Research Framework and Design

The outcome of any research is strongly affected by the choice of the research methods and strategies. As Scandura and Williams state (2000, p. 1249) “[a]ny research method chosen will have inherent flaws, and the choice of that method will limit the conclusions.” This means that design choices about instrumentation, data analysis and construct validation may affect the types of conclusions that are drawn (Sackett and Larson 1990). Therefore, this chapter gives an overview of the research methodology chosen for this thesis. First, a research framework narrows the research field down. Second, the qualitative and quantitative research methods are depicted before, finally, the research activities that led to this thesis are presented.