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Lecture 4 UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES AND APPROACHES

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22 views14 pages

Lecture 4 UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES AND APPROACHES

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emfatima25
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Slide 4.

Lecture 4
Understanding research philosophies
and approaches

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.2

Underlying issues of data collection and


analysis
The research ‘onion’

Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2006

Figure 4.1 The research ‘onion’


Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
th
Slide 4.3

Understanding your research philosophy (1)

‘Research philosophy is an over-arching term relating to the


development of knowledge and the nature of that knowledge’

• Ontology focuses on what reality is.


• Epistemology focuses on how we can know that reality.

• Together, ontology and epistemology influence the approach a researcher takes,


from choosing research methods to interpreting results.

Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.4

Understanding your research philosophy (2)


Thinking about research philosophy
• Ontology (concerned with nature of reality - It asks questions like "What is real?" and
"What things exist?)
• do organizations exist as solid, independent entities with fixed structures (realist view)?
• Or are they constantly changing and shaped by the perceptions of people involved (social
constructionist view)? – Example (perception about “organization culture”)
• Epistemology (what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study -
‘resources’ researcher vs ‘feelings’ researcher – positivist position vs interpretivist
position)
• Pragmatism (focuses on practical outcomes and the usefulness of ideas - truth of
an idea depends on how well it works in practice. if the research question does not
suggest unambiguously that either a positivist or interpretivist philosophy is adopted, this
confirms the pragmatist’s view that it is perfectly possible to work with both philosophies -
mixed methods, both qualitative and quantitative, are possible) – Example: employee
retention or turnover ratio

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.5

Understanding your research philosophy (3)

Aspects of ontology

• Objectivism

• Subjectivism

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.6

Understanding your research philosophy (4)


Aspects of philosophy

• Positivism - the stance of the natural scientist

• Realism - direct and critical realism

• Interpretivism – researchers as ‘social actors’

• Axiology – studies judgements about value

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.7

Research paradigms

Definition

‘A way of examining social phenomenon from


which particular understandings of these
phenomena can be gained and explanations
attempted’

Saunders et al. (2009)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.8

The role of theory in research

1. Ontology  Philosophical assumptions about what constitutes


social reality
2. Epistemology  then what we accept as a valid & justified
evidence
3. Methodology  By which we investigate the reality with the
research context
4. Methods  By which we gather data and evidence

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.9

Research Approaches (1)

Deduction
5 sequential stages of testing theory

• Deducing a hypothesis
• Expressing the hypothesis operationally
• Testing the operational hypothesis
• Examining the specific outcome of the enquiry
• Modifying the theory (if necessary)

Adapted from Robson (2002)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.10

Research Approaches (2)

Characteristics of Deduction

• Explaining causal relationships between variables

• Establishing controls for testing hypotheses

• Independence of the researcher

• Concepts operationalised for quantative measurement

• Generalisation
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.11

Research Approaches (3)


Induction
Building theory by –

• Understanding the way human build their world


• Permitting alternative explanations of what’s going
on
• Being concerned with the context of events
• Using more qualitative data
• Using a variety of data collection methods

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.12

Choosing your research approach

The right choice of approach helps you to

• Make a more informed decision about the research


design

• Think about which strategies will work for your


research topic

• Adapt your design to cater for any constraints

Adapted from Easterby-Smith et al. (2008)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.13

Combining research approaches

Things worth considering

• The nature of the research topic

• The time available

• The extent of risk

• The research audience – managers and markers

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.14

Deductive and Inductive research


Major differences between these approaches

Saunders et al, (2009)


Table 4.2 Major differences between deductive and inductive approaches to
research
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009

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