Estigma de la Lepra

Saunders et al. (2009) have claimed that it is important to understand and be clear on the research approaches when designing the research. It has been argued that research will involve the use of theory. Collis and Hussey (2009) and Saunders et al. (2009) have proposed to use either a deductive approach or an inductive approach when designing the research process. This section will briefly review both approaches and provide justification on the selected research approach.

3.2.1 Deductive Approaches

Collis and Hussey (2009) have defined deductive research as a study whereby conceptual and theoretical structure would be developed and tested by the empirical observations. Similarly, Saunders et al. (2009) have described deduction as an approach that would involve the development of theory that has been subjected to rigorous test. Hair, Jr. et al. (2007) has suggested that deductive research usually initiates with an idea or conceptual framework. Then it uses the data for better understanding and then it would narrow down into a more specific hypothesis that could be tested. Therefore it has been argued that the researcher would base on a particular domain and theoretical considerations to deduce hypothesis (hypotheses) that would be subjected to empirical scrutiny (Bryman and Bell, 2011). These hypotheses would consume the concepts that were required to be translated into researchable entities. Bryman and Bell (2011) have highlighted that the deductive approach has been utilized to describe the casual relationship between these researchable variables. Hence, this hypotheses development of deductive approach has been claimed to deduce from the general inferences into particular researchable instances. Deductive approach has been acknowledged for the representation from a general domain to specific domain (Collis and Hussey, 2009; Hair Jr. et al., 2007). In addition, the identification of variables for hypotheses testing has made this type of research approach dominant among the natural science research. Law has been referred to as the basic explanation that has allowed the anticipation of phenomena in predicting the occurrence and allowing them to be controlled (Collis and Hussey, 2003) as cited in (Saunders et al., 2009). Data is usually collected quantitatively via highly structured methodology. Therefore a researcher might find quantitative research to focus and be related to hypotheses testing. In addition a deduction

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approach has suggested the researcher to be independent of their studies. A sufficient sample size has been proposed to facilitate the generalization of the conclusions.

3.2.2 Inductive Approach

The emergence of the social science in the 20th century has led the social researchers to be wary of the deduction approach. Deduction has been recognized as a critical approach that has enabled the cause and effect link to be made between certain variables without emphasizing the way humans have interpreted the social world. Therefore the inductive approach has been proposed to allow the understanding and discussion that interpret the social world (Saunders et al., 2009). The main purpose of the inductive approach has always been related to getting a better understanding on the nature of the problem and getting a feel of what has been going on. Unlike the deductive approach that emphasize on the development of conceptual framework from the theoretical perspective; the inductive approach has attempted to generate theory from the observations and findings (Collis and Hussey, 2009; Saunders et al., 2009; Bryman and Bell, 2011). Data has been collected qualitatively as the researcher is of the opinion to understand and interpret the social world with the inductive approach. The researcher is required to identify patterns from the collected data to generate a general inference, building theory and developing the conceptual framework. Therefore Bryman and Bell (2011) have proposed the theory as the final outcome in the inductive research. General inferences would be induced from a particular instance. Therefore the Induction approach has moved from the individual observations into a statement of general patterns of law (Collis and Hussey, 2009). It is inferred a study of small samples should be sufficient and more appropriate as compared to larger sample sizes found in the deductive approach.

3.2.3 Research Approaches Justification

The Deductive approach has been summarized to focus on theory testing and the inductive approach has been explained to focus on generating theory. This research is adopting the inductive approach. The main focus of this research is to explore and understand the procurement of services within the organization. It focuses on the understanding of the phenomena or the social world that has

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been described in inductive approach. This research is expected to gain great insight in services procurement process for a broad range of services. Therefore the research process is not subjected to the restriction in the deductive approach, which tends to identify researchable variables that will clarify the relationship between variables. Indeed, this research will adopt the inductive approach that allows a better understanding in services management particularly the services procurement process. This research will examine the services procurement practices in the selected cases of companies to provide a reasonable discussion and summary for the subject area. The Inductive approach has advocated that the final outcome of the research would be to generate theory based on the studies. This research will summarize the services procurement processes based on the services types. From the literature, it has been argued that a simpler type of services would involve a simpler procurement process and vice versa. This research will summarize the procurement process for all the identified services types within the organization. Therefore, it is expected to summarize and generate theory from the research findings.

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