Mixed Research Methods : Former and new Trends in Women Entrepreneurship Research. Former and new Trends in Women Entrepreneurship Research

Florica Tomos, Rami Djebarni, Andrew Rogers, Andrew Thomas, Andre Clark, Oana Cristina Balan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a relatively new research field and as a consequence, there is little or no research on designated research methods for this field. Within this context, Women Entrepreneurship as a new branch of Entrepreneurship is in greater need of a comprehensive review of strategies, methods and techniques used in this sub-field. In parallel, across different research fields there was an emergence of innovative ways of mixing quantitative and qualitative research methods and an effort to form the foundation of a new research method - mixed method research (MMR). This paper undertook a critical review into the research methods employed by previous studies on entrepreneurship with a focus on women entrepreneurship in particular. Additionally, the study will search for trends within the research methods used by studies on entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship. This is a theoretical research where an extensive and systematic literature review was carried out across seven decades, with over 200 articles from more than ten ranked journals, relevant to this research field. The research paper critically evaluates the research methods used by studies on women entrepreneurs. The study attempts to answer the research question regarding the effectiveness of using mixed research methods as a research choice and the imminent trend of innovative ways in blending quantitative and qualitative methods in order to increase the validity of the research. The findings show a strong orientation towards using mixed research methods, with emphasis on the use of case studies as a qualitative approach. Also, there is an increasing use of triangulation of both data collection methods and data analysis. The findings of this research discuss the advantages of using mixed method approach in the research field of women entrepreneurship. Moreover, the results will enhance the body of foundational theoretical work for the third research methods - mixed method research. Further, this research will be of benefit for academics and researchers in the field of women entrepreneurship in particular and management in general and a contribution to knowledge.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 14th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies
Subtitle of host publicationUniversity of Malta, Valletta 11-12 June 2015
EditorsFrank Bezzina, Vincent Cassar
Place of PublicationReading, UK
PublisherAcademic Conferences and Publishing International
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-910810-12-5 , 978-1-910810-13-2
ISBN (Print)978-1-910810-11-8
Publication statusPublished - 11 Jun 2015

Publication series

NameECRM Proceedings
PublisherACPI
ISSN (Print)2049-0968
ISSN (Electronic)2049-0976

Keywords

  • Experiment/theoretical treatment
  • Small business
  • Business and Economics--Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Research methodology
  • Studies
  • Trends
  • Women

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