An important component of my doctoral study will be participants. According to Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill (2007), participants is a critical component of any research as they are the primary sources of data to be collected by the researcher from the field. Hence, the participants' component will form the basis of carrying out the field study so as to collect primary data associated with my research on small businesses sustainability strategies. In this component, I will discuss various aspects related to my doctoral study participants. First, in my doctoral study, I will provide information concerning the type of the participants that will be selected to take part in the study. The participants will be expected to be small business owners operating in the Huston region of Texas. Also, in this section associated with the component, I will provide reasons for the selection of this participant and how they are essential when it comes to the completion of my study.

            Another crucial component of my doctoral study is reliability and validity. It will be concerned with providing information on the measures that I will take to ensure that my qualitative doctoral study will provide findings that are valid and reliable in nature. For example, the section will show how will deal with bias during the data collection process for purposes of ensuring that it does not end up impacting negatively on the validity of the overall study findings. Thus, this component will be very critical in ensuring that will be able to complete my doctoral study and ensure that the results that will be provided will be accepted as valid and reliable academically in the future.