This study mentions that the purpose was to understand factors that can lead to goofing off at work (Decker & Perdue, 2012). The authors are looking for a relationship between personal and workplace behaviors to the behavior of goofing off at work. Since the authors are looking for a relationship of actions or factors and goofing off a Quantitative design seems appropriate. The questionnaire used ask respondents about their actions at work to understand the factors involved. The lit review established various actions from other studies that tended to indicate the possibility of goofing off at work. The authors then attempted to link those and other factors to the Predictors of goofing off established from previous research.
A qualitative research could have been used by establishing the phenomenon of goofing off at work. The study could have been done through observations or interviews of the workers to understand the actions and behaviors of the workers at the time they made the decision to goof off at work. This might have established additional or new factors as displayed by the participants that lead workers to goofing off at work, instead of making a random or semi-educated guess of the factors that could contribute. In a Study by (Fleming, (2005), examined work cultures that tried to encourage having fun to enhance productivity in the workplace. The Qualitative research methodology included observations, interviews and documentation analysis to gain a situational understanding of the participant's perceptions of fun in the workplace.
A study done by Holden, (1993) focused on interviewing human resource managers in specific companies to determine their opinions on how their employees are having fun. Three-fourths said that their company’s employees were having less fun than they should and only three percent suggested there was too much fun in their organization. The keyword should is telling—managers and employers want employees to enjoy their work, but the perception of the employee is that projecting the image of being too relaxed about the job indicates a disinterest; hence, the possibility of being replaced with someone who will take the work more seriously. There is something to be learned from every job, no matter how menial, but not all employees are willing to test the boundaries, which results in job burnout (but that is another whole topic).
References
Decker, W. H., & Perdue, F. P. (2012). Unauthorized Fun at Work (Goofing Off): Predictors and Implications. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(5).Fleming, P. (2005).
Holden, R. (1993). Enjoyment in employment: How to utilize the power of laughter, humour and a winning smile at work. Employee Counselling Today, 5(4), 17-20.