Submitted to the faculty of Kensington College of Business, University of Wales (2010-2011).

Submitted by: Vamshi Krishna. Siripuram

Kensington college of business ID: 13687

Subject :

Research Methodology ( Part 2)

INDEX

Page no

Title Unit of analyses

3 3 4 6 7 8 8 9 10 10 11

Research methodology Research Philosophy Research design Research strategy Time Horizon Data collection methods Limitations Conclusion References

Title:

An evaluation of the emergency health care services at Medwin Hospitals, Mumbai and developing risk management Strategies. In the assignment 1, the preliminary review of literature, gaps in the authors views (existing knowledge) have been identified thereby hypothesises have been designed for testing and indepth analyses which means the questions related to WHAT and WHY has been dealt in the first phase and now the phase includes HOW which deals with the procedures and methods used to achieve the proposed topic. Unit of analyses:

The unit of analyses starts with the survey questionnaire where the primary data collected will be analysed for authenticity, and after comparing all the answers collected, they will be documented in the form of histograms and pie diagram which deals with all the necessary aspects to provide better emergency services. Added to that two variable will be considered ( patient satisfaction and saving rate on the scale of 100 and response times on the scale 10 will be considered to perform a chi square test) and that will reveal how important the emergency services are. More over the 7/7 bombings in the UK case studies are considered individually as they are already available on the official websites which explain how 21 out 52 victims have died because of the ineffectiveness of emergency services had a disaster occur. So, all these elements provide a conspicuous picture on the maintenance of emergency health care. To be precise and specific I conclude by saying that Primary data is collected form Manipal hospital and the secondary data is collected from various scholarly articles, books, newspapers and journals. (Although they are not completely authentic and needs testing to trust). Alternatives: There are posted surveys already on some of the websites, but they are not updated from 2009 and I believe that, if I want authentic data which can contribute in-depth knowledge to the conclusions and recommendations it is preferable to do it by myself.

3) Research Design and Methodology 3.1 Research Strategy: The issues pertaining to health and emergency services can be prevented and tackled by putting extra care and taking appropriate precautionary measures. As the conditions of emergency are not easily predictable an effective strategy has to be designed and implemented. The issues in providing emergency care services arise due to the deficiencies in the facilities, commitment of top level management and service quality. Now, the responsibility of the researcher is to design and implement an effective strategy such that conclusions can be drawn and recommendations can be made. In some cases, unknown events may occur which will create great difficulty for the researcher in data collection and analyses. Though, the data is obtained it may not be accurate and easily trusted. According to Yin (1994), authenticity between the original and collected data can be obtained through case studies which provide the hypothesis and phenomenon. According to Saunders, et al, (2009), the responsibility holds on the researcher in obtaining the desired objectives and in overcoming the hindrances required in the process of collecting the data. So a case study approach will be considered in the initial phase of the research, where various extenuating circumstances pertaining to emergency services will be analysed with respect to the strategy to be designed and then the authors views will be taken into consideration to do a side by side analyses on the data. 3.2 Methodology (Onion approach) The selection of methodology for conducting the research plays a very prominent role. The starting phase to conduct a research is to select the best methodology possible as it gives a clear picture on all the feasibility study aspects like what, why , how and where ( to start, to flow and to end). The research structure will be influenced by the methodology through which data is analysed. The methodology chosen should be appropriate for the scenario and the task developed. The aims and objectives should always be on a track of analyses as the results obtained will be based on the type and procedure implemented on the method. As the recommendations are mostly dependent on effective and quality care with respect to emergency service the research should go from a general basis to a specific category. It is very tedious to extract data from the qualitative analyses. There are some sort of complications involved in the

sections of questionnaires and grey literature. In these areas, the researcher has to put more effort designing the appropriate strategy moving from general to more specific. According to Saunders and Thornhill, (2000), if the methodology selected for a topic is best suited then it provides the best results than any of the other approaches. Irrespective of all the aspects pertaining to emergency care the Onion approach seems to be the best suited methodology as its systematic steps make it unique to gain in-depth knowledge on all the attributes, the flow of the research can be explained with in five layers of the Onion approach which means it a step further than any of the other approaches. The interesting aspect is that all requirements for this research have been covered in this research method. Step 1: Research philosophy: Positivistic: Although interpretivistic and realistic views are related to this project the edge lies with the positivistic approach as it provides the required knowledge to derive the laws which are based on the physical and natural state. In a field like emergency care no two authors will have similar views and every author has his own style of strategy although unusual. So it is up to the researcher to decide on which literature to trust, the best way is to analyse the data in a positivistic way where the behavioural causes with respect to quantitative and qualitative data which will thereby produce vectors and attributes on all the statistics and theory collected. This approach will have the attitude of human knowledge and will not completely base on the anticipations to evaluate the information. So, positivism in the context of emergency care will regulate the questionnaire, strategy and collection process. Arguably this research falls in between the interpretivistic and positivistic approach but undoubtedly it is more of positivistic than interpretivisitc.

Step 2: Research design: Deductive qualitative and quantitative analyses will be preferred as the topic of interest can provide best results if the study deals from general (Review of literature on Health care, realistic circumstances, case studies) to specific ( Emergency health care, conclusions and recommedations). In the previous submitted report (RM1), the researcher has given the introduction about the topic, collected the data and has written the literature review. The additional responsibility on the researcher is to make the report that should be clear and precise for the readers to understand. According to Thietart et al (2003), achievement of the expected results is possible through the research design characterised by clarity and simplicity. In this part of the report, the researcher is going to put forward the flow of methodologies and the important role they play in arriving at conclusions. The phenomenology and philosophy play their own unique roles. The technique of interpretation has relation between the methods for capturing the peoples experiences and the research phenomenon. The reasons for conducting the research and its effects will be discussed later in the main reprot. It serves as a tool for managing the department of emergency. According to Doyle, et al (2000), the in-depth understanding of the

emergency care services in an organisation can be achieved through the appropriate methodology incorporated in the research work. According to Bryman, et al (2003), the required data can be revoked by the individuals conception preconception on the questions and subjects. In this kind of scenario, data collected through qualitative methods will be very useful for the in-depth identification of the issues, resolving them and providing a long term solution. In some cases, data that is irrelevant and unexpected may occur at the stage of interpretation. The researcher has taken the appropriate steps at the stage of analysis for mitigating these problems. In terms of 2nd layer, the researcher will now discuss the importance of deductive approach. The deductive flow will move from general to specific. Although the inductive approach is used very rarely in this research, deductive is preferred irrespective of whether the data is qualitative or quantitative. The following diagram depicts the flow of both approaches:

Step 3: Research strategies: As mentioned earlier surveys are preferred to collect the primary data and they deal with the what, why , how and where, and even some case studies are also preferred, the response rate might be low but the researcher is also planning to offer few incentives to the patients as a decent gesture or a mark of appreciation but I will take the valuable suggestions from my supervisor while going for approval of permissions. Step 4: Time horizon: The strategies of emergency care differ according to the situation so cross sectional time horizon is considered and the co relation and chi square tests are performed on the cross sectional basis to make proper recommendations at the end of the research. Step 5: Data collection methods: Primary and Secondary Sources There are many methodologies to collect the data and to conducting the research and it is always tricky to select the best way. Selecting the most authentic way will yield good results as the analytical and descriptive research may not be sufficient in some cases solely. The main objectives in this research are to design a strategy for improving the emergency services such that conclusions can be drawn and recommendations can be made. According to Swanson, et al, (2005), if there is no availability of the previous studies about a particular topic, lots of explanation has to be made by the researcher in detail for making the readers familiar with the topic. According to Robson (2002), both the sources of data primary as well as secondary should be considered. The researcher is going to begin with collecting the secondary data which provided authentic information and basics through various sources such as library, articles, journals, internet and census. Then, the researcher focus on the collection of secondary data from the sources like focus groups, questionnaires and surveys for making recommendations regarding the strategy to implement for improving the emergency services and making conclusions. The protocol of case study should be documented because the reliability of the data that is collected can be known at the time of conducting the research. Database should be established for ensuring the production of similar kind of results when the same methodology is repeated again. According to Jidd and Kudder (2003), authenticity of the data should be achieved by

referring to various types of resources. The outcomes achieved should be acknowledged in order to be far from being biased in the study. This can be achieved by re-interviews and reanalysing. The researcher mainly relies on the secondary sources of data. The information obtained will be qualitative and non-numeric in nature. Quantitative data is also collected when required which is through statistical figures. The researcher will be regularly in touch with the supervisor in order to seek the valuable advice and suggestions regarding how to interview the patients. The researcher will take the permission from the authorities of the management to enter the premises of the hospital to conduct the research program as per the rules and regulation laid down by the hospital management. The researcher will proceeded legally by taking the approval letter from the Ministry of Health to conduct the research program at Manipal hospital. Grey literature and limitations: There will occur many challenges for the researcher and he need to take the appropriate steps for resolving them in the research program. The information collected is documented in the native language as the patients there are not proficient in English; they can understand but cant reply properly. The researcher will translate the language of documentation into English. The toughest challenge for the researcher to face is in getting the permission from ministry of health for conducting the research as they are very concerned about confidentiality and security. The limitations in the strategy can be managed through a systematic strategy. Some of the drawbacks include the following: There are some limitations in the information that is gathered about the hospital. The official websites lack the statistical data. Aspects are not easily interpretable as many sensitive issues have to be dealt with. As the availability of data is very large it has become a tough task for the researcher to interpret the data.

The limitations can be avoided through an appropriate strategy by exploring the data in deep. The process was already started by the researcher as the legal permissions from the ministry of health and from the hospital is obtained. Conclusion:

The researcher has investigated many approaches to conduct the research along with their benefits and drawbacks. It was found that qualitative exploratory case study will be apt for the present scenario. Methodologies for collecting the data are chosen accordingly. The reliability and validity for being away from the bias are stated along with the ethics followed and challenges faced by the researcher. As all the phases involved in the project are covered in the onion approach, the researcher has selected this approach as the starting point of research. Then the combination of inductive and deductive approaches is used appropriately based on the scenario. Finally, the questionnaires, interviews and surveys are conducted for gathering the data which is used for the purpose of analysing. The conclusions are made and recommendations are given for improving the quality in the services of emergency care.

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