Research philosophy and process approach

When considering the questions about the research philosophy, approach, and strategy, among other things, Saunders et al. (2009, p. 108) describe the alternative choices using a research onion: the different choices that must be made are presented as separate layers of the onion. The research onion and the respective choices for this research are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The research onion and the respective choices of this research (adapted from Saunders et al. 2009, p. 108).

The research philosophy concerns the way in which the researcher views the world and knowledge (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 108). From the research questions and sub-questions described in Section 1.3, it can be seen that both qualitative and quantitative methods are likely needed to answer them. This emphasizes the role of the research questions. The most suitable research philosophy in this case is pragmatism, where the research questions are treated as most important and the research methods should be chosen accordingly. Especially, it is possible to use variations in epistemology, ontology and axiology, since the appropriate choice depends on the particular question. (Saunders et al.

2009, p. 109.)

The research approach in this research is mainly inductive: a model for supplier service quality is built based on the analysis of the gathered data (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 124).

The literature review and interviews were used to define the elements from which the supplier service quality consists of. Countless models on service quality exist, but none of them fully correspond to the objective of this research, which was to develop a basis for a common service quality measurement between the buyer and the supplier.

Therefore, testing an existing theory would not have suited the purpose of this research.

Still, the literature offered a useful starting point for the supplier service quality measurement, and the developed framework actually combines different models and views on service quality. In that way this research can also be seen as theory refinement.

Moreover, the factors that were discovered in the interviews as affecting the supplier service quality, were all backed up by evidence from the literature. A particular strength of the inductive approach is developing an understanding of how humans interpret their

social world, and the inclusion of that understanding in to the studied cause-effect link (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 126). As Saunders et al. (2009, p. 126) elaborate with their employee absenteeism example, also in this research it is more realistic to consider the persons who evaluate the service quality as humans, rather than as unthinking research objects responding to circumstances. This is highlighted by the fact that service quality in itself includes very subjective elements.

A division between purely deductive and inductive research is difficult to make (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 127), and it can be argued that also in this research both approaches are utilized. When answering the first research question and the sub-questions derived from it, clearly the research is mostly inductive: the aim is to understand how service quality can be defined and for that purpose qualitative data is gathered (Saunders et al. 2009, p.

127). The latter part of this research is focused on the actual measurement of the supplier service quality, where the developed approach is applied and tested in practice.

Quantitative data is gathered through a questionnaire and the relationships between the variables are analyzed. This part can be seen as deductive research. Saunders et al. (2009, p. 127) state that combining both approaches is not only possible, but often also advantageous.

As well as having characteristics from both inductive and deductive research, the purpose of this research is both exploratory and descriptive. Saunders et al. (2009, p. 140) note that this is often the case: descriptive research may be an extension of, as is in this case, or a forerunner to, exploratory research. The importance of the descriptive research stems from the fact that it is necessary to have a clear picture of the researched phenomena.

Exploratory research on the other hand is useful if you want to clarify your understanding of a problem. (Saunders et al. 2009, pp. 139-140.)

This research was conducted as a case study. A case study strategy is often used in explanatory and exploratory research (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 146). Voss et al. (2002, p.

195) argue that case research can be very useful to practitioners, and that it is suitable especially for new theory development and theory testing and refinement. Therefore, the adoption of the case research strategy is justified, since the problem and objectives of this research are linked to the case company’s current situation. The challenges of conducting case research include time, interviewing skills and the generalizability of conclusions (Voss et al. 2002, p. 195). These became evident during the research process. Different data collection techniques and sources were used in order to validate the research. This is called triangulation, and it is often used in case study research (Saunders et al. 2009, p.

146). Triangulation can strengthen the validity of the research (Voss et al. 2002, p. 208):

it is used to “ensure that the data are telling you what you think they are telling you”

(Saunders et al. 2009, p. 146). Triangulation was done in several phases of the research.

The findings from the literature were strengthened in the interviews, and the interview findings were further confirmed with a confirmatory survey. Documents related to the quality measurement and definition were used in the development of the supplier service

quality measurement. The meetings with the case company representatives offered confirmation and additional insights throughout the research process.

As already mentioned, both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques and data analysis procedures are needed to answer the research questions of this study. This suggests that multiple methods, and especially mixed-methods approach is used. The research choices of this research are presented in Figure 2. A distinction between qualitative and quantitative data is often made. Saunders et al. (2009, p. 482) emphasize the implications for the analysis of the data. As qualitative data is usually complex and non-standardized, the gathered data likely needs to be summarized, categorized or restructured. Usually the analysis of qualitative data involves the creation of a conceptual framework (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 484), as is the case also in this research. The development of the supplier service quality framework based on qualitative data is discussed in Chapter 4.

Quantitative data on the other hand holds little meaning before it has been processed and analyzed. It is the processing of these data that turns them into information. Quantitative analysis techniques include for example graphs and charts, but also more complex techniques like statistical modelling. (Saunders et al. 2009, p. 414.) In this research, the processing and analyzing of quantitative data is used to interpret the supplier service quality survey results. This is presented in Chapter 5.

Figure 2. The research choices of this research (adapted from Saunders et al. 2009, p. 152).

Within methods approach, there are two alternatives: method and mixed-model research. The difference between these two is that in mixed-method research the quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures are not

combined, i.e. quantitative data are analyzed quantitatively and qualitative data are analyzed qualitatively. (Saunders et al. 2009, pp. 151-153.) Therefore, this research is mixed-method research. The data collection techniques and analysis procedures utilized in this research are discussed in more detail in Sections 5.1 and 6.1.