Evaluating Research Problems, Article Critique Example

Chiloane (2010) presents a research problem dealing with South African business women after a time period of apartheid in which women could not hold property: Chiloane examines the problem of how potential entrepreneurs may have sizeable access to certain training materials/program/information on how to start their own business – this examination is done through looking at what is being offered through the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) in Gauteng (p. 2590).

The basis for this problem exists within the limitations of SEDA. SEDA isn’t allowing a significant amount of training to be done with or for these women in regards to their business ventures and in regards to what SEDA is actually capable of procuring for them (p. 2590).

The article provided appropriate statistics in relation to what SEDA offers and what women’s expectations and needs are in regards to business growth. The author’s report finds that only 0.08% of information gathered by women was accessed through Local Service Business Centres (LSBC) that is a business that is supposed to give information to women about how to run their business (p. 2597). The author argues that such information should be disseminated among these women the same way that “health clinics, government grants, child maintenance and immunizations” (p. 2597) is disseminated.

This research study presented very applicable quantitative results that supported the researchers hypotheses and was presented in a succinct and organized manner.

Dalborg&Wincet (2011) identifies five different types of growth platforms for women entrepreneurs and explains the different types of blocks inherent in these platforms and as they are associated with the problem of a better understanding of women’s potential business growth. The study (women in business and inherent or cultural problems associated with this) is done through qualitative research and mentions that there may be a problem doing so with previous lack of qualitative work being done in this field, as well as this type of research going against the usual norm of quantitative research.

Dalborg&Wincet suggests that the problem with women and business is that women typically have a smaller business, and in those areas where this is not the case, women who do run larger businesses find that their growth is far from exponential. Wincet states that businesses very rarely achieve their potential success and that when this is factored in with women entrepreneurs this achievement is hard won as compared to men “using the commonly utilized quantitative yardstick” (p. 291).

Wincet defines the problem with extreme clarity and thoroughness especially in delineating five types of platforms among business women (thereby suggesting a further dissection of business type variables), however, Wincet does tend to lack a certain organization probably due to the lack of quantitative data in something so embedded with qualitative results. The researcher switched research forms in order to bring a more humanistic approach to their study but in so doing lost site of the problem and their hypothesis. The paper reads more like a journal entry and less like a report.

Wincet interviewed 191 business women and coded their narrative responses from surveys they took. They found business themes using logistical tools. This left the study open for human errors as personal frame of reference in narrative stories does not code on a universal level and therefore any research gathered from these results would be skewed.

References

Chiloane, G.E. (2010). Difficulties encountered by black women entrepreneurs in accessing training from the small enterprise development agency in South Africa. Gender & Behavior 8(1), pp. 2590-2602.

Dalborg, C., Wincet, J. (2011). Beyond the numbers: qualitative growth in women’s business. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship 4(3), pp. 289-315.