Darryl Laws

 Methodology design and methodology selection justification. John Criswell’s 5th edition of Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, (2018), pgs. 13 and 122, Creswell states that qualitative designs using grounded theory is inquiry in which the researcher derives an abstract theory ground in the view of participants and further indicates that this process involves multiple stages of data collection and refinement of the interrelationships of the categories of information. He cites Charmaz 2006; Corbin & Strauss 2015. In compliment on Creswell (2018) states (pg. 122) that a quantitative purpose statement begins with identifying the proposed major variables in a study (independent, intervening, dependent) and their relationship, the participants and the research site; thus my selection of the use of a convergent mixed methods research design (Creswell, 2018, pg. 218-219) is appropriate to gain the valuable insight of practitioners using qualitative methods to collect data via a questionnaire and personal interviews and then using quantitative methods in which to interpret the data depicting the relationship(s) amongst the variables incorporating statistical inference methods.     

Sampling and Participants. Purposeful sampling will be used for the recruitment of participants for this study. Purposeful sampling is commonly used in qualitative research. It involves selecting research participants according to the needs of the study ( Glaser & Strauss; Morse, 1991) in that researchers choose participants who give a richness of information that is suitable for detailed research (Patton, 1980). The selection criteria for inclusion were professional who were the leaders in their respective field and who could articulate their experiences as it relates to the behavioral phenomena being investigated. 

The purposeful sample selection for the interviews to be conducted is with five (5) individuals whom are comprised of a cross section of mergers and acquisitions professionals such as; M&A lawyers, M&A investment bankers, acquisitive CEOs and private equity buyout fund managers; all of   whom operate with prescriptive metes and bounds of disclosure laws established by the Securities and Exchange Commission for both public company and private company transactions.

Data collection and analysis procedures. Pursuant Creswell’s (2018) description of a convergent mixed methods research design the suggested protocol is  comprised of a written questionnaire combined with five face to face interviews will be used to extract data. A questionnaire will be e-mailed to five selected individuals; a (1) M&A lawyer from a top tier law firms, an investment banker (1) from a top tier investment bank located in either New York or Los Angeles, two (2) private equity professionals from two separate private equity buyout funds based on the West Coast and one (1) acquisitive CEO of a national public or private company. initial contact will be made by telephone followed by a questionnaire sent by e-mail followed up with the arrangement of five individual face-to-face interviews upon the researcher’s receipt of the completed questionnaire.