%0 Journal Article %T ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF NON-BANKING FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ¨C ON SELECTING THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY %A Adrian COSTEA %A Claudiu HER£¿ELIU %J Revista Roman£¿ de Statistic£¿ %D 2012 %I Romanian National Institute of Statistics %X Choosing the appropriate research methodology is an important procedure in ensuring a rigorous scientific research, especially for empirical analyses represented by economic phenomena studies. The scientific literature shows different research methodologies devoted to developing models of benchmarking the performance of different entities. We present the main methodologies of social sciences and system development research by showing how they can be applied in a less exploited area of research: assessing comparatively the performance of non-banking financial institutions. %K financial performance %K research framework %K epistemology %K design science %K constructivism %U http://www.revistadestatistica.ro/Articole/2011/art7en_rrs%2012_2011.pdf