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Quantitative
and Qualitative Methodology Analysis
STEVEN
R. VAN HOOK
Walden University
July
27, 2002
Quantitative
Research Article
Singhapakdi,
A., Rawwas, M. Y. A., Marta, J.
K., & Ahmed, M. I. (1999). A
cross-cultural study of consumer
perceptions about marketing
ethics. Journal
of Consumer Marketing. 16 (3),
275-272.
Retrieved
April
14, 2002
,
from http://clorinda.emeraldinsight.com/vl=17878921/cl=19/nw=1/fm=html/rpsv/cw/mcb/07363761/v16n3/s5/p257
It can be a challenge to demarcate
an article into a specific category
of "quantitative" or
"qualitative." For
simplicity's sake, I looked
through my collection of articles
for those that had considerable use
of data across various studies and
groups, in the hunt for a
sample of quantitative research.
Hypotheses
The
selected article offers this research
question: "How do ethical
values of individuals differ when
they are reared in different
cultures?"
The
authors expect that consumers from
different cultures will tend to hold
different views of ethical issues. The
authors cite prior research into
various national cultures and
accepted norms of ethical behavior
within those nations' legal and
social structures. For example:
In Germany, where tax manuals
state that bribes to domestic
officials are not deductible as
business expenses, while bribes to
foreign officials are. US citizens
typically believe such behaviors
are wrong. In the Middle East,
Lebanese consumers are less
sensitive to questionable market
practices, more Machiavellian,
less idealistic, and more
relativistic than Egyptian
consumers. Lebanon's extended
episodes of brutal civil war and
terrorism over recent times may
have acculturated Lebanese
consumers to devalue the worth of
human life, morality, values, and
laws. In that particular market,
global applications of US
marketers' domestic standards may
jeopardize their operation's
success. Trusting individuals from
cultures that habitually exhibit
ethical standards that differ from
the standards predominating in the
USA could be disastrous to
multinational marketers.
Methodology
To
test the hypotheses of cultural
impacts on ethical values, data were
collected from US and Malaysian
consumers through a
self-administered questionnaire. For
the US group, the researchers
selected a household panel from
a "major southern
university." For the
Malaysian group, the researchers
randomly selected 250 households from
various regions of the country.
The questionnaire employed a teleological
evaluation process, where "an
individual evaluates alternative
actions by considering what they
perceive as probable consequences,
the desirability of those
consequences, and the relative
importance of various
stakeholders."
Results
The authors cite the following
results to their research:
The overall differences between
US and Malaysian consumers on
moral philosophies, perceived
moral intensity, and attitudes
toward business and salespeople
were tested by means of a
multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) technique. According to
the MANOVA results, US consumers
and Malaysian consumers are
significantly different on the
combination of these variables (F
= 33.02, p = 0.00).
Critique
I nominated this article as
quantitative based on its heavy
reliance on research data, and its
incorporation of research data from
prior studies. Given the limited
data supply available through the
current study's methodology, it
appears to provide credible support
to the central hypothesis, that
culture foundations do impact the
development of cultural values.
However, the problem with such
qualitative studies is they are
ultimately limited in the data that
can be gathered to support some
rather sweeping conclusions.
This study, case in point,
determines its conclusions based on
the data gathered comparing just two
different cultures (US and
Malaysian) to answer its original
and much broader research question.
That limited focus had me wavering
toward classifying this article as a
qualitative study. However, based on
the methodology and data analyses
central to the research methodology,
it does seem to be a valid and
valuable piece of quantitative
research.
Qualitative
Research Article
For a qualitative piece, I looked
for an article with a more narrow
focus of study, which relied more on
anecdotal evidence rather than
voluminous data to support a
research topic.
Hypotheses
This
research article does not include a
hypothesis, per se, but rather seeks
to provide an empirical and
seemingly ethnographical study of a
Bulgarian industrial organization,
examining the subcultures that might
exist in the organization in both
socialist and postsocialist eras
(i.e., members
of the management subcultures are by
rule communists before 1989 and
respectively non-communists in the
first years after 1989).
Methodology
The
article is based on a case study of
an organization given the
pseudonym "SOBIO"
(abbreviation of State-Owned
Bulgarian Industrial Organization).
The paper is based on the author's Ph.D.
dissertation covering the
empirical findings of a case
study in one Bulgarian organization,
exploring the "subcultural
specificity in socialist and
postsocialist organizations."
The author conducted field work over
some nine months in 1994, applying
these "complementary methods:
studying the history of the
organization; interviewing former
and present organizational members
and making observations."
The
author interviewed some 54 subjects
to formulate her conclusions.
Results
The author cites her empirical
findings, with the conclusion:
The more conventional variety in
SOBIO's subcultural composition
includes hierarchically based,
occupationally based and age
differentiated subcultures. As
stated in the introduction, the
rather unconventional (in the
Western context) subcultural
division is based on the criterion
whether organizational members are
members of a certain political
party or not. In the case of
Bulgaria the separation is
according to whether
organizational actors are members
of the communist party or not.
Critique
This article had a rather narrow
scope, and the results were not extrapolated
to support some greater sweeping
hypothesis (such as in my selected
quantitative article on measuring
culture's influence on ethical
values). Given the tightly
focused topic, and the
ethnographical feel of the article,
the qualitative research approach
seemed appropriate and perhaps even
necessary for the nature of the
study.