Research

Methodol
ogy
Understanding Research
Philosophy
Study Unit 4
Week 4
 Learning Outcomes

Purpose: Understand the concept of research philosophy.

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Understand philosophical concepts of research and
methodologies
 Compare and contrast various views presented on different
philosophical methods
 Analyze the connection between research, theory and
knowledge
Comprehend the importance of theory in the research
The Research Process
 As aforementioned, research is a process, with a series of
scientifically proven and universally applicable steps to be
followed.
 The process starts with problem identification and ends with
report writing and presentation of findings that will then be
used for decision making.
 The graph below summarises the research process that a
business researcher has to follow in that chronological order in
order to come up with the tangible findings of the business
research.
The Research Process
 The word risk is usually used in a context of potential hazard
of possibility of an unfortunate outcome resulting from a given
action.
 In financial management, risk also indicates the expectation
that the actual outcome of the project may differ from the
expected outcome.
 The term risk and uncertainty are used interchangeably
The Philosophical Framework
It is important that every step in the research project should be appropriate
to the nature of the study, its aims, population and the context of the study.
The focus is on understanding philosophical frameworks in research.
Every research project is underpinned by a philosophical framework; every
research project is situated within a particular philosophical framework.
The philosophical framework within which the research project is situated
evidences the worldview within which the research is situated.
Every step in the research process as designed by the researcher should be
appropriate to, ‘fit’ with, the purpose and focus of the research.
Every aspect of the research project, as it is developed by the researcher,
should ‘fit’ with the philosophical framework within which the research
project is situated.
Ontology and Epistemology
 Our choice and use of particular methodologies and
methods relate to the assumptions about reality that we
bring to our work.
 Questions about the nature of reality are questions of
ontology.
 Questions about the methodology and methods used in
the research project relate to our understanding of
knowledge and how it is created, and the value we ascribe
to knowledge, relate to epistemology.
 Ontology
 Ontology is the study of the nature of being or becoming
existence and their differences and similarities.
 The word ontology is derived from the Greek words ‘ontos’ which
means being and ‘logos’ which means study.
 The aim of ontology is to identify and isolate things around us
that actually exist.
 Ontology attempts to answer questions that begin with ‘what’.
 The scope of ontology can be generalised from philosophy to
other fields like medicine, information science or even advanced
physics.
 Ontology helps us to understand questions like what is God, what is a
disease, what happens after death, what is artificial intelligence and so
forth.
 The field is dedicated towards understanding whether things exist or
don’t exist.
 Ontology also studies how various existing entities can be grouped
together on the basis of similar characteristics and it tries to find out
those similarities.
 The field also tries to find a relation between the objects that exist.
 People who deal in ontology try to understand why a particular thing
occurs how it is related to other things.
Epistemology

 It is a branch of philosophy that aims at discovering the true meaning

of knowledge.
 In essence, it tries to find out what is there in the universe and what
exists within it.
 Epistemology is one of the core branches of philosophy which deals
with the aspect of procuring knowledge.
 It is more concerned with the natural sources and scope and limits of
knowledge.
 Epistemology is also derived from the Greek word ‘episteme’ meaning
knowledge and ‘logos’ which means study (Anonymous, 2016).
 Research Paradigm
• Here, a decision needs to made about the paradigm within which the study is
conducted.
• Decide if you are going to conduct your research according to Positivist thinking
or according to the Interpretive/Social Constructivist paradigm, and motivate why
you decided on that particular paradigm.
• The verb in your primary objective will indicate which direction you ought to go
here.
• DO NOT mix paradigms, a study is either Positivistic or Interpretive/Social
Constructivist, NEVER BOTH.
• The reason for this is that paradigms usually represent philosophical stances that
stand in opposition to one another.
• A paradigm is more often than not borne out of critique against another
paradigm, therefore they are somewhat like oil and water.
Interpretivism/ Social Constructionism Research Paradigm
Falls under Research Paradigm.
Since qualitative research method will be used, the researcher must adopt an interpretive or
social constructivist paradigm.
The term interpretivism has its aetiolgy in Greek where it means pattern.
The central endeavor of the interpretivist paradigm is to understand the subjective world of
human experience.
Interpretivism will help the researcher get into the head of the research main issue.
Research will interpret the findings from structured interviews carried out from supply chain
professionals.
This will help to socially construct reality in what is termed social constructivist paradigm and
interpretivism.
Data will be gathered through interviews and text messages to present a balanced report of the
findings to bring an indepth examination.
Data collected will be recorded by the researcher and analysed by a trained professional.
This will resonate to deeper insights and understanding.
Interpretivists have developed trustworthy and quality research practices over the years.
 Positivism Research Paradigm (Quantitative)
• Positivism is a philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is
either positive—a posteriori. (Quantitative research).
• Is exclusively derived from experience of natural phenomena and their
properties and relations—or true by definition, that is, analytic and
tautological.
• Positivism is a research paradigm associated with scientific theories.
• Positivists apply scientific methodology as the way of understanding and
researching social and psychological phenomena.
• Scientific research in a positivist paradigm focuses on explanation and
prediction.
• The hypothetico-deductive model of science is used to facilitate the research
process, taking a theory-verification approach.
• Theories of nature depend on empirical data, with larger samples used to
make generalizations.
The Three Epistemological Positions
Some Philosophical Frameworks
 The table below provides some of the important
theoretical terms that students will meet in this
subject.
The goal is to reflect on the terms as many times
as possible and not to get intimidated by these
philosophical terms.
 See table below with philosophical frameworks;
The Philosophical Underpinnings of Research
The epistemological positions of relevance to this module are
positivism, constructionism and interpretivism.
 Some commonly used philosophical frameworks (see Table
above) in social science research are: functionalism, symbolic
interactionism, feminism, critical inquiry and postmodernism.
 Each of these represents a particular framework for viewing
the social world, and each represents particular ontological &
epistemological standpoints.
The Philosophical Frameworks
 Knowledge creation and the nature of knowledge are epistemological
questions.
 The means by which knowledge is created is an epistemological issue.
 Knowledge is created in the research project through the use of
research methodologies and methods.
 The methodology and the methods used must fit with the research
project, the philosophical framework used in the research project.
 In order to answer epistemological questions, the researcher must
explain and justify the methodology and methods used in the research
project.
The Five Basic Elements
 In Figure 4.2 above, the five basic elements of the
research process are evident.
 The epistemological and ontological assumptions
embedded in the research project are embedded in the
theoretical perspective deployed in the research, and
this is embedded in the research methodology used in
the study.
The Methodological Pyramid
 The methodological pyramid (see above) illustrates how the
underlying philosophical frameworks support the research
methodologies which in turn support the data collection methods.
 This is the way in which the concept of ‘fit’ works within social science
research.
 There are two types of data that can be collected for any research
project, quantitative and qualitative data.
 Quantitative data is data in the form of numbers, numerical data.
 Qualitative data is data is non-numerical data.
The Use of Theory in the Generation of Knowledge
 All research is about the generation of knowledge.
 Every research project emerges from a particular body of
knowledge and in turn it makes a contribution to that body of
knowledge.
 As every research project concludes and makes its
contribution to the body of knowledge, the body of knowledge
grows.
The Importance of Theory in Research
 Theory is of the most fundamental importance in
research.
 Research that is theorised makes a contribution to the
body of knowledge – it connects with the body of
knowledge.
 Such research becomes part of the ‘what is known’
about the phenomenon under investigation.
Concepts - the Building Blocks of Theory
 Concepts are the building blocks of theory.
 Concepts, as we have seen from our exploration and use of the
conceptual framework, are key ideas, key words, often the big words in
a sentence, a paragraph, in an idea.
 Every discipline and every theory is made up of concepts.
 Each concept contains a great deal of meaning.
 Concepts, created and developed, and aligned with other concepts,
are the means through which theory is created.
 Concepts are the building blocks of theory.
The Uses of Theory in Research
 The conceptual framework contains the key concepts in
the research project.
The theoretical framework contains the literature
review.
 The theoretical framework is designed by the
researcher, and it emerges from the conceptual
framework.
How to create a Theoretical Framework:
the 2nd of the 4 Frameworks
 The key concepts in the conceptual framework direct you in your
search for literature and in your reading.
 The theoretical framework, or literature review, contains a discussion,
or a review, of the literature in the area of the research project.
 The key concepts provide a structure for the literature review.
 The researcher first sources the literature.
 Then s/he downloads and saves the literature.
 Then s/he reads the literature.
 Finally, s/he begins to construct from the literature s/he has read the
theoretical framework for their research project.
Theoretical framework is required in order to;

 Provide the theoretical framework for the research

project;
 Establish their expertise in this area;
 Detail the current state of knowledge in the area;
 Highlight what is known and to highlights any gaps in what
is known;
 Detail the theory from which the research has emerged;
 To outline the theory to which the research will ultimately
contribute
How to Generate Theory from Your
Own Research
 Your review of the literature gives you material from which
you develop questions to ask in data gathering.
 When you analyse the data gathered, you begin the process
of theorising your data.
 You do this by establishing where and how your data
supports, and/or contradicts, the theory in the literature
review.
 This is the process of establishing how your data fits with the
theory in the field.
Research, Theory and Knowledge
 The conceptual and theoretical frameworks guide
the research in terms of data gathering.
 The analysed data is theorised.
 The findings of the research are knitted into the body of
knowledge.
 What results is new theory or an extension of existing
theory.
 This is the new knowledge created by the research
project.
Summary
The following areas have been covered in this unit
 The philosophical underpinnings of research and
research methodologies.
 The difference world views represented in the different
philosophical approaches.
The links between research, theory and knowledge.
End of Chapter 4