Exploratory methods Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exploratory methods - Research Paper Example In such context, Naslund (2008) defined case study approach as contraction of positivistic perspectives where researchers try to formulate case by analyzing secondary data or generate assumptions from small no of observations. Naslund (2008) defined four conditions for which, researchers should select case study approach over other exploratory methods and these three criteria can be defined in the following manner; When the research problem needs to be addressed through qualitative research. When researchers cannot access the primary data from respondents due endogenous and exogenous constraints. When aim of the researcher is to generate new knowledge regarding the research topic rather than validating previous claims. Researcher has the aim to address the research problem in comprehensive manner by comparing the examples of different subject matters. It is evident from the argument of Aastrup & Halldorsson (2008); researchers use summary findings of particular phenomenon as the case and use it to compare the phenomenon. In most of the cases, researchers use secondary sources such as company data, previous research works, academic journals etc to formulate the case while in exceptional cases, researchers might go for primary data based case formation approach (Naslund, 2008). There are some advantages associated with case study based exploratory research such as, 1- cost efficient, 2- requires less time than primary survey and 3- provides holistic view on the subject matter. But, Aastrup & Halldorsson (2008) pointed out that some disadvantages are associated with case study based research approaches such as, 1- researchers might indulge in incorporating subjective view on the research problem in the name of exploration and 2- scope of case study approach decreases with non availability of data. Despite these limitations, Naslund (2008) supported case study based approach as one of the fundamental aspect of exploratory research. Cozby (2012) and Campbell (2012) defined psychobiography as an important aspect of exploratory research which focuses on analyzing the lives of individuals who are historically important. In case of psychobiography, researchers take help of psychological theory and concepts in order to understand the lives of the very individual. Key objective of psychobiography is to understand the personality of the historically important figure and their motive behind taking any action. For example, Campbell (2012) did psychobiography of Jacques Derrida (one of the renowned thinker of twentieth century) while political leaders like Gandhi, Hitler, Stalin are some famous subjects among researchers to conduct psychobiography. Campbell (2012) also pointed out that psychobiography is not commentary like traditional biography rather psychobiography is intended to find self-identity of the historically important figure. Question 7 Jimerson (2003) stressed on the importance of archive as knowledge repository which stores historical dat a, criminal records, litigation papers etc in the course of exploratory research. Jimerson (2003, p. 91) stated that â€Å"representation in archives has privileged the stories of these groups, since it is their voices that are most often recorded and thus most frequently heard in historical accounts.† According to Jimerson (2003), archival research is alternative version