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Role of the Researcher
My role as the researcher was to identify the participant selection criteria, recruit
participants, collect data, and analyze the collected data. Qualitative researchers must
clarify their roles while conducting research because they have a variety of member roles
in the research setting (Unluer, 2012). For this qualitative multiple case study, I used the
Chamber of Commerce website to find franchise small businesses in North Carolina. As
the researcher, I contacted small business owners via telephone and written
correspondence (see Appendix A) to explain the purpose of the study and to obtain
permission to do this research study in their companies. The letter of invitation (see
Appendix B) gave an explanation of the purpose and the intent of the study, disclosed my
role as the researcher, the benefits of the study, and information regarding semistructured
interviews with open-ended questions.
Data collection consisted of document review and semistructured interviews for a
period of 4 weeks. The data collection method for this study included searching the small
businesses’ website for company documents such as published advertisements and
marketing information such as newsletters, catalogs, and Internet advertisements used for
retaining customers, which occurred for 2 days prior to interviews. I interviewed five
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franchise small business leaders 18 years or older in North Carolina with 3 years of
marketing strategy experience within the organization and use retention strategies on a
regular basis to retain customers. Qualitative interviews provide rich and multi-sided data
for analysis (Mikėnė, Gaižauskaitė, & Valavičienė, 2013). Anyan (2013) stated that the
qualitative research interview has a lopsided power distribution between the interviewer
and the interviewee, where an interviewer might assume a unidirectional approach and
the interviewees might have countermeasures. Mikėnė, Gaižauskaitė, and Valavičienė
(2013) argued that qualitative interviewing is not a simple conversation, but the life story
of an informant and necessity to enquire the story from a variety of incommunicative
informants. I used NVivo software to validate the data I analyzed and coded after I
collected data to identify themes.
My affiliation with the research topic, participants, and geographical area is that I
solicit the services of small businesses in the North Carolina area. In addition, I have
experience working in higher education at a university in North Carolina. Unluer (2012)
noted that insider researchers know how to best approach participants because
researchers affiliated with the research site have knowledge of the politics of the
institution.
I obtained approval from Walden’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to conduct
research (10-15-15-0262982). The IRB process ensures the protection of human beings
participating in research study are not being harmed (Jacob & Furgerson, 2012). History
reminds researchers of previous unethical research that harmed human participants, and
The Belmont Report exist due to unethical actions of researchers (Nurunnabi, 2014).
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After I received IRB approval, I contacted franchise small business leaders via telephone
and written correspondence (see Appendix A) to explain the purpose of the study. I
recruited participants ensuring the protection of the participants’ rights, privacy, and
confidentiality. To assure that the ethical protection of participants was adequate, each
participant received a letter of invitation (see Appendix B). After I received responses via
e-mail or telephone from participants, I selected five participants meeting the criteria.
Before conducting interviews, I had all participants sign an informed consent form, which
included a statement that participating in this study was voluntary and participants may
withdraw at any time (see Appendix C). According to Jacob and Furgerson (2012),
participants should understand that they may withdraw from the study at any time and
participants that decline signing the consent form should not be encouraged to grant
consent.
I received a certificate of completion for certification of ethical measures
(Appendix D). I informed participants that disclosure of their identity and demographics
such as gender and race was not necessary. My data retention plan was to store the data
collection on a password protected USB drive and all other documents connected to study
in a locked safe for 5 years.
Although I do not have a relationship with participants, I eliminated my opinions
and experience with the phenomenon and took steps to reduce bias in my perspective as
the researcher. Yin (2014) stated that testing for bias is possible when collecting data if
the researcher is open to contrary findings. I was open and transparent with the
participant to ensure privacy and confidentiality. I respected the participants’ privacy and
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confidentiality by using ethical measures such as obtaining IRB approval, bracketing my
opinions, and allowing participants to withdraw from the study without penalty.
I used an interview protocol (see Appendix E), which served as a guide for the
interview process to ensure the reliability of the interview process. An interview protocol
establishes a procedural guide to help pave qualitative researchers’ interview process
(Jacob & Furgerson, 2012). According to Rubin and Rubin (2012), researchers prepare in
advance an interview protocol, which is a written version of the research questions and
interview process.
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