Qualitative Data Collection For International Business Research Essay.

Research Problem

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Data collection is the most vital part of a research project as it is through the data collection that a researcher reaches the proper outcome of the project. When the researcher is considering carrying out a project regarding international business, the qualitative data collection becomes even more important. It is up to the researcher to decide how to collect the data after the person is done with choosing the participants. As qualitative data collection hugely depends on another person or group of people, it is important that the research handles the participants and keep certain things in mind that will helps the researcher to get a proper outcome of the project (Ryan, & Bernard, 2003). The essay will focus on the importance of the qualitative data collection while researching on international business and the factors are essential to keep in mind while collecting the qualitative data. Moreover, it is important that the researcher restate the research statement, the research questions and the purpose of the researcher project before colleting the qualitative data for international business.

When an organization ventures in an international market, it faces a lot of issues while managing the human resource as well as in the marketing perspective. The research will mainly focus on the problems faced by the marketing team while venturing in an international destination and doing an international business.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the problems and issues that the marketing team will face while venturing in an international market.

What are the issues faced while acquiring new suppliers in the international region?

What are the issues faced by the organization while recruiting new employees in the international location?

What are the issues faced by the organization while setting up the business in the new location international location will have new regulations and laws by the government?

The fieldwork that can be undertaken to answer the research questions will be in the form of interview (Bazeley, 2013). The interviews of the employees of the organization which is veturing in the international location will be important for the research. The observation will be a simultaneous process when the researcher will observe the participants, the change in behavior and whether they are comfortable while giving the interviews. The quality of the researcher lies in the fact that whether the person is able to understand the behavior of the participants and decide that whether the participants are giving authentic answers. In addition to this, the researcher can also talk with the people related to the participants. To get authentic information about the research project, the researcher can do the extra fieldwork of taking the feedback of the other people so that the researcher is sure about the outcome form the qualitative data collection.

Purpose

The role of field notes is very important for the qualitative data collection as far as international business is concerned. The field notes let the researcher to take an account about the important information that will be useful in the future (Cook & Farmer, 2011). In addition to this, the field notes help the researcher to relate to the problems of the participants when the person is making the final draft. Then researcher can write down the field notes to take an account of the information that are not directly related to the problems of the research but might be helpful in solving the issues.

The advantages of the observations are that it gives the researcher a chance to add some extra information as an outcome of the researcher (Friese, 2011). The observations also let the researcher to state about the further research projects that can be done by other researcher. The main disadvantage of the observations is that it is completely the perspective of the researcher (Gibbs, 2011). It might happen that he observation made by the researcher might not be true. Hence, if the researcher uses the observation then the outcome of the research might differ due to the use of the observations.

The interview of the participants let the researcher to get the answer for the research questions in depth (Friese, 2012). While interviewing the participants, the researcher not only asks the questions but indulge in various other conversations, this helps the researcher to get ideas to develop the researcher questions if needed to enhance the quality of the projects.

Face-to-face interviews will be better than electronic interviews. The main reason for choosing face-to-face interview over the electronic interviews is that it helps the researcher to study the participants in detail (Grbich, 2013). However, as he employees are venturing in anew location, the employees might not be available to the researcher. The electronic interview at times create problems as the participants do not get time to go through the questions and at times send the answers after the deadline. The researcher then has to keep extra participants in hand who could fill the space for the participants who are unable to send the feedback in the given time. Along with the benefits of the face-to face interview there are certain disadvantages (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). The participants are at times accompanied by other employees. At times, the co-employees are helpful in completing the project. However, there are certain times, when the researcher might have to ask personal questions, then the presence of the co-employees might not let the participants give authentic answers (Ritchie, & Spencer, 2002). Hence, the researcher has to tactically handle the situations.

Research Questions

There are certain ethical issues that the researcher should keep in mind while collecting data for qualitative data analysis (Saldaña, 2011). The participants who are unwilling to take part in the interview should not be forced to take part in the interview. There are certain projects which involves personal questions if the participants hesitate to give answers to such questions, the researcher should not force the participants to make them answer the questions. If the participants do not want their personal information to become public, the researcher should respect the decision of the participants and keep the information secret. If the situations demand the researcher to let out the information, the researcher should take the permission of the participants and then do the needful. If the participants do not want to let out any information that is related to the company’s policy regarding international business then the researcher would not force the employees to give the information.

The results of the coding and analysis that will help the researcher reach a proper outcome. The 14 steps that the researcher should; consider while doing the coding the coding and analysis are as follows (Krathwohl, 2009):

Creating a storyline

It helps the researcher to communicate with the readers as the readers follow the coding process like a story and not just calculations

Code the data

Assigning a name to each category so that the researcher does not get confused at the a later stage

Pre-set codes

The researcher mighthave thought ofcoding method.The pre-set codes can be up to ten and or can extend till 40-50 codes. However, it is better that the researcher keep the number of codes less

Emergent codes

The emergent codes are those that emerge in between the research. There can be certain codes which the researcher might not have thought of but has emerged while the researcher was in the middle of the research

Coding as a system and organizing data

Marinating a system in way of coding is the best way that the researcher can code a data. The researcher should first analyze what is the research objective and then do the coding

Refining codes

The researcher should keep on checking the codes and see if the codes need any revision or refining

Open coding

The researcher predicts the outcome of the result while studying he feedback of the participants

Axial coding

Axial coding tries to find out the relation between the feedback of the participants

Creating a table

A table helps the researcher to keep a track of the list of coding that have been done and the remaining that is left be done

Coding ‘notes’

Just like field notes, coding notes is an important part. The tes will help the resecher in the final level

Illustration of coding

An illustration is necessary while the researcher is coding a material

Checking the code

Checking whether the coding process is completed and if it needs any further changes

Evaluating the code

Evaluating the codes and see whether the process has been correct and whether the codes can help the researcher reach a proper outcome

Results

Finally the results is reached which has been achieved from the coding and analyzing

Thus, it can be concluded that qualitative data collection is an important part of a research work as far as international business is concerned. Hence, when the researcher is carrying out qualitative data collection, the person should be aware of certain issues and take measures that the data collection process is successful. It has been identified that face-to face interview is one of the best methods to carry out a qualitative data collection in international business as the employees will be able to speak about the problems in an effective manner. It is necessary that every researcher should follow the steps of coding so that the researcher is sure that the steps taken for the data collection are proper and full proof.

References

Bazeley, P. (2013). Qualitative data analysis. Los Angeles [i.e. Thousand Oaks, Calif.]: SAGE Publications.

Cook, D., & Farmer, L. (2011). Using qualitative methods in action research. [Chicago]: Association of College and Research Libraries.

Friese, S. (2011). Qualitative data analysis with ATLAS.ti. Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage.

Friese, S. (2012). Qualitative data analysis with ATLAS.ti. London: SAGE.

Gibbs, G. (2011). Analyzing qualitative data. Los Angeles [u.a.]: SAGE.

Grbich, C. (2013). Qualitative data analysis. London: SAGE Publications.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2009). Methods of educational and social science research: The logic of methods. Waveland Press.

Ritchie, J., & Spencer, L. (2002). Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. The qualitative researcher’s companion, 305-329.

Rubin, H., & Rubin, I. (2012). Qualitative interviewing. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE.

Ryan, G. W., & Bernard, H. R. (2003). Techniques to identify themes. Field methods, 15(1), 85-109.

Saldaña, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. New York: Oxford University Press.