Methodology and research design

Abstract

As Napp (2010, pp.56–58), for instance, notes, the objective of research is the creation of knowledge, primarily in the form of theories, which are "'filing systems” which allow observations to be used for explaining past and predicting future events" Gill et al. (2010, pp.42–43). Flynn et al. (1990, pp.253–256) note that research has a twofold contribution to the development of theory: by testing extant theories or by creating new theories.