions are developed using the four scales of measurement. This scales of measurement has four properties to them and they are identity, magnitude, equal intervals and a minimum value of zero. The scales are divided based on the properties of each scale. The nominal scale can only satisfy the identity property so it consist of questions such gender. Similarly, the ordinal scale as two properties identity and magnitude and uses ranking scale in their questions (Hoben et al. 2016). On the contrary, the interval scale has three properties identity, magnitude and equal intervals which means that the questions such as age income group can be used for interval scales. The last measurement scale is the ratio scale which includes all the four properties which can be used for developing a Likert scale. The research will use Likert scale where the questions will have options to rank statements from strongly agree to strongly disagree. These questions can be evaluated using scale measurements to understand and evaluate the relationship between each of the variables.
In case of the qualitative analysis, the research will choose an interview questionnaire which can be semi structured, unstructured and structured. However, semi structured interviews are preferred as the order of the questions can be changed while performing the research. The semi structured interviews does not have any formalised way of developing questions and open ended questions are asked to allow discussion between the interviewer and the interviewee. This means that strict format is not followed (Harvey 2015). However, this does not imply that a questionnaire is not developed while performing a semi structured interview but it is not necessary to ask all the questions prepared for the interview. It is essential to analyse the purpose of the interviews and answer that are being pursued in the investigation. It is essential to start with a question that will help go deep into the topic straightaway and the following questions will be dependent on the responses made by each of the interviewees. The questions will definitely vary as different interviews are expected to have diverse opinion on the research.
The survey questionnaire and the interview questionnaire are suitable instruments for the current research as it helps in addressing the objective of the given research. The survey questionnaire will facilitate in measuring the causal relationship between two variables and the interview questionnaire will facilitate in examining the patterns within the data collected to validate the results from the quantitative analysis. The survey questionnaire is a necessity for performing the quantitative data analysis and using statistical methods for analysis. Similarly, the interview questionnaire is necessary for performing the content analysis where in depth broad data is required for coding and examination.
Research design: mixed method research with explanatory research design
The current study will use primary data collection for gathering information and evaluating it. The primary data collection will use collect both quantitative and qualitative data from the survey and the interview. The instruments have been discussed elaborately in the previous section and this part will discuss the analysis method for the different data collection method. Data analysis method will consist of using statistical tool and techniques where SPSS and MS Excel will be used. MS excel will be used for gathering and programming the quantitative data (Palinkas et al. 2015). This data will be transposed into the SPSS software for further analysis. Initially, descriptive statistics will be calculated to check the mode, median, mean, variance and standard deviation of the data collected. Frequency distribution will be used to check the frequency of responses in each question which will be denoted by graphs and tables. These responses will be analysed to provide significant results in the research. Pearson’s correlation method will be used to analyse the association among the elements chosen for the research. This method is used for measuring parametric correlation between variables. On the other hand, the research will use regression analysis to develop a predictive model which will help in performing trend analysis in the research.
Similarly, in case of the qualitative content analysis, coding will be used. Coding process will be divided into three phases which will include open coding, axial coding and selective coding. Open coding is the process of developing codes from the content by evaluating the pattern within the data (Palinkas et al. 2015). Axial coding will develop links between the codes by implementing existing theories in the research. On the other hand, selective coding will be used to formulate the themes in the study which will critically explain the results by linking with the objectives.
Reliability and validity are critical factors for understanding the reproducibility of the chosen methods and instruments in the research. In order to evaluate the reliability and validity of the methods, it is essential to perform pretesting and pilot study. Pretesting is performed with 5-10 respondents for both survey and the interview questionnaire. In this process of pretesting, the respondents are asked to complete the survey and the interview effectively to understand the drawbacks within the questionnaire so that considerable changes can be made (Heale and Twycross 2015). The next step is performing the pilot study where the data will be collected from 30-50 respondents to collect a significant amount to identify the issue with the questionnaire. The data collected are inputted into the database and analysed to check whether the questionnaire is able to gather relevant data and perform significant analysis or not. The final improvements to the questionnaire are made based on the issues identified in the pilot study so that the final questionnaire has high level of reproducibility.
Research philosophy: pragmatism
The research will also use statistical methods to check the adequacy of the sampling methods and reliability of the instruments. Cronbach’s alpha test is used to test the reliability of the instruments where the data collected will be checked for scale reliability and internal consistency. The items in the questionnaire will be evaluated to examine whether these items are relevant to the research (Kooiman et al. 2015). The value of internal consistency, alpha should be greater than 0.7 and if any of the items are less than 0.7 has to be omitted from the survey. Similarly, Bartlett test of sphericity and Kaiser Meyer Olkin test of Sampling adequacy will be used to check the validity of the instruments where Bartlett test measures the degree of variance between the data collection and the KMO statistics measures the appropriateness of the sampling technique. This facilitates in identifying whether factor analysis can be performed to reduce the items as the items are related to each other. Factor analysis is an effective way of reducing the complexity and the overall cost of the research. These methods are crucial in identifying the reproducibility and replicability of the methods and instruments used in the current study.
References
Alavi, M., Archibald, M., McMaster, R., Lopez, V. and Cleary, M., 2018. Aligning theory and methodology in mixed methods research: before design theoretical placement. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 21(5), pp.527-540.
Almalki, S., 2016. Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data in Mixed Methods Research–Challenges and Benefits. Journal of Education and Learning, 5(3), pp.288-296.
Catlett, C.E., Beckman, P.H., Sankaran, R. and Galvin, K.K., 2017, April. Array of things: a scientific research instrument in the public way: platform design and early lessons learned. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Science of Smart City Operations and Platforms Engineering (pp. 26-33). ACM.
Da Veiga, A., 2016, July. A cybersecurity culture research philosophy and approach to develop a valid and reliable measuring instrument. In 2016 SAI Computing Conference (SAI) (pp. 1006-1015). IEEE.
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Heale, R. and Twycross, A., 2015. Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence-based nursing, 18(3), pp.66-67.
Hoben, M., Estabrooks, C.A., Squires, J.E. and Behrens, J., 2016. Factor structure, reliability and measurement invariance of the Alberta context tool and the conceptual research utilization scale, for german residential long term care. Frontiers in psychology, 7, p.1339.
Kooiman, T.J., Dontje, M.L., Sprenger, S.R., Krijnen, W.P., van der Schans, C.P. and de Groot, M., 2015. Reliability and validity of ten consumer activity trackers. BMC sports science, medicine and rehabilitation, 7(1), p.24.
Leavy, P., 2017. Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Publications.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. and Hoagwood, K., 2015. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and policy in mental health and mental health services research, 42(5), pp.533-544.
Rozendaal, E., Opree, S.J. and Buijzen, M., 2016. Development and validation of a survey instrument to measure children’s advertising literacy. Media Psychology, 19(1), pp.72-100.
Svanholm, S., Vogel, M. and Grässer, C., Trimble AB, 2015. Determining coordinates of a target in relation to a survey instrument having at least two cameras. U.S. Patent 9,189,858.
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