Research Methodology

Research methodology can be defined as something people undertake in order to find out things in a systematic way thereby increasing their knowledge (Saunders et al., 2007).  There are many ways in which research methods can be explained. 

The research onion was developed by Saunders et al. (2007) to illustrate the stages that must be covered when undertaking research. Each outer layer in the research onion describes a more detailed stage of research process and contains different ways in which a layer of research can be conducted. This approach provides an effective progression through which a research methodology can be designed and its usefulness lies in the fact that it can adapt to almost any type of research methodology and can be used in a wide range of contexts (Bryman, 2012).

The presentation below shows each stage of the research onion: 

Reference:

Bryman, Alan (2012). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Flick,Uwe. (2011). Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project. London: Sage.

Goddard, W. & Melville, S. (2004). Research Methodology: An Introduction, (2nd ed.) Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Hussey, Jill, and Roger Husse (1997)y. "Business research." Hampshire: Palgrave(1997).

May, Tim (2011). Social research. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), 2011.

Saunders, M., P Lewis (2007)- Research methods for business students, 2007

Yin, R. K. (2003) Case Study Research Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks, 3^rdEdition, Sage Publications, Inc.