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When scholars start a research process, there are basically two questions or starting points:

x Someone has a problem that needs to be solved

x Someone has an idea and needs to find out how we can benefit from the idea.

The next questions for a researcher will typically be: Do theories relating to the topic exist and are they relevant and correct? The starting point is critical for the research process, which comprises the design of the inquiry, the data collection, the interpretation of the data, and ultimately the conclusions drawn and theory that can be built on the data.

A researcher’s understanding of the idea or problem that guides him or her in the chosen research approach. If the idea or problem is not understood because, for example, it is new, complex, or foggy, it will not be a straightforward matter to select the right approach at the beginning of the project. Based on a more or less incomplete understanding of the idea or problem, the researcher must decide on the type and focus of their inquiry, whether it should be an exploratory approach (in cases where few or no previous studies exist), descriptive (to identify and classify elements or characteristics), analytical (to examine why or how something is happening), or predictive (to speculate on future possibilities based on close analysis of available evidence) (see Table 1) (Neville, 2005).

Table 1 Different types of research

Exploratory Descriptive Analytical Predictive

Exploratory research is

Quantitative versus qualitative research approach

When starting research, scholars need to reflect on their data gathering process and whether it should be quantitative or qualitative or a combined approach. What type of approach is appropriate also depends on the purpose of the study, the research questions, and the chosen strategy. (Marshall

& Rossman, 1995) suggest four types of overall research strategies that are common in qualitative research: exploratory, explanatory, descriptive, and predictive studies. However, they also stress that these strategies are independent of the data collection method used in the research strategy.

Furthermore, they give suggestions as to what research strategy best fits the different types of study:

1. Exploratory – investigate little understood phenomena, identify variables and generate hypotheses; research strategy – case studies and field studies.

2. Explanatory –explain phenomena, identify plausible causal networks and the shaping of phenomena; research strategy – multisite case studies, history studies, field studies, and ethnographic studies

3. Descriptive – document phenomena of interest; research strategy – field studies, case studies, and ethnographic studies

4. Predictive – predict the outcome of phenomena, and forecast events and the behaviour results of a phenomenon

Research strategy – experiment or quasi experiment

The qualitative research approach, which has its origin in sociological studies, has become popular among scholars that study projects (Smyth & Morris, 2007); (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). However, some project management research studies have chosen a more quantitative approach or a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches (Krane, Johansen, & Alstad, 2014; Krane, Rolstadås, &

Olsson, 2010; G. Themistocleous & S. Wearne, 2000). Quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, and are normally less interested in the process and context. The focus in quantitative research is on collecting and

analysing numerical data; it concentrates on measuring, for example, the scale, range, and frequency of phenomena. Quantitative studies are often considered as done from a value-free framework. This type of research, although harder to design initially, is usually highly detailed and structured, and the results can be easily collated and presented statistically (Neville, 2005).

The word ‘qualitative’ implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities and on process and meaning that are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency. Quantitative researchers hold that reality is a social construction and that the close relations between the researcher, what is studied, and the situational context shape the inquiry.

Qualitative research is more subjective in nature than quantitative research and involves examining and reflecting on the less tangible aspects of a research subject, such as the values, attitudes, and perceptions. Although this type of research can be easier to start, it can be often difficult to interpret and present the findings; also the findings can be challenged more easily.

(Tjora, 2012) suggests that there are three different starting points to research: the inductive, deductive, and abductive approaches. An inductive research approach means that theories are developed or models are based on observations of a particular situation, and based on the few observations new theories are developed. This type of approach suggests an explorative or empirically-driven research strategy, and hence a qualitative research approach is normally preferred. Inductive research moves from particular situations to make or infer broad general ideas/theories (Neville, 2005; Tjora, 2012).

A deductive research approach starts with the theory or with the models and uses it or them to analyse and understand a specific problem or idea. Consequently, a quantitative research approach is normally preferred. Deductive research moves from general ideas or theories to specific, particular situations: the particular is deduced from the general, such as broad theories (Neville, 2005; Tjora, 2012). By contrast, the abductive research approach has it starting point in the theory, but it acknowledges the importance of theory and perspective in the start-up of the inquiry and during the research process.

Tjora (2012) also suggests that qualitative research should alternate between an inductive and deductive approach. In qualitative research scholars should start with raw data and work from that data to develop new concepts and new theories in a step-by-step approach. The progression from data to concept and theory is inductive in nature, whereas the testing of the theory and concepts against empirical data is deductive in nature.

Research position – positivistic versus phenomenological

According to (Neville, 2005) surveys, experimental and longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional studies are the preferred methodical approach among researchers with a positivistic research position. A positivistic approach can also be referred to as quantitative, objectivist, scientific, experimentalist, or traditionalist. A positivistic approach is characterized by a detached approach to research and it seeks out the facts or causes of any social phenomena in a systematic way. Positivists hold that the study of human behaviour should be conducted according to the principles of natural sciences and seek to identify, measure, and evaluate any phenomenon and to provide a rational explanation for it. A positivist will attempt to establish causal links and relationships between the different elements that are studied and relate them to a particular theory or practice. Further, a positivist will argue that people respond to stimuli or forces and rules (norms) external to themselves

and that these can be discovered, identified, and described using rational, systematic, and deductive processes.

Neville (2005) further claims that case studies, action research, ethnography (participant observation), participative enquiry, feminist perspectives, and grounded theory are the preferred methodical approaches among researchers with a phenomenological research position. A phenomenological approach can also be referred to as a qualitative, subjectivist, humanistic, or interpretative approach.

However, phenomenological approaches to research have the perspective that human behaviour is not as easily measured as phenomena in the natural sciences. Human motivation is shaped by factors that are not always observable, such as inner thought processes, and therefore it can be hard to generalize on, for example, motivation from observations of behaviour alone. Furthermore, people place their own meanings on events, meanings that do not always coincide with the way others have interpreted them. This perspective assumes that people will often influence events and act in unpredictable ways that challenge any constructed rules or identifiable norms; they are often ‘actors’

on a human stage and shape their ‘performances’ according to a wide range of variables.

Phenomenological approaches are particularly concerned with understanding behaviour from the study participants’ own subjective frames of reference. Hence, research methods are chosen to try to describe, translate, explain, and interpret events from the perspectives of the subjects of the research.