Funciones de los aditivos alimentarios

For a study of this nature and scope, there are two broad alternative research techniques available to a scientist namely; case study and survey method.

(i) Case Study:

The case study approach is characterised by the in-depth, intensive, and exhaustive study of one case or unit (e.g. person, group, or organisation). As argued by Forcese and Richer (1973):

"The essential feature of a case study is that the unit of study whether a group or an individual, is studied intensively as an entity" (p.B2)

Hitroff and Kilman (1978) further explained that:

"...the case study focuses on t h e . ..in-depth detailed rendering of the life space of a single individual or social group" (p.96)

Thus we may conclude that the case study approach could be taken to examine the problems of the introduction of OR into specific govern­ ment organisations in Nigeria; the proposed transportation study dis­ cussed in Chapter Four being an example and one which clearly illu s­ trated the difficulties in getting cases to study.

Data collection tools used in case study include interviews, observa­ tions, and documentary materials. The data is generally collected in the natural settings of the object being studied. As argued by Forcese and Richer (1973) and by Stone (1973), case study may be use­ ful for generating hypotheses and insights, but it is inappropriate for making causal inferences or general explanatory statements about phenomenum, for hypotheses testing, and for generalization of the findings.

(ii) Survey Method:

In survey method several units (e.g. persons, groups or organisations) are studied, data is collected from a sample of a known universe using systematic techniques (e.g. questionnaire, interviews or observations). The data is collected directly from the respondents in their natural settings. Ackoff and Pritzker (1951), Forcese and Richer (1973), and Stone (1973) each took the view that survey method is more app r o ­ priate for generalization, for making explanatory statements about phenomena, and for hypotheses testing compared with case study. The Research Technique Adopted:

questions e ach seek to answer» and in whether the study is concerned with one, a few, or many units. While survey method is suitable for hypotheses testing, case study is more relevant to hypotheses generation. And while it is possible to generalise from the results of survey, such generalisa­ tion might be inappropriate from the results of case study.

Nevertheless, as Forcese and Richer (1973) have pointed out, the decision to employ a particular technique depends on one's special orientation. Forcese and Richer argued:

"Surely the choice of case study or survey depends not on any sense of the absolute merit of each, but on the purpose of the study... The choice cannot be portrayed as that between a right and a wrong selection" (p.107, 87). Thus, in deciding on which technique to employ in this study we were influenced by a number of factors as argued by Forcese and Richer (1973) and by Ackoff and Pritzker (1951). The most prominent of these factors were:

(i) the objective of the research,

(ii) the benefit of the research to the Nigerian Civil Service.

(iii) the value of the research to the general u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the

problems of the introduction of OR into organisations elsewhere. (iv) the benefit that other potential users of the research results can

derive,

(v) the influence of the research on the Nigerian Civil Service. (vi) the time available to conduct the research,

(vii) the financial resources available for undertaking the research, and (viii) the experience gained from the transportation study.

purposes of the study would be best served if we adopted the technique of survey method, hence survey method was employed in this study. Objective of the Survey:

The limited global objective of this research was the introduction of OH into the civil service in Nigeria. It was our hope that from analysis of data amassed from the survey we would be able to make some explanatory statements with regards to the particular problems of the introduction of OR into the civil service in Nigeria, in other words draw some conclu­ sions on the problems, and make some recommendations for finding solutions to the problems. Furthermore, it was our hope to be able to generalise our findings to civil service organisations in other developing countries, and to be able to advance some theories on the introduction of Operational Research (OR) into organisations elsewhere.

Although survey method is appropriate for hypotheses testing, it was our belief tnat in a relatively unresearched problem area such as the intro­ duction of OH into developing countries, it would be more beneficial to the research consumers in the developing (and perhaps developed) countries, if a pragmatic problem-solving research-approach was adopted at this point in time, giving the existing state of knowledge about the subject. As argued by Mintzberg (197b), the testing of specific hypothesis rigorously and exhaustively in order to prove conslusively the existence or otherwise of some necessary and sufficient conditions for the introduction of OR such as was advocated by Ackoff and Pritzker (1951) would not be beneficial in a problem area where research is very much in its infancy.

Our mission in this study was to examine the situation with regards to essential factors which we believed to be of pragmatic significance and pertinence to the introduction of OR into an organisation in a developing

country, the Nigerian Civil Service in this particular case. And to iden­ tify the contributions which that understanding would make to knowledge both of the particular case and on the larger global problem of the intro­ duction of OR into organisations elsewhere.

In essence this research has focused on the field in order to gain better understanding and hopefully to be able to develop some theories rather than for theory testing since there is little theory to test. L'e believe that it is in the fie ld that we can gain the understanding and experience needed in order to develop the rich theories which we believe to be lack­ ing in this rather underdeveloped area of Operational Research (OR). Just as i-lintzberg (1975) argued in the case of policy research, (and we believe the introduction of OR into an organisation is a policy decision), it is our view that for research on the processes of the introduction of OR to be most fruitful it wo u l d have to be undertaken in the real-world where the decisions are made and any theories should be abstractions from that real-live experience as argued by Poper (1974).