Importance of Qualitative Research

Introduction A lot has been researched and written on the problems bring about by failure in debt management. Countries such as Greece and Iceland have fallen or on the verge of falling into bankruptcy, financial giants such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc. were also not spared being wiped out of business due to bankruptcy. Debt is indeed a double edge sword. The concept of leverage in finance taught us that borrowings allow owners the potential to reap many folds of profit in the case of profitable ventures. However should the results of the venture turned sour, borrowings will increase the loss of the owners. Or in other words, borrowing or debt increases risks of loss. The same goes for individual borrowings, where individual’s vulnerability in times of crisis is increased due to borrowings. However, people do and still borrow. In Malaysia, the household (as opposed to business) debt to GDP ratio has been increasing at the rate of 11.1% for the period of 2004 to 2009. As at 2010, the debt-to-GDP ratio in Malaysia stood at 75.9% as compared to 64% in 2008. The same situation is being reported elsewhere around the globe, for example the household debt-to-GDP ratio for UK and Switzerland were 101% and 118%, respectively (McKinsey, 2010). The number of bankruptcy filings among individuals has also risen in Malaysia and the age of the individuals declared as bankrupts are becoming younger, where a total of 1,046 cases of bankruptcies have been recorded among those under 25 years of age for the period from 2005 to July 2010 (Bernama, 2010). To help address the issue of individual debt management problems in Malaysia, an agency, Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK) was set up in 2006 to provide free education on money management and credit management skills, financial management and advice and counselling, and credit management service to help indebted individuals to regain their financial freedom (AKPK, 2011). The