A Research Study On Research Philosophy

He adds that interpretive researchers use qualitative research methodologies to investigate, interpret and describe social realities (ontology). Another scholar, Mutch, (2005), recons that the research findings in qualitative methodology are usually reported descriptively using words. Interesting to annotate, is the assertion that qualitative researchers who include positivists regard respondents to as research participants rather than sheer objects in the

Research methodology and methodological approaches that is, the structured process of conducting research and the overall concepts and theories which underpin research respectively (Bryman, 2008), occupy a central position in the research process as they are both shaped by and translate the researcher’s epistemological position. Epistemology then refers to a researcher’s philosophical stance about the nature, derivation and scope of knowledge (Gilbert, 2008). These positions are seldom ‘spelt out’ but rather understood in the matter of research methodology and approach (Sarantakos, 2005).

“Research methodology is influenced by the logic of experimental designs derived largely from biological science” (Lee, 1992). For a researcher in the hard sciences to validly study any phenomenon, the researcher must be detached and separate from the phenomenon being studied. Hard scientists believe that if the researcher interferes with the phenomenon in any way the value of the study is reduced or negated. Social “objectivists perceive that their studies can be (and of necessity need be) done independently of what is being observed and that their

“Interpretive research begins and ends with the biography and self of the researcher." (Denzin, 1989, p.12). The positivist researcher is not affected by the subject of the research because he makes generalizations. (Saunders, 2003 p. 83). When the investigator is a positivist, he tends to use methods like experiments, surveys and field studies to generate data. In this approach, the interviewer is more likely to be an outsider which means that the investigator does not have any relation with the study group.

The three ways of doing sociology are positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical sociology. The emphasis of positivist sociology is on action, specifically about people’s observable activities, while interpretive sociology refers to how others understand these actions. A positivist orientation is closely used in scientific studies, specifically because of its objectivity and use of quantitative data. An example of this is when researchers use the observed data taken from a laboratory examination. On the other hand, the interpretive sociology focuses more on people’s interaction and its subjective meaning. An example of interpretive orientation is when researchers interpret the behaviours of their subjects based on qualitative factors that are not objectively

Other authors have taken a different approach when defining qualitative research with Bannister, Burman, Parker, Taylor and Tindall (1994) asserting that qualitative research is an interpretive study in which the researcher is essential in regards to the conclusions drawn. Epistemology provides the basis for qualitative research, and in effect can be considered as the nature of knowledge itself (Willig, 2013). By establishing what knowledge is available to us as researchers, we are then able to choose an appropriate method, to answer specific questions. Once data is collected, it can then be interpreted with reference to the methodological principles the researcher takes

Examine the advantages and disadvantages of using both positivist and interpretivist methods of research (20)

Research paradigms are ‘the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by members of a given community’ (Kuhn, 1970, p.175). The three most common paradigms are positivism, constructivism or interpretivism and pragmatism. Each of these can be categorised further by examining their: ontology, epistemology and methodology. Fundamentally, ontology is the nature of reality, epistemology describes the relationship the investigator has with their version of reality, and methodology is the various techniques and tools used to analysis their research.

This essay will explore the three main philosophical research paradigms: Positivism, Interpretive and the Critical paradigm. In the first section of the essay, the epistemological, ontological, methodological underpinnings and their implication for research will be outlined and discussed. The second section will look at a practical research example incorporating the interpretive paradigm. Finally, an overall observation will be made of the three paradigms.

Positivism and interpretivism are two approaches of interpreting social reality, that each employ different methods of research and data collection to better help understand the study of human lived experiences. The positivist-interpretivist debate revolves around the ways in which human behavior should be conceptualized and studied (Pruss 1996: 4). Positivism is the most widely practiced research approach in social science, which regards the nature of social reality of independent of consciousness. Positivists believe social reality can be studied independently from the researcher and that social life can be represented using numbers that according to positivists reveal features of social reality. On the other hand, interpretivists favor partipcant observation, interviews and social interaction where the researcher immerses into the informant’s reality to gain knowledge of their everyday human lived experiences.

Positivism is a "research philosophy that involves working with the observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists" (Saunders, 2003). The basic beliefs are that the world can be seen as an external and objective object where the observer remains independent. The action research literature has strongly challenged the character of ‘positivist' research (Waterman et al, 2001; Hart, 1996; Susman and Evered, 1978).

.Knowledge and arguments in particular are developed based on a person’s individualised view of the environments and activities within it. According to Flower (2009), it is these individualised views that constitute what is referred to as research philosophy. Basically, research philosophy is the approach taken in construction of knowledge and by extension research. According to Saunders et al. (2009), there are three main types of research philosophy namely: interpretivism, positivism and realism. In this particular study an interpretivist

A methodology for an investigation of a subject is required so that the configuration required to lead the study is uncovered. A specific exploration subject can be embraced for study in two expensive methods for either deductive or inductive. The inductive methodology is a study that aids in concentrating on an examination theme when enough information on the divinely selected individual is not accessible. The introductory period of the inductive methodology is a perception that aides in increasing important data and fabricates the way of the exploration likewise. Nonetheless, Finn et al. (2000) noticed that inductive methodology fills the need of new

As Gioia and Chittipeddi (1991) assert in their study that interpretivism implies that the researcher must “be grounded” in the culture of the

The beginning of knowledge comes from metaphysics, theological and positivism. And these put much on a critical stance in the discourse of method. Little (2011), explains that method is a prescriptive body of doctrines to guide inquiry. The ideal of understanding social world underlies in whether to embrace and use principles and guiding procedures of the natural world where positivism dominates in the epistemological consideration. This method has a considerable influence onto social scientist, in promoting the status of survey research and the quantitative analysis (Atkinson and Hammersley, 2007).