Development of an internet based housing demand database system for Essay

Development of an internet based housing demand database system for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements - Essay Example The research methodology employed assisted in obtaining data relating to the current business processes in the Department of Human Settlements (DHS), that is to capture the functional requirements of the system and the users’ perceptions of the proposed system to develop an internet based housing demand database system for the KwaZulu-Natal DHS for improved housing service provisioning. Cooper and Schindler state that the research design is necessary for fulfilling research objectives and answering research questions. Research design indicates the techniques to be used in gathering data, the type of sampling to be used and how to deal with time and cost constraints, hence the need to focus on a specific research design. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill explain that there are two approaches to research, each with its own underlying philosophy and views namely, the quantitative approach and qualitative approach. According to Neill, quantitative research is a type of approach that a ssigns numerical data to answers, confirms evidence and produces findings based on fixed closed questions. He adds that qualitative data sets are made up of non-numerical material such as transcripts or audio-recordings of interviews, field notes of researcher observations, records of conversations, and any kind of social text such as books, newspapers and advertisements. Qualitative research is typically used to answer questions about the complex nature of phenomena often with the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from the participant’s point of view. ... Qualitative research allowed the researcher to identify the users’ view of the system and also allowed the researcher the opportunity to understand the users’ personal experience of the system. The following section discusses the target population of the study. 3.4Target Population According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), the population is the full set of cases from which the sample is drawn. The target population for this study was the employees of the housing demand database section, municipality employees and the IT section of the DHS. The target population for the study comprised of 70 individuals. As it was impossible to focus on the entire population, it was necessary to use a sample to obtain the relevant data. 3.5 Sampling According to Welman and Kruger (2005:18), great care should be taken to obtain a representative sample in order to prevent a biased result. There are two types of sampling namely probability and non-probability sampling. Welman and K ruger (2005: 56) explain that in the case of probability sampling, the probability that any element or member of the population will be included in the sample can be determined, whereas in non-probability sampling by contrast, this probability cannot be specified. This study used a non-probability sampling method. The advantage of non-probability sampling is that it is less complicated and more economical in terms of time and cost. The researcher opted for this sampling technique as this allowed her to focus on specific individuals that were familiar with the system (Saunders et al., 2009:237). To develop an IT system, it was necessary to gather the requirements from the users of the system such as data capturers, administrative staff, managers of