Task
- Provide feedback to your colleague below on his methodology and methods, suggesting ways of refining his choices or considering alternatives.
- Discuss the challenges you foresee in employing his chosen data collection methods and how he can overcome these challenges.
- Identify any ethical issues involved in data collection using his chosen methods and discuss how these could impact the validity of his findings, as well as how he will address these issues.
- Be sure to include references to all sources in Harvard Referencing Style.
For my paper which is titled, "Security Sector Reform: Is Project Management the Solution?", I am exploring the potential benefit of adapting the formal methods of project management to the field of SSR. This research will require an epistemological approach as common terminology between the two field must be established once the work of SSR may be defined within the context of the project management field. To support the hypothesis that SSR would benefit from a PM approach a positivist approach will be utilized to better identify both the correlation and causation of various outcomes within SSR from the application of PM tools. As there has been no formal attempt to apply a PM methodology to SSR implementation, this is prime example of what Easterby-Smith and Thorpe defines as a "new paradigm (2012, p. 23)."
Another benefit of using the positivist approach is that it could support both surveys of personnel working within the SSR field, to identify known shortcomings and performance failures, which can also be compared with the SSR body of knowledge on a variety of initiative across multiple states. This also permits me to access a number of case studies developed by SSR experts and utilize their findings, as I am not an SSR expert. Alternative sources of available data include a variety of governmental reports demonstrating both financial expenditures, investments and planned versus actual outcomes. Primary sources for this information can be found through SIGAR reporting and have the added benefit of providing quantitative data to support any findings. Finally, I have project performance data for the training of security sector personnel in the West Bank with access to a variety of implementers, policy developers, and administrators who may also be interviewed to determine if the current project results after 8 years are satisfying the goals and objectives of SSR.
Integration of this cost data will not only support my hypothesis but also allow for the integration of mixed methods into the project reflecting qualitative and quantitative data with access to longitudinal outcomes that can be correlated against any formal planning of goals and objectives that have been published. Any disparities ranging from a loss of value, to a lack of planning, or issues with stakeholder engagement and change management, will only reinforce the need for an application of PM methods.
References
Easterby-Smith, M. & Thorpe, R., 2012. Management Research. 4th ed. London: Sage.