3.2. PHILOSOPHY
A pragmatic approach will be adopted within the research methodology, indicating the value of working with different philosophical positions to appropriately answer the research question. This is essential as a limitation of working with one philosophical position, is that there are many different ways of interpreting the environment and no single view can provide a complete picture (Denzin, 2012). A pragmatic multi-method tactic which ensures credible and reliable data collection will help to drive an informed understanding of the research within a contemporary context (Saunders et al. 2012), advancing the scope of study and presenting an argument with reduced bias from the perspective of the researcher.
Two applicable continuums include interpretivist and positivist paradigms (Saunders et al. 2012). Initially, interpretivist philosophy was pertinent to outline consumer attitudes towards DM and digitisation, examining how businesses reflect market orientation in practice. Cottrell (2014) suggested the researcher should adopt an empathetic viewpoint, viewing each participant phenomenologically or subjectively. This is significant as advertising clutter and demassification suggest that consumers are exposed to a range of channels which may uniquely impact each variable response, impacting factors such as social influences, situational or economic considerations and individual preferences (Edelson, 2002). Positivism within secondary data collection considers the relevance of observable reality, or exploring causal relationships and law-like generalisations between subjective interviews and objective case studies (Saunders et al. 2012). A practical implication of this approach is that the study will explore the social context objectively, positing a justifiable comparison of participant perception to real-life practices. In turn, this will negate the influence of the researcher’s ideological beliefs and remove potential biases which could impact the results of the study (Cottrell, 2014).
3.3. RESEARCH APPROACH
3.3.1. INTERVIEWS
A multi-method approach was utilised, comprising interviews which were synthesised with secondary case studies. Defined as purposeful discussion between two or more parties, interviews are valuable in drawing upon the knowledge of consumers and their attitudes and unique experiences towards communication and marketing channels (Saunders et al. 2012). Whilst the conceptual framework was adopted to inform the semi-structured questions, an inductive strategy was still used to gain an understanding of the changeable attitudes towards channels, contrasting from a deductive approach where theory leads research within a stricter type of methodology (Saunders et al. 2012). In its application, the inductive approach accounts for a deeper exploration of ideas by providing a working-hypothesis, gauging responses to phenomena and pursuing new insights within a field (Shields & Rangarajan, 2013). Five semi-structured interviews were conducted on a face-to-face basis, over the course of the research, which provided rich, qualitative information about attitudes, experiences or perspectives towards traditional and digital channels (Cottrell, 2014). Contextually, this allowed for a higher margin of researcher consistency as face-to-face interviews provide the researcher with valuable social indicators such as reading body language; influential in helping to understand attitudes to the proposed phenomena (Legard et al. 2003). Whilst researcher bias can be a prominent weakness in interview data collection, this was mitigated by use of semi-structured planned questions founded on the conceptual framework (Saunders et al. 2012). Interview questions were further piloted in a peer-testing phase to ensure that all questions were easy to understand, used appropriate vocabulary and had the same level of importance
