"You may have heard the world is made up of atoms and molecules, but it's really made up of stories. When you sit with an individual that's been here, you can give quantitative data a qualitative overlay"

As the end of semester draws alarming close, we are looking at establishing a solid methodological foundation for our honours research. So I thought it would be appropriate to give you an insight into my cognitive melting pot.

At the moment, I feel like I am deep in the rainforest and facing a fork in the road, with two paths to choose from. However, unlike the movies, the choice is not obvious; there is not one bright, bushy butterfly-filled path and another that is dark, dingy and with dingoes howling (credit goes to ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for striking this image- And why the inventor went down the dark path I have no idea. It baffled me as a child and still does). Rather, both paths present promise, making the choice all the more harder.

One thing that I knew from the beginning is that you need to be interested in your research project, because if you lack passion then boredom creeps up quite quickly and steals your motivation. But I have learnt that you also need to feel connected to the methodology, as this will ensure that you are invested in the data collection and analysis of findings. Because at the end of the day, it is these two stages where you form your contribution to the literature. This is where I am stuck. On one hand, I feel like my personality and learning style is better suited to the nature of qualitative research; the interaction with people, the interpretation of meaning, and the richness of the data. But on the other hand, I am rather cynical and strive for certainty, which is given to me by cold hard statistics.

So rather than turn to Dr Phil to solve my dilemma, I found a book that has proven particularly useful - Mixed Methodology: Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches (Tashakkori, 2006). Tashakkori writes about the manner of integrating both methods, whilst criticising the academic arena for being quick to label researchers as one or the other. Some of the best research comes from combining both qualitative and quantitative methodology, which is where I feel I am more so aligned.  

Which brings me back to my honours thesis. And at the end of the day, it comes down to choosing the methodology that is best suited to your research question. My thesis topic is looking at the influence of brand dimensions on consumer brand preference for commodity products through a case study of bottled water. I have found from developing my study that it is best suited to a quantitative approach, using predefined scales to test predicted relationships. However, the existing scales are rather general. Therefore, to make them relevant to my case study, I will be conducting a content analysis of brand communications for bottled water to determine items for my scale. For instance, I will look at recent advertisements for bottled water brands and draw out the most common adjectives that they use to describe their water and put them into my survey (eg. Rate this brand of water based on: freshness, quality, purity etc.).

           

So after all that, I am sorry if I disappointed you by not choosing one side over another. Some may view it as indecisive, but I agree with Tashakkori. I find it somewhat ridiculous that some researchers feel the need to classify themselves as one type of researcher and disregard the other side altogether. In my (potentially naïve) opinion, it is about picking the methodology that is best suited to the research. And although I may be wrong, I’m sticking to my guns on this one!