Kwantlen Brenda

Part A

What is at the heart of the quantitative/qualitative debate?

Quantitative research is a numerical process to understand a research question while qualitative research is investigating personal experiences to gain a better understanding of a problem. Both when done by applying a scientific approach, ensure biases do not come into play. The research question will help determine which type of study is better suited. In recent years mixed methods have been combined to gain an even greater understanding of the problem. Appropriate methods in conducting mixed method research papers are now available and widely accepted amongst the scholarly community. The argument that now exists is if quantitative research or qualitative research on its own provides a comprehensive understanding of a problem and or if combined provide a more complete picture.

Do you think mixed-methods research can provide a more complete picture for leadership studies? 

I believe that yes mixed methods of research can provide a more complete picture for leadership studies. For example in my own experience, both the economy and capacity building are equally important to First Nation communities and so in understanding the best leadership style to promote this type of environment, it is clear that a mixed method research paper would provide a greater understanding. Quantitative data on indigenous leadership could be measured by exploring the financial success of an indigenous community and how this relates to leadership styles. Qualitative data on indigenous leadership could be measured by focus groups targeting the answers such as how has past traditional teachings been utilized by leadership, what are the investments in training that are seen as valued, how does a community best build capacity and what is the community doing to help people that are disadvantaged. Organizations are complex and have often more than one goal or strategic mandate and therefore, this is where I believe mixed methods are beneficial to leadership studies.

Part B

Evaluating the use of mixed method approach in the article called Achieving High Organizational Performance through Servant Leadership (Melchar & Bosco, 2010)

1. The rationale for needing mixed methods of research is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the researchers determined that qualitative interviews were necessary prior to proceeding with a quantitative questionnaire, …in order to determine whether there were main themes that reflected the senior leader’s “servant leader” orientation (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 80).
2. The choice of the mixed methods design is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the researchers describe how qualitative interviews are researched as well as the results of the surveys, how the surveys were interpreted and what method was used to interpret the surveys.
3. The quantitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of quantitative research – Rating 3 – while the sample size was somewhat small, the researchers indicated in their conclusion that …the coefficient alphas were consistent with those in the Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) study. Good statistical analytic procedures were used and described in the reference paper.
4. The qualitative methods are of good quality based on the standards of qualitative research – Rating 3 – the qualitative method and results were shared in a table. These results were consistent with former research in evaluating traits of servant leaders. There researchers goals were to confirm that the leadership had traits of servant leadership.
5. The quantitative and qualitative components of the study are meaningfully mixed – Rating 3 – If the researchers did not conduct qualitative research prior to the quantitative research, the results of the quantitative research may have been questioned.
6. The study used rigorous application of mixed methods research to address the purpose – Rating 3 – the research paper purpose was to investigate …whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts tor develops other servant leaders (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, P. 74). The qualitative data was used to confirm servant leadership management style as opposed to other types of leadership styles. Once confirmed the organization did possess a servant leadership style the quantitative data sought to understand if the servant leader developed and attracted other servant leaders.
7. The use of mixed methods produced a good understanding of the research purpose – Rating 3 – the researchers did provide serval complete and valid in-depth answers to the study’s research question.

Overall score 21/21 indicating a high quality research paper.

Part C

Describe an example of a Transformational Servant Leader in your life.

In my indigenous community I have many examples of transformational servant leaders. As a group I would describe the elders as transformational servant leaders. Our elders form part of our government and guide us in business activities. They heavily influence and support change in the community for future generations. Many of these elders have experienced inter-generational trauma and in their lifetime will never likely see the results of their work in instilling change in the community. The elders support the youth in education, mentorship, family life and remind younger generations about the importance of taking care of others and mother earth. They remind us to use our traditional teachings such as following the 7 laws of life – health, happiness, humbleness, generations, generosity, forgiveness and understanding. These laws help guide our business group in making important decisions for the future our community. They put others needs above their own and are impacting important change for my community.

How would you use a mixed methods approach to study servant leadership?

I would utilize a mixed method approach in studying servant leadership through an exploratory sequential design. Relative to my workplace, and in evaluating servant leadership in an indigenous setting, quantitative data could be utilized to evaluate servant leadership through data that could be collected, evaluating past successes of indigenous organizations. Qualitative data however is also important in understanding the future of servant leadership and its role in indigenous communities. There is an emergence of traditional teachings that align with servant leadership however since much of indigenous culture teachings were not shared or spoken of amongst generations, there has been a gap in information. As culture teachers become more readily available and accepted in communities, so does the concept of servant leadership become accepted as a best model for leadership.

In past research, quantitative research has been held in higher regard than qualitative research in terms of its ability to provide more perceived credible results. Do you think a mixed method approach provides more validity to the importance also of qualitative research and its findings?

References

Barbuto, J. e., and D.W. Wheeler. 2006. “Scale Development and construct Clarification of Servant Leadership.” Group & Organization Management, 31(3): 300-326.

 

Melchar, D. E., & Bosco, S. M. (2010). Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership. Journal of Business Inquiry, 9(1), 774-88.

Part A

Evaluation of the Research Design for the research paper, The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement (Carter & Baghurst, 2014):

1. A research design guides the conduct of the qualitative study – Rating 3 – the researchers cited a substantial amount of literature. The researchers utilized a phenomenology design.
2. The choice of the research design is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the choice of the research design is appropriate. Utilizing a phenomenology design is a good approach toward answering the research question.
3. Good qualitative data collection procedures are used – Rating 3 – the researchers utilized a focus group for the collection of data and previous company survey results.
4. Good qualitative data analysis procedures are used Rating 3 – The researchers utilized a 7 step process to analyse the data.
5. Good qualitative results and interpretations are reported – Rating 3 – The researchers reported the focus groups results as well as grouped participants when comments were similar in nature.
6. The study used a rigorous research design – Rating 3 – the researchers included and built on former knowledge, referencing prior research as well as prior processes.
7. The use of the qualitative research design addressed the study’s purpose – Rating 3 – the study fulfilled the intent and answers the research question.

Overall Quality of the research is high with a score of 21/21

Part B

Evaluation of the participants and data collection procedures for the research paper The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement (Carter & Baghurst, 2014)

1. The sampling strategy is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – the researchers conducted the focus group in a designated area the employees were comfortable with and was convenient. The researchers provided references to previous studies that indicated that it was justified. They also provided references regarding other best practices such as confidentiality agreements and length of time the focus group was convened.
2. The sample size is appropriate and justified – Rating 3 – The researchers had a small group with relevant experience. The group was further reduced by creating two separate focus groups.
3. The data types are appropriate – Rating 3 – the data types were appropriate.
4. The data are gathered using rigorous qualitative procedures – Rating 3 – the researchers utilize open ended questions to encourage dialogue in the group.
5. Data collection issue are handled ethically and thoughtfully – Rating 3 – the researchers ensured the participants had the opportunity to sign a confidentiality agreement and ensured the names of the participants would not be included in the final research report.
6. The selected participants are information rich – Rating 3 – Employees included in the survey had a minimum of 5 years’ experience working at a restaurant that was recognized for servant leadership.
7. The database provides extensive and credible information about the central phenomenon – Rating 3 – the findings included extensive information about the focus group, what questions were asked, responses, common themes, etc.

Overall rating 21/21 – High Quality

Part C

Evaluation of the data analysis and findings for the research paper The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement (Carter & Baghurst, 2014)

1. The analysis process used rigorous qualitative procedures – Rating 3 – the researchers documented, recorded and transcribed comments from the focus group. The researchers also found common themes and followed a 7 step process to analyse the data.
2. Strategies were used to validate the findings – Rating 3 – as part of the 7 step process in evaluating the data the researchers clustered core themes, identified invariant constituents.
3. The findings include a description of the people, places, or events in the study – Rating 3 – the researchers describe the participants and why they were appropriate to participate in the focus groups.
4. The findings include appropriate themes about the central phenomenon – Rating 3 – 5 themes were reported.
5. The findings relate multiple themes to each other – Rating 3 – the researchers reported the relationship amongst the themes.
6. That data analysis represents a good qualitative process – Rating 3 – the data analysis was credible and accurate results were gathered.
7. The findings provide a good exploration of the central phenomenon – Rating 3 – the findings provided information for discussion, suggestions to further research and a conclusion.

Overall assessment is 21/21 High Quality

Part D

As a consumer of research reports the most important aspects one needs to consider in the methods and results section of a high-quality qualitative research report include:

• The researchers share the method they used to obtain the results.
• There is a clear description of the overall design.
• Researchers provide details on participants and why they were considered qualified.
• Information in the literature includes how the data was collected and analyzed.

Elements of this section that raise questions and may be confusing:

While evaluating the participants and data collection I was confused by what is meant by data types. I’m looking for more information on data types utilized in qualitative research.

How can you apply this knowledge to your work context or current leadership experience?

In my current role, I can see a qualitative research report being of considerable value. As a leader in an indigenous organization, there is not a great deal of research conducted on indigenous economic development in Canada. Many First Nations are new to economic development and work closely with their lands and resources department on rights and title issues. As the rights and title legal climate is constantly changing, so too is the economic development front and therefore indigenous businesses need to quickly adapt. One unique approach my company has taken is to maintain a strategic mandate despite the current legal climate. The approach is to operate the business in a humble way, and to stick to key principles such as capacity building. By doing so my company has built a very unique operation that is not found amongst many other nations. At this point in time my nation is receiving interest from other nations, banks, lawyers and others working in the field of indigenous economic development, to better understand our business model. I do believe it is a business model that can be shared with other nations that are struggling to get economic development off the ground. Recently I’ve been in discussions with a researcher whom is interested in studying our business model and I believe a qualitative research report would be the most appropriate, given the lack of literature available on the topic. I now feel more confident and better equipped to work with the researchers to develop a study on our business model. It will also be interesting to not let my biases slip in, but will look to the experienced researchers to implement methods to prevent this from happening.

My question to my classmates I am curious to know is, how you too might have managed your biases when participating in a qualitative research study or when reading a qualitative study?

References

Danon Carter, & Timothy Baghurst. (2014). The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement. Journal of Business Ethics, (3), 453. https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2420/10.1007/s10551-013-1882-0