El estudio del emprendimiento

When looking into the history of social security systems within the global scenario of developed countries (United Nations, 1948), more than 50 years have passed since the introduction of the PR/SS system into their nation (Germany 1889, Italy 1898, UK 1908, France 1932, USA 1935, Japan 1942 and Canada 1965).

Therefore, it appears that providing a social security system did play a major role in securing their status as a developed country. These developed countries are among the popular destinations for legal and illegal migrants who were brought up in the undeveloped countries.

Despite the current universal constraints of an aging population and failures within the Pay As You Go (PAYG) systems, still social security can be considered as the backbone to the social anatomy of these developed countries. Major impediments to the PAYG are its inherent pyramidal financial structure and its inability to face the inflation structure. This situation was foreseen by Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), first State Secretary and the third President of the USA who stated:

‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around (the banks) will deprive the people of all property until their children wakeup homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.’

(Jefferson, 1778, p. 20) From the literature that was reviewed, it was learnt that the proposed framework should be developed with an anatomy that is capable of avoiding the inherent difficulties that the current systems have in common (such as inflation, deflation, an aging population and pyramidal dependency in general).

The next chapter on “Research Methodology” was developed with a view to finding the pathways for gathering essential data on the current constraints, in an analysable manner, which were identified during the literature review.

Chapter : 3

Research methodology and data collection

This research methodology chapter commences initially by defining the meaning of research. Thereafter, a brief documental review is carried out to understand the history of research and the background thereto. After discussing research paradigms and approaches through positivism, interpretivism (Antipositivism) and strategies of inquiry, then, the development of research approaches is discussed. Thereafter, paradigms and mixed research approaches are discussed.

Research means different things to different people (Amaratunga, et al., 2002). Many professionals accept research as an advantageous way of undertaking critical examination and a mode of thinking that guides principles and procedures (Kumar, 2011). The process, that travels through various activities for combining and exploring ranges of approaches, strategies, techniques and procedures to achieve the desired aim and objectives of the researcher too can be considered as a research as well. Abiding by the ethical concerns of the supporting organisation (a university or any sponsors, as the case may be) and conducting research in accordance with the law of the land (Vazquez, 2008) are among the important procedural requirements for any research of an academic nature. Selecting a suitable methodology from the available recognised methods or developing an own blended version of an existing model or creating a new concept for carrying out the research to be done by a researcher at the early stage of the research project is an essential requirement.

Some studies such as those of Bell (2005), Mahmood (2011) and Kumar (2011) argue that the word ‘research’ is derived from two syllables “re” and “search” which are put together to form a noun meaning “to look at again”. The Oxford Dictionary (Oxford, 2012) indicates that the word ‘research’ originated in the late 16th century. Further, it states that the word began as a merging of two words “re” and “search”. However, according to Webster’s New International Dictionary research means “careful or critical inquiry or examinations in seeking facts or principles, diligent investigation in order to ascertain something”. The American Heritage Dictionary

states that research is “…an investigation undertaken in order to discover new facts...”

Scholarly studies on the history of research methodology have frequently been accompanied by a sense of anonymous, but possibly never further than 1652, etching by Rembrandt (May, 1985). The term research is defined by (Walliman, 2001, p. 6) as “…collecting masses of information, delving into esoteric theories, and producing new wonderful new products”. Information and data cannot be merely collected and assembled for moving facts themselves from one situation to another. Research is further described as “...any form of disciplined inquiry that aims to contribute to a body of knowledge or theory” (Fellows & Liu, 1948). For this reason, it is generally expected that research, as a combined process of inquiry and investigation, should develop an independent methodology supported by a systematic mechanism to increase knowledge. Methodological assumptions are required to focus on the best means of acquiring knowledge about the natural world. The process of research should be described clearly and should fulfil the research aim and objectives.

Saunders and others (2012) explained the detailed procedures of research methodology using the process ‘Onion’ as depicted in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 : The Systematic Research Process ‘Onion’

The six layers of the research onion do not clearly position the branches of research philosophies such as ontology, epistemology and axiology. The philosophical domains of the research onion have a mixed nature of implicit branches of various natures in the first layer such as ontology (e.g., realism) and epistemology (e.g., positivism, realism, pragmatism, and interpretivism). The other layers are perceptible as axiology that can help researchers to understand the role of values and meanings, purposes and the specific domains of the intended research.

The following sections will discuss the research methodology adopted for this research and will justify the primary aspects of the research process (e.g., the research philosophy, the research strategy, the research design, the research methods, and the research techniques and procedures).