Qualitative Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction
Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of an issue (Creswell, 2008). As a science of study about how research is to be carried out and the methods by which knowledge is gained (Redmen and Mory, 2009), research methodology is a systematic way to solve a problem with the aim to give the work plan of research. Methodology refers to a framework of principles and theories on which procedures and methods are based. Research methodology essentially works as the procedures by which researchers go around of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena.
In fact, all research is based on certain underlying philosophical assumptions concerning appropriate research method
Qualitative research enables researchers to study cultural and social phenomena (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007). Domegan and Fleming (2007) proposed that qualitative research aims to discover and explore issues about the problem where usually very little is known about characteristics and dimensions. It uses ‘soft’ data and gets ‘rich’ data. Qualitative research is concerned with exploring phenomena from the interior (Flick, 2009). According to Denzin and Lincoln (2011), qualitative research may be seen as a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world into a series of representations. At a general level, it is often described as a naturalistic and interpretative approach and concerned with qualitative phenomenon relating or involving
Generally, the social world is not governed by regularities that hold law-like properties in which natural science methods are inappropriate for social investigation. Instead, it is much desirable for researchers to collect data with their own sense and explore the social world through the participants’ perspectives. Qualitative research is largely associated with interpretivism. In practice, researchers might be uncertain about the realised reality (Schutt, 2006) as they tend to interpret issues in different meanings. Interpretive approach here allows a greater scope to address issues of influence and impact. Meanwhile, questions such as ‘how’ and ‘why’ particular technological trajectories are created (Deetz,