Field of Business Research Social Justice

Question: Discuss about the Field of Business Research for Social Justice. Answer: In the field of research, both qualitative and quantitative researches play a critical role in the life of the researcher. Qualitative research is an in-depth study of unearthing objectivity, transparency, and methods of into a problem. Qualitative research addresses the contextual richness of a topic, which enables the researcher to examine the lives of a many people and how the individuals can cope with them. Qualitative research is used in many forms of academic and professional fields, as many students and scholars employ it as part of their thesis research. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used with a researcher in an aim to discover a certain research topic. Some of the interesting topics that scholars subject to qualitative research include social justice, feminist research, black studies and disability theories. Such issues represent the contemporary and intense interest in the different cultural and social similarities and differences, and how the issues resonate in the social and political scenes in the real world (Yin,2015). Qualitative research is distinctive due to its broad coverage, and as such, relevant to different academic and professional disciplines, for example, qualitative research may be likened to psychological research, educational research or social research. Additionally, qualitative research has a range of variants or special type. However, there is no formal typology or inventory of the variants. Among the variants include case study, ethnography, critical theory, and oral history among other variants (Yin, 2015). Qualitative research may incorporate the help from other individuals in obtaining facts and details, and as such, it is ethical that the people participating in qualitative research must voluntarily agree to participate without psychological or physical pressure, coercion or manipulation. Qualitative researchers also have to provide potential participants with accurate information on the reason for the study. Individuals agreement to participate should be based on the consent to give open, complete and correct information. Participants should also be informed of the allowance to exit from the research at whenever they wish (Brennen, 2012). Among the tools for a qualitative research is an interview. The in-depth interview helps one understand what other people experience and how they interpret the interpretation of the encounter. Interviews enable one to get precise information besides the underlying assumptions and find worthiness in a story (Siedman, 2013). Among the distinguishing features of qualitative study include; studying the interpretation of the way of life of people, attending and accounting to the real-world contextual conditions and also representing the beliefs and stance of the persons in the study. Additionally, qualitative study acknowledges the importance of numerous sources of evidence rather than depending solely on a single source (Yin, 2015). Procedurally, one can conduct a qualitative by use of flexible research design, collecting data, recording the data, analyzing the data, and finally analyzing the data (Brennen, 2013). While qualitative research focuses on bringing out the meaning and understanding, quantitative research aims at simplifying information by expressing it in numerical symbols and focus attention on proportions and quota of the attributes that events or people display which the researcher analyzes (Thomas, 2003). Examples of quantitative research include telephone survey, experiments, correlational studies and quantitative content analysis. The most noticeable aspect of quantitative research is the use of statistical summaries in forms of pie charts, tables, graphs, and histograms among other data presentational methods. Quantitative research is mainly used when one begins a research with a theory and tests for the confirmation or disconfirmation of the hypothesis. Quantitative research and qualitative research have correspondence and differences. However, they are more alike than different in that they both define approaches, research questions methods, and procedures and develop an analysis of data (Taylor, 2005). The two research methods are thorough in their procedure and also require the highest ethical criterion concerning the consideration of people in the research (Mathie Camozzi, 2005). Qualitative scholars may use a quantitative technique to test a thesis, while quantitative scholars may be interested in the subjects explanation of their incident, which is more associated with qualitative research (Mathie Camozzi, 2005). However, one can notice that the two research methods have some slight differences thus some people may find it difficult to rule out one for the other. For instance, quantitative techniques are more objective and dependable and can be used to group large population while qualitative techniques are subjective and result to rich, valid and detailed information. Additionally, qualitative strategies mainly cover personality elements such as feelings, emotions, and attitudes while quantitative methods lack such features (Taylor, 2003). Another notable difference is that qualitative research is particular to the subject group and replication is near to impossible while in quantitative research, the study is standardized which enables for replication of subject across different sites. Additionally, the subjects in qualitative research are selected to fit the purpose of the study, while the subjects in a quantitative analysis are selected randomly (Mathie and Camizzo, 2005). Moreover, in qualitative analysis produces data in the form of words. Unprocessed qualitative data may include the researchers transcripts, notes or audiotapes. On the other hand, primary data in quantitative research are numbers or fixed response that can be calculated (Mathie Camizzo, 2005). Qualitative research has some strength. A qualitative research brings humanness back into research. Furthermore, a qualitative research helps a story to gain power and command, especially to the people reading it. Moreover, the ability of qualitative research to explain difficult information in clear terms and breakdown information in understandable capacity is somehow questionable (Nayar Stanley, 2014). However, on the quantitative research also has some significant weaknesses. Qualitative data is difficult to group and may incur high costs, in addition to wasting time in the process (Nayar Stanley, 2014). The strength of a quantitative research lie in the accuracy of the information, for instance, experimental research can be used to establish the cause-and-effect relationship. Additionally, the use of random subjects, such as a survey, makes it easier to generalize information about a population. A major weakness of quantitative research is that some calculations and numerical explanations may be difficult to interpret and understand. Furthermore, quantitative research since numerical calculations cannot be twisted lest they alter the final result of the research, which renders the research ineffective. The above essay concludes that qualitative study seeks to delve deep so to unravel more information about a subject, more than quantitative research which relies on numbers and statistics. Therefore, it is advisable that one use either of the research methods while conducting research, bearing in mind the tastes and preferences of the researcher and the research topic. References Brennen, B. (2013). Qualitative Research Methods for Media Studies. New York: Routledge. Johnson, B., Christensen, L. B. (2010). Educational Research: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Mathie, A., Camozzi, A. (2005). Qualitative Research for Tobacco Control: An introductory how-to manual for researchers and development practitioners. Ottawa: Research for International Tobacco Control. Nayar, S., Stanley, M. (2014). Qualitative Research Methodologies for occupational science and therapy. New York: Routledge. Seidman, I. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York: Teachers College Press. Taylor, G. R. (2005). Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in research. Lanham MD: University Press of America. Thomas, R. M. (2003). Blending qualitative quantitative research methods in theses and dissertations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Yin, R. K. (2015). Qualitative research from start to finish. New York: Guilford Press.