Research Onion Model (by Saunders) Explained

The research onion, developed by Saunders and others, is an easy-to-understand diagram that shows the various stages that a researcher must take into account, in order to develop an effective research methodology (Saunders et al, 2012).

The research onion describe the various stages through which the researcher must pass when formulating an effective methodology. First, the researcher must define the research philosophy, then the appropriate research approach must be adopted. In the third step, the research strategy is adopted, and the fourth layer identifies the time horizon. In the fifth step, data collection methodology is identified.

1. Research Philosophy: Positivism, Interpretivism, Realism
2. Research Approaches: Deductive, Inductive
3. Research Strategies: Experiment, Survey, Case Study, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, Observation, Action Research
4. Time Horizons: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal,
5. Data Collection Methods: Sampling, Secondary Data, Observation, Questionnaire.

Related: The compete research process explained

The main benefits of the research onion is that it provides an appropriate structure within which to frame the research inquiry. Your role as a researcher is to explain your choices and justify your position as you progress through each of the 5 stages.

Here’s an example of how to write research methodology based on the Research Onion.

Research philosophy for this research work will be based on interpretivism and qualitative research. The research approach will follow more of a deductive approach where we will start with a set of theories that are more general in nature, and then move towards understanding specific areas based on the data collected (Saunders et al, 2012). Basically, we will start with the bigger picture and try to understand the specifics based on the data collected.

Quantitative research involves gathering data that is entirely numerical whereas Qualitative Research involves gathering information that is not numerical, but it can be opinions, interviews, pictures, videos, observations, with focus being on understanding words than numbers (Walliman, 2006). Most of the qualitative data needed for research work is obtained from secondary sources such as interviews, observations, news articles from books, journals and the internet.

Research strategies include strategies such as Case Studies, Observation and Surveys.

• A Case Study is basically collection of detailed information about specific groups, individuals or organization. Case studies research method is commonly used for qualitative analysis and is best suited to find out more about how and why questions, it allows researchers to obtain knowledge based on observation of phenomenon within contextually rich environment.
• Observation research is another technique of qualitative research where researchers observe how participants behave in their natural environment. Here, researchers capture data based on what participants are doing and not really based on what they are saying or claiming.
• Survey research involves asking participants (respondents) to express their thoughts, feeling, opinions on questions related to the topic being researched. Surveys can also be sent on e-mail or over the internet.

In terms of Time Horizons, this research will adopt more of a cross-sectional view, instead of longitudinal, so that it can take a look at how social media and traditional advertising is used by various kinds of businesses to target different age groups.

Research tends to be explanatory – it looks for reasons as to why particular things are happening, aiming to establish what the cause and effect relationships are in this specific situation. Or it can be exploratory – seeking insights into or asking questions about unfamiliar or complex situations. “Much enquiry in the real world is essentially some form of evaluation” (Robson 2002:6). Management research especially is often directed at solving a particular organisational problem, or improving organisational processes in specific way, or, one could undertake a more theoretical piece of work that focuses in detail on an issue in management thought.

Once all the data is collected, it is analysed to get more insights. The data will be read several times (if it is qualitative) in order to get familiar with it and to see how it can answer the research objectives. The data is analysed to look for patterns, relationships, connections in order to make relevant conclusions.

References

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) “Research Methods for Business Students” 6th edition, Pearson Education Limited
Walliman, N. (2006). Social research methods. SAGE Publications, Ltd https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781849209939

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