research consultancy
SECTION THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the methodology that will be adopted during the study. It describes and discusses; the research design, sample size and selection, the data collection methods used and their corresponding data collection instruments, data management and analysis procedure as well as steps that will be taken to ensure validity and reliability during the study and measurement of variables.
3.2 Research Design
The study will adopt a cross-sectional design. Explanatory research helps a researcher to analyze patterns, and formulate hypotheses that can guide future endeavors. According to Amin, (2005) If a researcher is seeking a more complete understanding of a relationship between variables, explanatory research is a great place to start. Since the study seeks to examine the relationship between variables, a simple bivariate correlation design will be adopted to determine the relationship between them. The study will use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The quantitative approach will be adopted because the study intends to examine the supplier relationship and procurement performance. Such an endeavor can best be achieved when a quantitative approach is used because it allows for collecting numeric data on the observable individual behavior of samples and then subjecting these data to statistical analysis (Amin, 2005:5).
A qualitative approach will also be adopted to enable the researcher capture data that will be left out by the quantitative approach. This will be aimed at capturing more in-depth information on the topic under investigation.
3.3 Study Population
Sekaran (2018) defines a population as the entire group of people, events or things that a researcher wishes to investigate. This is the total population that will be used in the study, this specific population has been arrived at due to their experience and knowledge on the subject matter on strengthening community based approaches for conserving cultural sites.
3.4 Study sample
Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), argue that it is impossible to study the whole targeted population and therefore the researcher shall take a sample of the population. A sample is a subset of the population that comprises members selected from the population. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table for the sample size determination approach, a sample size of 40 respondents will be selected from the total population of 45 employees from sezzibwa, local leaders and tourists. The researcher will select 5 local leaders, 10 conservationists, 5 tourists since and 20 employees managing sezzibwa falls.
3.5 Sampling Techniques and Procedure
A number of sampling techniques will be used to select respondents to the study namely; simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The lower level Staff will be selected using simple random sampling technique. Simple random sampling will be used because it ensures generalizability of findings and minimizes bias (Sekaran, 2003). Purposive sampling technique will be used to select the procurement and accounts officials. These key informants will be purposively sampled because they are believed to have technical and specialized knowledge about the topic under investigation by virtue of the offices that they hold.
3.6 Data collection Methods
The section presents data collection methods which include survey method, interview and documentary review. The following data collections methods have been chosen because of their numerous advantages.
3.6.1 Survey Method
The study will use the questionnaire method to collect data. The questionnaire will be used because it allows for the collection of data from a big group of respondents in a short period as suggested by Mugenda and Mugenda (1999: 107). The questionnaire will also be used because it allows busy respondents to fill it at their convenient time. It also allows respondents to express their views and opinions without fear of being victimized (Oso & Onen, 2008:18).
3.6.2 Interview Method
The study will employ the interview method. Interviews in this study will help the researcher obtain more information on the topic under investigation. Interviews will be used because they fetch a variety of ideas needed for the study and give a deeper understanding of the topic. This method will also be used because it will offer the researcher an opportunity to adapt questions, clarify the questions by using the appropriate language, clear doubts and establish rapport and probe for more information (Sekaran, 2003:253).
The researcher will review documents to obtain recorded information that is related to the issue under investigation. This method will be used because it enables the researcher to access data at his convenience time, obtain data that are thoughtful in that the informants have given attention in obtaining them, and enable the researcher to obtain data in the language of the respondent (Oso & Onen, 2008: 45).
3.7 Data Collection Instruments
The instruments used in this study will be questionnaires, interview guides, and a document review checklist.
3.7.1 Self-Administered Questionnaire
The study will employ a questionnaire as a tool for data collection. The questionnaire for staff will have 5 sections. Section, section B, Section D, and Section E. The questionnaires will be closed-ended. Closed-ended questions will be developed to help respondents make quick decisions; in addition, closed-ended questions will help the researcher to code the information easily for subsequent analysis and narrow down the error gap while analyzing data as observed by Sekaran (2003:231).
An unstructured interview will be used as a tool for collecting in-depth information from the key informants. The guide will have a list of topical issues and questions that will be explored in the course of conducting the interviews. The guide will be drawn with the questions soliciting the perception of the key informants regarding the strengthening community based approaches for conserving cultural sites.
The interview guide will be used because it obtains in-depth data which may not be possible to obtain when using self-administered questionnaires (Mugenda & Mugenda, 1999:17; Kakoza, 1999:27).
3.7.3 Documentary Review Checklist
A document review checklist will be used to collect more in-depth data on the topic under investigation. This will also enable the researcher to supplement the data that is acquired from the interviews and questionnaires. The researcher will analyze the documents and publications related to the study topic. Documents that are expected to be reviewed include company reports, Journals, and Newspapers.
3.8 Validity and Reliability of the Research Instruments
3.8.1 Validity
Validity is defined as the extent to which results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations (Oso & Onen, 2008). While Borg & Gall, 1989 as cited in Onyinkwa, (2013) validity is defined as the degree to which results obtained by the research instrument correctly represented the phenomenon understudy and Mugenda & Mugenda, (1999) as the accuracy and meaningfulness of inferences which are based on the research results.
Amin, (2005) recommended a minimum CVI of 0.7 to be used. Validity will be tested using the content validity index which involves judges scoring the relevancy of the questions in the instruments about the study variables.
The formula for Content Validity Index is;
CVI =
Where CVI = content validity
n= number of items indicated relevant.
N = total no. of items in the instrument
In this study, validity will be achieved by establishing content validity. The researcher will achieve content validity by using the experts to assess the validity of the research instrument. The experts especially research supervisors and consultants from Makerere University will be given data collection tools to assess whether the items in the instruments are valid in relation to the research topic, objectives, and questions. From the instruments, they will declare some items valid and others invalid. Those declared invalid will be dropped, others adjusted, while the valid ones will be maintained. The content validity index (CVI) will be computed by dividing the number of items declared valid by the total number of items/questions in the data collection instrument.
3.8.2 Reliability
According to Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003), reliability is the measure of the extent to which research instruments are able to provide the same results upon being tested repeatedly. Crobach’s coefficient alpha (a) as recommended by Amin, (2005, P.302) will be used to test the reliability of the research instrument. The instrument is deemed reliable if reliable of 0.7 and above is obtained and therefore, it will be adopted for use in the data collection.
Formula for reliability is
= ()
Where = alpha reliability co efficiency.
K=Number of items included4 in the questionnaire
= sum of variance of individual items
= variance of all items in the instrument.
The coefficient ranges between a=0.00 for no reliability, a =1.00 for perfect reliability. The closer alpha gets to 1.0 the better. If the study findings result to Cronbanch’s Alpha of 0.7 and above, this will signify that research instrument is good enough for the study. According to Amin (2005), all the measurements in the instrument that show adequate levels of internal consistency of cronbach’s alpha of 0.77 and above are accepted as reliable.
3.9 Data Collection Procedure
The researcher will obtain a letter of introduction from Makerere university which will be presented to the authorities at in the sezibwa falls and after that he will obtain a list of all the staff in the organization.
The researcher will randomly select respondents to participate in the study; a self-administered questionnaire will be used to collect information from the above-mentioned respondents.
The researcher will also purposively select senior and middle-level managers who will be interviewed.
3.10 Data Analysis
3.10.1 Analysis of quantitative Data
Descriptive statistics namely frequency counts, and percentages will be used to analyze the respondents’ demographic characteristics and the mean and standard deviation will be used to analyze the respondents’ opinions on strengthening community based approaches for conserving cultural sites.
Data will be analyzed and correlated using Pearson Product-Moment correlation coefficient to establish the relationship between the variables under the study topic as suggested by Sekaran (2003), Amin (2005) and Oso and Onen (2008). Regression analysis will be used in determining the strength of the relationship between the variables, this will be possible by determining the value of R-squared value the higher the R-squared value the stronger the relationship. The statistical package which will be used for analysis of data in this study is the SPSS version 16.0. Different statistical techniques will be used namely: correlation and regression analysis. The upper level of statistical significance for hypothesis testing will be at 5%. All statistical test results will be computed at 2-tailed level of significance.
3.10.2 Analysis of qualitative data
Qualitative data will be analyzed using content analysis. Responses from key informants will be grouped into recurrent issues. The recurrent issues which will emerge in relation to each guiding question will be presented in the results, with selected direct quotations from participants offered as illustrations.
3.11 Measurement of variables
Data on the respondents’ views and opinions about the factors of supplier relationship and procurement performance will be collected using a structured questionnaire. The responses will be obtained using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Not Sure, 4 = Agree, and 5 = Strongly Agree. This measurement method is supported by numerous scholars who have conducted similar studies, such as Bowling (1997).
3.9 Ethical considerations
This study will primarily safeguard the privacy of respondents and their information will be kept confidential. For purposes of privacy, respondents’ names will be kept or silenced for purposes of not denying the respondents to express their views confidently. The study will also safeguard voluntary participation where respondents will not be required to answer a question if they do not feel like it, and the researcher will not put the respondent under duress (Mugenda Mugenda, 2003). On the side of confidentiality, all respondents will be promised that the information they are sharing will be for study purposes (Amin, 2005).To ensure that there is no plagiarism in this study, all work used in this book will be cited and referenced. The researcher will also go ahead to ensure that originality is ensured while using other people’s work (Kothari, 2004)
