Abstract

This article examines the role and appropriateness of different research paradigms in exploring whether the enterprise culture (the NHS policy to produce resource utilisation, quality and efficiency improvements demonstrated by leading private organisations) has provided a framework for performance improvement in a rural district general hospital (DGH).

The discussion and conclusions are intended to provide a broad understanding of different paradigms and methodologies in order to inform choice for a robust research protocol for a PhD study. The article is also intended to be used as a guide to other researchers in this area. The paper concludes that a stance between realism and idealism, positivism and interpretivism applied through a mixed-methodology is justified to design the research protocol.