researches done on E-commerce

Research Design

Pursuit of knowledge requires a scientific inquiry, which intends to find the truth with most accuracy. Researcher’s epistemological positions are affected by their ontological stance. It is believed that methods of research are directly linked with epistemology. So a researcher’s philosophy and her practices of interacting with the world shape up the content of her research.

This section is going to begin with the affect of epistemological practices on this research.

 

Three World Framework

The purpose of this thesis is to add value to an already established body of knowledge. Mouton (1996) writes that there are three models of knowledge; knowledge of lay individuals; knowledge of everyday life; and scientific knowledge. Any scientific research involves all three of these parameters.

In relation to the context of this study, the analogy of e-commerce in a marketplace with the three models of knowledge can be represented as:

• The research questions are related to everyday life
• To answer these questions, an interaction must be developed with knowledge of the ‘Layman’ with respect to e-commerce.
• The third model is used to review the first two and form a conclusion

There are no definite research and theoretical models to give a definite answer as to the balance of opportunities and barriers provided by e-commerce so this research is based on drawing a conclusion from a mixture of business experiences, individual thinking on the matter and opinion of various theorists.

Background and Orientation for the discipline of e-commerce

A fair amount of research has already been done on the subject, generally using a positivistic approach. One of the reason for this that e-commerce integrates business concepts and technical concepts. It is a simple concept but with a wide application. And for this reason the electronic commerce society of theorist have presented various arguments and methods on the barriers and opportunities for this field.

The study of e-commerce is based on a variety of subjects ranging from marketing to IT. The following figure shows the classification of various related fields.;

So it is quite apparent that researchers need to reassess the methods of their research to take advantage of the current methodological thinking.

Nature of this Research

Before analyzing the methods of research, discussing the context of this research would be useful. Idea for e-commerce only came into existence in the past two decades. This is still not as much developed as economics and medicine are. So with respect academic research on e-commerce, this is still considered to be an “a new kid on the block” (Hirschheim & Klein, 2003, 282). E-commerce is still not being taught in colleges and universities as a separate course. So researchers of this field prefer to call this a field of study as opposed to a discipline.

Critical Realism approach for this study

The reasons for choosing critical realism approach for this study are:

• This technique allows a method of bridging the gap between the interpretive and positivistic research philosophies, which is exactly what is needed for this study as both of these method are represented in the topic for discussion. Adoption of a critical realist approach gives flexibility to the research paper.
• There is a need to be thoughtful about the intransitive elements of this thesis, and the informants need to be aware of all the dimensions of this knowledge in order to be unbiased. (Henning, 2004)
• The critical realist makes use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques and could prove to offer in depth explanations of the reasons of the current patterns of e-commerce. (Henning, 2004)

• Critical Realist is persistent with multiple fields of knowledge, which is ideal for a analyzing a subject matter like e-commerce. (Henning, 2004)

• The research requires for its author to act as an observer in a social setting. Using this approach, the intransitive and transitive concept are given preference. (Henning, 2004)

Qualitative Research

The next task is to define a strategy for conduction research. The factors that need to be considered before selecting a research method are the type of research questions and the nature of the problem. In context with the critical realist concepts, a qualitative research technique seemed to be the correct approach. (Henning, 2004)

 

Quantitative Vs Qualitative Approach

According to Snape and Spencer (2003) a qualitative research practice make use of a number of illustrations in the shape of photographs, notes, audio and video recordings and interviews. This is considered to be a naturalistic approach, which means that this method analyzes objects in their natural order and drawing deductions from them through the interpretations of people. (Henning, 2004)

On the other hand, quantitative method focuses on collecting information in a numeric form. A researcher employing quantitative approach believes that quantitative measurements are best way of observing a given problem. Precautions for variables, that might add error in to the findings of the research, should be taken and mentioned.

Justification of choosing Qualitative Approach

In this document qualitative approach have been chosen for the following reasons:

• This method is usually less structured compared to other methods and the researchers tackles the problem with more openness and in the process learn more from it
• Conducting interviews, understanding the social paradigm and reading document forms a good platform for inquiring the problem.
• Qualitative approach can be implemented by using various data collection techniques. And studying the consequences of e-commerce, which itself is a very vast phenomenon, this approach would give more dividends
• Samples are very precise according to the selected criteria.
• Close contact with the participants is maintained for data collection. This leads to an interactive relationship between the researcher and the participant, which helps in the research process
• The analysis is open to new ideas.

Strategies for conducting Qualitative research for this study

The focus should be on being as objective and unbiased as possible. The various methods that can be employed by a qualitative researcher are ethnography, surveys, case studies and this section will explain the reasons for choosing the selected strategies for this study. (Hirschheim & Klein, 2003)

The use of the interview technique and surveys

The selection of the research questions has the greatest input on the choice of design technique. Other factors include the budget available to the researchers, time constraints and the skills of the researchers. For this study, researchers choose to use the survey and interview method due to the nature of the research questions. It required a practical example of individuals and organizations to analyze the problems and opportunities of e-commerce. (Hirschheim & Klein, 2003)

The in-depth survey allowed the researcher to acquire detailed evidence by using a relatively few participants in a series of surveys and interviews.

This method supported the objectives of the qualitative methods and allowed the author to obtain a perspective of the e-commerce marketplace and was able to generate more understanding of the research problem. (Henning, 2004)

The research questions which were posed required a complete literature review and a concluding theory based on logical and practical experiences.

Other choices included utilizing, focus groups, questionnaire, interviews could also have been considered to gain understanding of the topic. But the author decided to utilize a semi-structured interview as the primary technique for evidence compilation. This technique is recommended and accepted in practicing social researches. There were several other doctoral level studies on e-commerce that have used the same technique, e.g. Griffiths (2005), Bannister (2001).

In social research, the required evidence does not just lie around, but in fact they have to be gathered by the interaction of the informants and the researcher. As a researcher states “…stroll through the landscape and enters through discussion with the people come across. The traveler discover with the people's encounters. The traveler see the sights of many spheres of the country, as unidentified terrain or with maps, nomadic around the territory…The interviewer mosey along with the local residents, asks questions that guide the residents to tell their stories of their lived world” (Kvale, 1996: 4)