El Séptimo Programa Ambiental de la Unión Europea (2013 2020): «Vivir bien, respetando los límites de nuestro planeta»

A design can be thought of as the logical steps that connect the empirical data to a study‟s initial research questions. The most important objective of any research design is to ensure that all of the pieces fit together. There are two basic research designs that are used by researchers when conducting social science research: experimental design and non- experimental design.

4.2.3.1 Experimental Design

Experimental research design is a design where the researcher actively manipulates aspects of a setting, either in the laboratory or in a field situation, and observes the effect of that manipulation on experimental subjects (Cohen and Manion, 1994). To manipulate a variable is to do something to it through treatment or intervention. Controlling an experiment means that the researcher controls the treatment of the study group while comparing and contrasting against a control group where there has been no treatment or intervention (Aaker et al. 1995). This type of research design is not appropriate in this study because there is no need to manipulate any aspect of the setting for the research.

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4.2.3.2 Non-Experimental Design

Non-experimental design is popular among social scientist and it is used widely in the study of management. Unlike experimental research, variables cannot be manipulated because the study is carried out in its natural setting and relationships are observed as they occur. Both control and manipulation issues do no arise in this type of design. Non-experimental design can be divided into different categories which include case study and survey research, both of which will be employed in this study.

The first type of non-experimental design is case study research. According to Yin (1994), a case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly evident. Goode and Halt (1952) stated that the case study is not specific technique, it is a way of organising social data so as to preserve the unitary character of the social object being studied. In other words, it is an approach which views any social unit as a whole. Moreover, case study research focuses on and observes the characteristics of an individual unit or organisation to refine knowledge (Nettleton and Taylor, 1990). However, there are some concerns about using this method, including: lack of rigour, validity and representativeness, the long time required to analyse extensive results, and finding are only generalisable to theoretical propositions not to populations or universe (Yin, 1994). Different approaches may be employed for data collection purposes when using the case study method. It is likely that a case research is most appropriate for humanitarian and emergency logistics studies because the individual circumstances are often largely unique with only limited commonalities with other emergencies. Table 4.2 summaries the strengths and weakness of these approaches.

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Table 4.2 Sources for evidence for case study research

Source of Evidence Strengths Weaknesses

Documentation  Stable – can be reviewed repeatedly

 Unobtrusive – not created as a result of the case study

 Exact – contains exact named, references, and detail of an event

 Broad coverage – long span of time, many events, and many settings

 Retrievability – can be low

 Biased selectivity, if collection is complete

 Reporting bias-reflects (unknown) bias of author

 Access – may be deliberately blocked

Archival records  Same as above for documentation

 Precise and quantitative

 Same as above for documentation

 Accessibility due to privacy reasons Interviews  Targeted-focuses directly on case study

topic and issues

 Insightful-provides perceived casual inferences

 Bias due to poorly constructed questions

 Response bias

 Inaccurate due to poor recall

 Reflexivity – interviewee given what interviewer wants to hear

Direct observation  Reality – covers events in real time

 Contextual – covers context of events

 Time consuming

 Selectivity – unless broad coverage

 Reflexivity – events may proceed

differently because they are being observed

 Cost – hours needed by human observers Participant observation  Same as above for direct observation

 Insightful into interpersonal behaviour and motives

 Same as above for direct observation

 Bias due to investigators‟ manipulation of events

Physical artefacts  Insightful into cultural features

 Insightful into technical operations

 Selectivity

 Availability

Source: Yin (1994)

Survey research is appropriate for answering research questions about behaviours, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, knowledge and expectations (Neuman, 1997). It is most widely used data gathering method by researchers collecting primary data (Aaker et al. 1995). Additionally, according to Neuman (1997), survey research involves many respondents answering the same questions, it measures many variables, tests multiple hypotheses, and elicits information about past experience. It measures variables that represent alternative explanations and examines their effects, thereby ruling out any alternative explanations that do not belong. There are many advantages to survey research, such as the ability to generalise, versatility, standardisation, and suitability for statistical analysis. Some researchers call survey research co-relational since it uses control variables and correlations in statistical analysis (Neuman, 1997). Forza (2002) has distinguished three types of survey research:

1. Exploratory survey

This type of survey takes place during the early stage of research. It helps in gaining preliminary insight into a phenomenon; in addition it provides a good foundation for a more in-depth survey.

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2. Confirmatory (or theory testing) survey research

This type of survey takes place when knowledge of a phenomenon has been articulated using well defined concepts, models and propositions.

3. Descriptive survey research

This type of survey is aimed at understanding the relevance of certain phenomena and describing their distribution of the phenomenon in a population.