- Familiarize oneself with - Present a perfectly - Examine a theory's

the essential facts, context, vivid picture with predictions or principle.

and concerns.
- Use the conditions to
form a mental picture.
- Develop and design
questions for future research.
- Propose new concepts,
theories, or hypotheses.
- Ascertain the viability
of conducting research.
- Develop techniques for
measuring and locating
future data.
accurate details.
- Seek out new data
which challenge past data
- Create new sets of
categories or types of
classification.
- Spell out the series of
steps or stages
undertaken.
- Provide evidence of a
causal process or
mechanism.
- Verify the background or
context of a situation.
- Enlarge and improve a
theory's explanation.
- Extend the ambit of the
theory to include new
issues or topics.
- accept or reject the ex-
planation or prediction.
- Correlate issues or
topics with a general
principle.
- Recognize the best
explanation from among
the various explanations.

Since, in this present study the researcher has sought to gain the basic knowledge
about the subject, this study can be termed exploratory. However, it becomes
distinctly descriptive going by the research questions and the research purpose of the
study. This is because the background of the situation has been described to present a
clear picture of the situation, thereby, presenting a descriptive aspect of the research.
Nevertheless, the previous theories pertaining to the topic have also been detailed and
comparison of answers with research questions help to support such theories, lending
it an explanatory purpose.

3.2. RESEARCH APPROACH

The researcher can decide to adopt deductive or inductive approach apart from
deciding between qualitative and quantitative types of research. Gummesson (2000)
asserts that deductive research involves developing a study from the existing theories
and concepts, wherein the researcher formulates the hypothesis for their subsequent
testing on the basis of the existing theories and concepts. In contrast, the inductive
research begins with a specific instance of the real world and proceeds towards
developing concepts, patterns, models and theories. However, the fact is that sooner
or later all researches fall into a repetitive pattern, vaulting between the deductive and
the inductive approach. This leads to what is generally called the abductive approach,
which is essentially based on interpretation and understanding of the social events.
Cooper and Schindler (2003) emphasize on the nature of qualitative research being
concentrated on providing complete understanding of the situation and so involve the
use of various techniques of interpretation in order to describe, decipher, transcribe
and appreciate the significance of a social phenomenon without being concerned
about the frequency of its occurrence. The techniques for interpretation include case
studies, one to one interactions, observation, focus groups and action research, etc.

It is safe to assert that since in the present study the research purpose and the research
questions were framed on the basis of existing theories and concepts, this research can
be deemed deductive. Understanding the role of CRM in enhancing the profitability
in banks being the prime objective of the study, it was believed that the quantitative
approach would enable the researcher to achieve the stated objective, wherein large
amounts of information can be generated by using the survey method. Furthermore,
quantitative approach was found to be appropriate also because this study attempts to
be exploratory, descriptive and explanatory in all aspects relating to the research topic.
Therefore, it becomes evident that developing better relationships with the studied
objects is the primary aim of this research and so it is not targeted to make any
generalized observations.

3.3. RESEARCH STRATEGY

Remenyi and Williams (1998) project a research strategy to be an overall guide in the
entire process of research. Yin (1994) believes that empirical evidence can be
collected and analyzed by using any of the five different research strategies:
experiments, surveys, archival analysis, histories, and case studies. He emphasizes
that the choice of the research strategy is based on three essential conditions, which
are: 1) The nature of the research question. 2) The degree of control an investigator
can apply on actual behavioral events. 3) The extent to which the contemporary, rather
than historical events, have been considered. Therefore, determination of the nature of
the research question is the prime condition for selecting the research strategy. That
type of question posed as a research question can be categorized on the basis of
"who", "what", "where", "how", and "why".
In the present case, the questions that need to be answered for fulfilling the research
purpose of the study have been given below:

i. What kind of CRM practices have the Indian banks adopted?

ii. What CRM practices followed by the Indian banks can be termed as the best
practices?
iii. What is the nature of products and services provided by a bank which can
enable it to build and sustain high value customer relationship?
iv. How does customer satisfaction facilitate the bank in overcoming its
competition and enhancing profitability?
v. What is a correlation between CRM and Profits?

Going by the nature of the research questions and considering what has been stated by
Yin (1994), the researcher has a choice of selecting between experiment, history and a
survey as the possible research strategy. The researcher zeroed on the survey strategy
for its distinct advantage of holding interviews and direct observations apart from
collecting similar information as can be provided by history. Apart from that, the
survey methods can best address the "how" and "why" questions in situations where
investigators cannot exercise any control over the contemporary phenomenon within
the real world context (Yin, 1994).

The researcher found it appropriate to conduct a survey of both the customers and the
employees in order to attain in-depth information, make a comparison of the
perceptions of both the internal and external customers and study the responses
through various