| 2.1.1. Development of the Research Questions |
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The chosen research approach grounded theory allows for “iterative development of a research question based on emerging data” (Kennedy, 2004). The evolution and refinement of the research questions is summarized in box below. At the outset, a preliminary research question was bound by the core terms (education, entrepreneurship and internet) and began from the question: What relationships exist between the internet based innovations, entrepreneurship and higher education? The purpose of this question was to gather the three themes and empirical descriptions into the same frame of analysis. Guided by this broad initial question, the research theme and activities became more developed and focused, and additional aspects of study that emerged during the investigation were added, to the research agenda (when deemed necessary or beneficial). Initial Question: In early 2006, I discovered McDonald’s (2002) PhD research on “Knowledge entrepreneurship: Linking organisational learning and innovation,” which made me agree with Haig (1995, Kinach, 1995) in not beginning research as a tabula rasa, but with an "orienting theory" (outlined in Chapter 1 - Theoretic Background). The research questions were revised to read: What is knowledge entrepreneurship in a university, and: Can internet based innovation approbation serve as an example? Departing from McDonald’s findings, the research was constantly adjusted as new phenomena and relationships emerged. Whilst using technology as the special interest theme, I intended nonetheless not to focus fieldwork activities exclusively around the technological artefact but to grasp the essential elements of knowledge entrepreneurship as a whole. During this stage, the concept of "innovation appropriation,” rather than "innovation diffusion,” has been opted for because it is central to the activities and motivation of the user (human centred) rather than the innovation. Innovation diffusion is more interested in why one organisation adopts one form or another, while appropriation is framed to follow the perspective of the organisation "looking outward” (Darking, 2004). According to Darking, this allows for the concept to be used as subject of analysis “well before any definite examples of that technology have been encountered by an organisation or by intended users” (ibid p. 71). Hence, internet based innovations were chosen as a research subject without a strict or exclusive definition but, rather, as a wide field of possible opportunities. The benefits of the decision to use an open research question was perceived as positive in the context of reviewing the internet innovations literature, because in this fast evolving sector the possibility that an aspect of the research question would be rendered redundant or irrelevant was realized to be high. Around the same time, the dependence on the mindset of the entrepreneur, as well as the voluntary nature of entrepreneurship, was identified as a key element. Thus, the sub-research question for the phenomenological action research track was formulated as: What motivates individuals to be entrepreneurial? The adductive generation of theory was pursued by drawing inferences about "unobservables," or what Haig calls phenomena (not data ). However, while reliability is the basis for justifying claims about phenomena, judgments about explanatory coherence are the appropriate grounds for theory acceptance. Theory appraisal and what philosophers call "inference to the best explanation” (Haig, 1995) is used. Throughout the entire process, the research question was amended and optimized to excavate the essential aspects of the “knowledge entrepreneurship” under the special interest of internet based opportunities, while “staying open to surprises” (Bauer & Gaskell, 2000). This natural development of the research question is also suggested by complexity theory (Kennedy, 2004). In the final step, the following two research questions were used to frame the investigation and its findings: What enables strategic and practical knowledge entrepreneurship in universities? and: How do universities integrate internet based innovations in their practices? (See Chapter 5.3 for the formal answer.)
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