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the use and usefulness of PMSs by starting entrepreneurs. This is the underlying
question for the remaining of this research.
4.3 Philosophical Stance
The nature of the research is exploratory. An exploratory study is a valuable means
of finding out ‘what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to
assess phenomena in a new light’ (Robson, 2002, p. 59). According to Saunders,
Lewis and Thornhill (2009) there are three principal ways of conducting exploratory
research:
• A search of the literature;
• Interviewing ‘experts’ in the subject;
• Conducting focus group interviews.
The great advantage of exploratory research is that it is flexible and adaptable to
change. If you are conducting it you must be willing to change your direction as a
result of new data that appear and new insights that occur to you (Saunders et al.,
2009). Therefore the Thesis will be written from an interpretive perspective, this
allows indentifying the meaning individuals attach to their responses. Inline, a
phenomenological epistemology is applied with the gathering of qualitative data; this
refers to the way in which humans make sense out of the world around us (Saunders
et al., 2009, p. 116).
4.4 The Process of Qualitative Content Analysis
‘If there were only one truth, you couldn’t paint a hundred canvases on the
same theme’. (Quote from Pablo Picasso in Allen and Unwin, 1969)
The process of qualitative content analysis started during the early stages of data
collection. This early involvement in the analysis phase helped to move back and
forth between concept development and data collection (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
The content analysis started with preparing the data and proceeded through writing
up the findings in a report (Zhang and Wildemuth, 2009).
4.4.1 Step 1: Preparing the Data
Qualitative content analysis is most often used to analyze interview transcripts in
order to reveal or model people’s information related behaviours and thoughts.
Elmar Hoogendoorn 46
Sustainable Microfinance