Questions and Pieces of Advice

My doctoral journey professor said something that is worthy thinking about and writing down on this blog. Noting the fear of statistics expressed by two students in my class, particularly one that was convinced statistics are impersonal, boring, hard to deal with, and so forth, the professor pointed out that this is a common complaint among students at residency.

The professor's guidance on the matter is to remain objective especially as marketers and dissertation researchers. She admits there are times when we "yawn at statistics"; however, she totally emphasizes the importance of objectivity in our work, saying, "We should NOT let our personal preferences influence how we approach a research problem."  This got me really interested.

She raised three questions and pieces of advice for us to consider:
(a) If you plan a qualitative study for your research and the reason you give for taking a qualitative method, saying for example, "I hate statistics!" and/or "because it is easier than a quantitative method", then, according to her, "you will have a very difficult time persuading people that your methodology is appropriate." By people, she is probably talking about the dissertation committee first and foremost.
(b) If you plan a quantitative study for your dissertation and your reasoning is, "Because my instructor (or dissertation chair) told me" and/or "Because it is easier than a qualitative method", the road ahead could be long, messy and painful.
(c) If you do not have 3 to 5 peer reviewed sources that call for research about your specific topic with your proposed method, then it is highly advised to find them.

She adds this thought, "If you cannot find adequate support in the literature for your proposed work, STOP, drop, and rethink your methodology.