Lessons Learnt from Corporate Social Investment at PetroSA

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Table of Contents

RESEARCH TYPE3

RESEARCH PROCESS4

Assumptions of Qualitative Research5

Limitations of Qualitative Data6

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY AND CHOICE7

RESEARCH APPROACH8

RESEARCH STRATEGY10

RESEARCH DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE11

Interviews12

Focus Groups14

ETHICAL CONCERN16

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF DATA16

CONCLUSION17

REFERENCES19

Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION

This chapter deals with the research method utilized for conducting the study. The study analysed the research question through the qualitative research process, including primary and secondary methods of research. The research philosophy has been interpretive in nature with the integration of inductive and deductive research approaches. The research strategy was the interpretive case study, with semi structured interviews and focus groups as the data collection techniques.

Research Type

This research study has used the exploratory and descriptive approach towards analyzing the lessons learnt from corporate social investment at PetroSA. The objective of exploratory research was to define the questions and hypotheses of a subsequent study or determining the feasibility of a desired research procedure. The main purpose for an exploratory research was to gather as much data as possible in a specified area of research and formulate in a logical manner (Merriam, 2002). This type of study is often employed to gain a deeper knowledge and thereby forms a basis for further studies.

On the other hand, the purpose of a descriptive research was to present a complete description of a subject within its context. The descriptive research approach addresses the questions: what, who, where, when and how. Moreover, this method has been often employed when a large amount of data and information is already available on the subject (Mills & Airasian, 2009). This knowledge is then used to categorize the information into frameworks and models. Descriptive study focuses on few aspects of a broad subject area.

This research has been of a descriptive nature because it described, decoded and translated the phenomena as they exist. It was used to identify and obtain information on the characteristics of a particular problem or issue (Heilmann, 2009). The research questions were descriptive in nature as they sought to ascertain and describe the characteristics of the pertinent issues.

The research has also been exploratory in nature because it was uncertain what the precise nature of the problem is. Is the attitude of the organization towards social investments initiatives? Is it pressure from stakeholders that non-sustainable projects are selected? Is it the managing of the projects that is an issue or could it be that the processes are not robust enough?

Research Process

The research method that was applied in this study was the primary and secondary research involving the undertaking of study on a qualitative basis. Qualitative research, also known as qualitative inquiry, is an umbrella term used to cover a wide variety of research methods and methodologies that provide holistic, in-depth accounts and attempt to reflect the complicated, contextual, interactive, and interpretive nature of the social world. For example, grounded theory, ethnography, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, narratology, photovoice, and participatory action research (PAR) may all be included under the qualitative label, although each of these individual ...