Plan: How to choose methods and theme

2. How to choose a research methodology
To choose the right research methodology for your dissertation or thesis, you need to consider three important factors. Based on these three factors, you can decide on your overarching approach – qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. Once you’ve made that decision, you can flesh out the finer details of your methodology, such as the sampling, data collection methods and analysis techniques (we discuss these separately in other posts).
The three factors you need to consider are:

1. 
   The nature of your research aims, objectives and research questions
   
2. 
   The methodological approaches taken in the existing literature
   
3. 
   Practicalities and constraints
   

Let’s take a look at each of these.
Factor #1: The nature of your research
As I mentioned earlier, each type of research (and therefore, research methodology), whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed, has a different purpose and helps solve a different type of question. So, it’s logical that the key deciding factor in terms of which research methodology you adopt is the nature of your research aims, objectives and research questions.
But, what types of research exist?
Broadly speaking, research can fall into one of three categories:

1. 
   Exploratory – getting a better understanding of an issue and potentially developing a theory regarding it
   
2. 
   Confirmatory – confirming a potential theory or hypothesis by testing it empirically
   
3. 
   A mix of both – building a potential theory or hypothesis and then testing it
   

As a rule of thumb, exploratory research tends to adopt a qualitative approach, whereas confirmatory research tends to use quantitative methods. This isn’t set in stone, but it’s a very useful heuristic. Naturally then, research that combines a mix of both, or is seeking to develop a theory from the ground up and then test that theory, would utilize a mixed-methods approach.