Research design for analysing the relationship between governance structures and performance management systems in universities

Abstract

This paper describes the research design that has been chosen to study the relationship between governance structures and performance management systems in universities. The complexity of the research topic, which brings together two different bodies of literature – on governance and on performance management systems – is addressed by using a case study design and a multi-method approach involving document analysis, interviews and a survey. The research design selected and the advantages and disadvantages of each research method are discussed thoroughly, including the reasoning for conducting the survey after the interviews.