Research choice: Pragmatism in conducting research about university enterprise collaboration in the Vietnamese context

Abstract

This article discusses the choice of methodology I had when conducting
research on the university-enterprise collaboration (UEC) in the
Vietnamese context. As I am more interested in how best to address
the research problems rather than in the politics of methodology, the
discussion in this paper will not focus on the differences between the
two dominant approaches to educational research (qualitative and
quantitative). Rather, this paper will discuss my way to approach the
problems in order to find the best possible answers for the research
questions. In this study, pragmatic approach was employed to develop
a rich, contextualized understanding of underlying values, beliefs and
assumptions that guide actions. This was done by a two phases research
study: quantitative surveys focusing primarily on revealing current UEC
situation, its obstacles and solutions were used first, then the qualitative
interviews were followed to explore in depth why those obstacles existed
and how feasible the solutions were - this was also the goal of this study.
The focus on the second phase – to discuss the most meaningful and
revealing issues related to the local issued of UEC, ultimately, helped me
produce more meaningful study outcomes.