COVID-19 Challenges in Socio-economic and Political Activities among Institutions and Nations

Research Methodology
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Research Methodology
A reliable study must accommodate a definitive approach in identifying, selecting, processing, and analyzing data. This chapter explores aspects of research methodology, including the research philosophy, strategy, data collection, sampling, research ethics, and data analysis approaches.
Research Philosophy
This study explores a phenomenon that impacts multiple aspects of human lives. The emergence and prevalence of COVID-19 created challenges in socio-economic and political activities among institutions and nations. Hence, conducting a study in such a paradigm demands a holistic approach that delivers outcomes in all perspectives. To that effect, this study will employ pragmatic and positivist philosophical approaches to ground its activities (Plano & Ivankova, 2015). The positivists’ philosophy emphasizes the need for factual and trustworthy data in research. This study employs valid instruments of data collection and tools for data analysis. It also aims to assess the research questions in their entirety as demanded in the positivist approach (Flick, 2020). To enhance the scope of its findings, the study will also base its findings on the pragmatic philosophy. Pragmatists intend to develop solutions to identifiable problems in studies. COVID-19 has caused tensions in the relations among nations. The relationships among powerful nations, from a realist theoretical approach, have been strained with the blames and the costs that accompanied the prevalence of COVID-19. To that extent, it is ideal that a study of this nature seeks avenues of reverting the world into international relations tranquillity. That can only happen through a pragmatic approach where solutions are reached through objective and factual data collection and analysis. A combination of both positivist and pragmatic philosophies grounds the study in the right avenues of adhering to its set objectives and questions.
Research Design/Approach
The study employs a mixed-methods design to reach its findings. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be vital in understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on international relations. Qualitatively, the research is grounded on the realist theory. To that extent, the study embeds its findings on pieces of literature that have been published to address similar research questions. The study will also base much of its activities on desk research. In desk research, the researcher assesses, through secondary publications, some of the changes that the world has undergone following the prevalence of the pandemic. The application of qualitative data is strategic for various reasons. International relation is a concept of patterns. There are literature accounts of how nations interact and the impacts of such interactions in the socio-economic and political paradigms (Brinkmann, 2018). Exporting such information into the study unearths the changes that the world has undergone during the pandemic and how such changes have impacted international relations activities. The qualitative data sets a benchmark of what the researcher is to expect as the study extends to the collection of primary data.
The mixed-methods design also focuses on collecting primary data to accompany qualitative data. In quantitative research, the researcher collects primary data through desk research. In this approach, the researcher employs existing quantitative studies to reach the findings. The scope of the study is limited to the duration that COVID-19 has taken in impacting international relations. A focus on studies employing a cross-sectional approach will be considered. A cross-sectional study focuses on the changes that relationships between different nations experienced throughout that duration. Some of the key characteristics of a cross-sectional study that make it suitable for this research include the understanding that it takes place at a single point in time, the variables cannot be manipulated, the research can explore multiple characteristics at ago, and the information is current about a particular population.
The Research Strategy
The research strategy defines a step-by-step plan of action that guides the research action process. It is the systematic approach through which the study is conducted. The research strategy helps to ensure that each component of the study is completed with facts and objectivity (Watkins & Gioia, 2015). The strategy followed the formulation of key prospects, including research questions, research objectives, analysis of the available time for completing the study, the available resources at the re...