Economic Issue Of Britains Entry In Euro Zone Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1987 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? This chapter aims to provide an overview of the methodological approaches and research design selected for application to a study on economic issue of Britain entry in Euro zone. In its exploration of the phenomenon of Britain and Europe economic conditions and paradigms, the dissertation shall investigate the economic variables of both the UK and the EU to seek the question whether Britain is ready to adopt the single currency the euro or not. Secondly, dissertation will throw some light on the comparatively performance of Britain and other European countries economy such as Germany and France, the study shall investigate the possibilities of implementing, following adaptation, and theories of macro policy (OCA). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Economic Issue Of Britains Entry In Euro Zone Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Thirdly, following the analysis of secondary data collected through a various economic theories, the dissertation shall critique prevalent to finding the answer. Finally, a proposal for the Britain entry into EU shall be proposed and the proposal defended through empirical evidence. Research design and research methodology In the part of text or statement of research methodology, each research throw up a set of unique questions and expresses that distinctly for a specified group of objectives. The act of expressing the view distinctly by collecting and analysing the data are known as research design. Additionally, both research method and research design serves to link the research questions to the data. Thus the collaboration of research methods, research designs and research strategies helps to test the hypothesis by underpin collection and analysis of data to satisfy the research objectives (Punch, 2000). For successful research, the researcher has to pass through the four stages which are: the selection of question to be research, identifying the relevant data of research question, determination of data and finally the last stage research method selection by which data can be analyse (Punch, 2000). The methodology applied in the current dissertation described in the form of research onion. The research onion is used to give clear and structural view to the reader about the method and strategy that has been designed. Starting from the outer layer the process is progressively peeled to the core to make dissertation research more systematic. Figure 3 shows the research onion process as applied in this current dissertation. The words in the bold indicate the chosen methods of each step. onion1.jpg Figure: 3 Type of Data Used in the Research and Its Sources It would be appropriate to describe methodology from the base which means examining the principal ideas and concepts first. As mentioned above, data collection and data analysis are the basic techniques which in turn, depend on the characteristics of data. With the help of innumerable amount of sources available, data is classified as quantitative and qualitative based on its content and interpretation. Therefore, the characteristics of the techniques and concepts depend on the data type (Saunders et al, 2007, p. 145; Creswell, 2003, p. 220; Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 24). This research discuses if the United Kingdom should join the Euro or not. Apart from this, the relation between pound and sterling is explained. Use of currencies and macroeconomic variables for the United Kingdom and European Union includes use of quantitative data. These variables consist of Imports and exports, inflation rate, interest rate and GDP. Therefore, the current research is thoroughly quantitative. Data has been collected depending on the current monetary sources. This was done based on the information provided by the various statistical organizations and data bases (Eurostat, 2009; Global View, 2009). Time horizon According to the research onion, the second inner layer that is time horizon should be defined in term to deliver the exact nature of the research study. The literature review demonstrates the current research as complex and interactive process which means data may inevitably change over time as relationships develop and mature. Therefore, data should rely upon to look backward as well as forward time period by capturing some longitudinal and cross sectional data. Meanwhile, to trace the dynamic and historical development of some economic variables (such as interest rate, unemployment rate, currency fluctuation etc), longitudinal time horizons method has been used which gave the possibility to estimate the volatility and dynamics between the both currencies (the Pound and the Euro). Practically, the above economic variables are difficult to characterise in the isolated period of time. Thus, data picture captured must be rich for longitudinal time (Sekaran, 2006; Heckman and Leaner, 2007). So, the data in time series is extended from 1990 to 2009. Particularly, the reason for choosing that time of period is to observe the indicator of some economic variables before and after the introduction of the Euro. Furthermore, to observe the exact indicator of the pre- Euro and post- Euro variables, almost, equivalent period has been chosen to allow making comparison and drawing a final conclusion about the main research. However, longitudinal framework would not enough for inspecting the current problem. To make a unified framework, cross sectional time horizon has also been used to identify and understand the potential interaction between different actors and thus the behaviour they demonstrate to create the process taking place. In short, the dissertation research has equipped both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Methods of data gathering Before embarking to the method of data gathering, it is important to throw some light on the methodology principle which allows researcher to choose specified data collection method according to the research requirement. In research procedure, data collection and data analysis is considered as vital key to reach at the conclusion. However, the procedures can be carried out in two or more steps or by one step depending on the research choice. Indeed, if research choice requires the characteristics of all methods namely, mono, mixed and multi method than it would not be prohibited by methodological principles. The fact is that, both the data collection and data analysis procedure cannot exist and operate in isolation form. In addition to this, the research study is not only associated with quantitative and qualitative data but also with primary and secondary data (Saunders et al, 2007; Lundberg and young, 2005). In simple term, research related to mono method uses single quantitative data collection technique and research related to multi method uses several data collection techniques. However, data analysis procedures can be limited by either qualitative or quantitative form in both methods. Lastly, research related to mixed method uses both qualitative and quantitative data collection and data analysiss techniques and procedures (Saunders et al, 2007; Lundberg and young, 2005). In the current dissertation research, mono method has been used in relation to research choice. The single technique used in dissertation to retrieve the data makes mono method more reasonable to adopt. The adopted mono method used the economic indicators which have been taken from statistical sources (also available publically) for the dissertation findings. Therefore, no survey or interviews were carried out to compose this study a multi method. However, the complexity of the research question that is whether the Britain are ready to adopt the single currency or not needs to collect and analyses a range of data. And according to the Punch (2000), the research data collection should be relevant to the research question. So, in current dissertation relevant economic indicators data related to the UK and the Euro zone area has been collected and analyse. These are mainly, currency fluctuation, international trade level, inflation and unemployment rate, interest rate. As mentioned abov e, these data are not acquired from surveying people or applying techniques but from statistical sources. Therefore, it can be said that, for effective solution with rational answer, the selected mono method is the best suited method for the current research. Strategy and approach Following from the core to the surface layer of the research onion the next two layers are research strategies and research approaches. These two layers are exceptionally interrelated each other because the research approach leads to choose the strategies. In short, the strategies can only be formed on chosen approach. So, imposing research approaches prior to research strategies would be more logical than vice versa. The current dissertation research used deductive approach. In the consequence, the stages of deductive research begin with hypotheses which are originated according to the theoretical concept considered in the literature review. Going one step further, testing hypothesis by utilise collection of data considered to be another important stage in the process of deductive approach. After that, if necessary the theory can be modified in the light of the findings. In other words, deductive approach implies testing already exiating theory in the framework of a certain case (Saunders et al, 2007, p. 146; Bryman and Bell, 2007, p. 11). On the other hand, inductive approach may lead to some inexperienced or unconfirmed theoretical laws from a certain form of data (can be quantitative or qualitative data) (Saunders et al, 2007). The empirical research in literature review underpins with hypothesis prior to collection of data makes deductive approach more appropriate and useful to follow. In relation to dissertation research, the chosen deductive approach should need to be defined in brief. Firstly, from the early scenario, the two hypotheses were drawn which has to be tested by analyzing data: Research Hypothesis H1- euro will bring benefit to the UK in the current condition of credit crises. H2- euro will not bring benefit to the UK in the current condition of credit crises. According to the data collection techniques and data analysis procedures the hypotheses were tested which further allowed to proving at least one hypothesis out of two and rejecting the other. At the end, the finding of research has been compared to the notion of the current literature theory (OCA and Monetary union theory) to conclude the final results. In the context, the selected deductive approach would gain a lot to findings and also considered to be as a best approaching method than any other given methods. The few reasons behind this are; firstly, deductive approaches explain casual relationship between variables (Saunders et al, 2007). Secondly, the two contradicting hypothesis (as mentioned above) would definitely turn anyone to be true. Hence, the finding would be more rational and allowed to reduce the chance of unforeseen results. It also should be argued that the final findings have to be objectivism and originate as an individual from earlier estimate (Bryman and Bell, 2007, p. 11). Mostly, it turned up to be true especially in the case when research operates with qualitative data. As mentioned above, the current dissertation findings deal with two possible solutions. To investigate impartially, objectivism philosophy has been used in the research. Finally, selecting an appropriate research strategy is a key theme in dissertation. Research strategy identifies the key features and makes plans according to the research requirement (Robson, M. 2002). In this research, I have selected comparative analysis strategy for current dissertation. The Britain may be prepared for the euro adoption. But, will Euro bring advantages to the Britain? Adopting Euro as a local currency may have numerous pros and cons. To compare and balance this all, comparative analysis strategy has been used. Starting from the volatility of currency, the Britain currency volatility (pound) will compared to the volatility of Euro. After that, inflation rate between both of the countries will be evaluated and compared. If UK will join the Euro, there will be single monetary policy set by European central bank. In this situation, if business cycles of the UK do not converge with the Euro zone business cycle, the single monetary policy may fail to be effective and b ring disadvantages to the UK economy. To investigate this, the comparison of business cycles in the UK and the Euro Zone countries has been focused in research. On the other hand, to consider one of the advantages to joining Euro, increased international trade has been mentioned. Single currency eliminates exchange rate risk which brings benefit to increase the trade. This will further tested in the analysis part by comparing the growth of imports and exports in the European Union before and after the introduction of the Euro.