Research methodologies (an overview)

Dr Ayaz Afsar

“If we knew what it was we were doing,

it would not be called research, would it?”

-- Albert Einstein

Choosing research methodologies

Research Methodology springs out of the following:

◦ The way we see the world

◦ Subject area we are working

◦ The specific research area

◦ Question on which we are working on World view Believe = The word is knowable Appropriate = found in the sciences & some social sciences Hypothesis = generated, then tested, experiments carried out,

results collected, data gathered to argue the case, prove a point Carry out certain procedures many times = reliability Replicable e.g, before releasing drugs or other products In SS, rigorous, reliable research = based on the theory of

behaviourism. Skinner, Bandura, Pavlov

Pavlov Experiment

Trained dogs to salivate when their food was presented People are seen as behaving mechanically and predictably as do in

science

Competing positions

However not all the questions we ask of the world are predictable

e.g Human interactions, perceptions and interpretations

-based on a form of constructivism rather than predictable and proven If you believe = definable, fixable, proven and can be discovered and

described < positivistic research However if you feel the world is indefinable, interpreted, shifting in

meaning based on “who”, “when” & “why” -anyone carries out and adds the meaning = post-positivistic research

In this case we can ask questions but never gain absolutely final answers. All data collected will need to be interpreted in context. We make meaning rather than discover. We understand through making links, interpreting context and perceiving. relative-- inductive

Contributes to meaning rather than testing theory and meaning

Choice of methodology & methods

Follow from your worldview & philosophy Methods : vehicles and processes used to gather data. SS range of

approaches:positivism, interpretivism, structuralism, postmodernism, poststructuralism & constructivism

Methodology includes the following concepts in the context of a field of enquiry

1. A collection of theories, concepts or ideas

2. Different approaches

3. Critique of the individual methods Methodology: is the rational and philosophical assumptions

underlying a particular study rather than a collection of methods, though it leads to and informs the methods

Other key concepts

Ontology: means “being in the world”, self, subjects – how you experience and perceive yourself in the world, whether the world is knowable, we all share the same sense of reality, solidity or we perceive differently

◦ Phenomenologists such as Husserl, Merleau Ponty & Jean-Paul Sartre

◦ They debated how we experience and construct a sense of self in the world

Epistemology: is knowledge – the ways in which different disciplines construct, interpret and represent knowledge in the world.

Methodology affects

◦ the research questions you ask

◦ the kinds of research you carry out

◦ the methods used

◦ the modes of analysis used on your data

◦ And what you can argue as finding from your data

Paradigms

Positivistic

paradigm

Concerned with hypotheses testing

Uses large samples Data are highly specific and

precise Produces quantitative data High reliability Low validity Generalises from sample to

population

Post positivistic paradigm

Concerned with generating theories

Uses small samples Data are rich and subjective Produces qualitative data Reliability is low Validity is high Generalises from one setting to

another

Positivism:

depends on belief that human society like the natural world is subject

to fixed laws; behavior can be determined; there is little room for

choice or multiple interpretations

Is associated with empiricism, behaviorism, naturalism, or the

scientific approach and attempts to attribute “scientific” status to

social research

Is most often used in research in economics, psychology,

management, marketing, some health related (non-clinical) research

Argues that knowledge and truth exist insofar as they can be proved

Interpretivism:

human beings are subjects and have consciousness or a mind;

human behavior is affected by knowledge of the social world which

exists only in relation to human beings

The mind interprets experience & events and constructs meaning

from them – meaning does not exist outside the mind and the

agreement of human beings

Constructivism: based on similar beliefs as interpretivism, believes that human

beings construct knowledge and meaning from experience and relationships betweens things, people, events

Structuralism: all knowledge is historically and socially contingent – that is, based

on its context and mediated by power relations, law and language Objective, rational laws inform human activity, the mind, language,

behaviours, identitity formation and interpretations

Poststructuralism: like structuralism sees language as divorced from things and events;

relations agreed on by human beings (or not) in a context where there are no stable meanings, reality or laws.

all knowledge is constructed, interpreted, in a system of relations.

Postmodernism: similar assumptions to poststructuralism knowledge and experience of fragmentary, and humans impose

meaning and order upon them there is debate between beliefs about the construction and control of

subjects in context or the existence of a decision-making human subject.

Consider

What kind of assumptions about the world, meaning, subjectivity,

interpretation, do you have?

What assumptions and beliefs underlie the research you are going to

undertake? Where along the axis from positivism to postmodernism

might your own work lie?

What do you understand now about methodology, methods,

ontology, epistemology?

Do these matter in terms of your research and its design and

processes? And, if so, how?

Research approaches (Which are yours?)

Theoretical exploration Reflection on experience Empirical research Ethnographic Experimental Descriptive Exploratory Predictive Explanatory Practitioner – and/ or action – related Creative

Descriptive research

Descriptive research aims to find out more about a phenomenon and

to capture it with detailed information. Often the capturing and

description is only true for that particular moment, but it still helps us

to understand and know more about the phenomenon. The

description might have to be repeated several times and then further

exploratory questions asked about the reasons for its change or

stability. It asks “what?” questions. Tells about a situation, but not its

causes.

Exploratory research

Exploratory research asks both “what?” and “why?” questions.It

begins with the question: “does X happen?” followed by “why does X

happen?” and sets out, using a variety of methods, to discover

whether what is in question is true or not. Essentially, it explores

both simple and complex issues. Exploratory research is commonly

used when new knowledge is sought or certain behaviour and the

causes for the presentation of symptoms, actions or events need

discovering.

Explanatory research

Explanatory research also asks “why?” questions. It specifically

seeks to look at the cause-and-effect relationships between two or

more phenomena.It can be immensely helpful when description and

simple exploration have come up with a number of variables that

confuse rather than clarify the assumptions and hypotheses.

Predictive research

Predictive research takes several variables and tries to predict an

outcome. It asks “what if?” questions. The hypothesis is based on

data already collected and considered on knowledge and

conceptualization, as well as, probably, past experience. Predictive

research is based on probability and can, for example, be used to

predict. PR takes several variables into account. It is based on

identification of relationships between variables, so changing one or

more variables can, it can be predicted, change the outcome. You

can then deduce the effect of that variable on the outcomes, to some

extent.

Action research

Action research explores and informs practice. It also asks “what if?”

questions. It is experientially based and usually set up to try and

solve a problem, or try out a hypothesis that could improve a

practical situation . Teachers, social workers, medical practitioners,

and other professionals working with human subjects carry out

versions of action research each time they try out an innovation in

their work in order to solve a problem and develop a new and useful

practice to achieve a developmental practical outcome. It involves

collaboration with its subjects. and seeks to research practice. Action

research focuses on bringing about the change process, “doing

research and working on solving a problem at the same time”.

Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together

Although, in the above sections, I have described the different world

views that underpin the inductive and deductive approaches, and the

qualitative and quantitative methods in their service, nonetheless,

many researchers combine both.

Conclusion

This lecture has considered research methodologies based on

worldviews, and looked at the ways in which you might approach

your research, the methods you might use, in relation to the

methodology you are using.

Further reading

Bon Jour, L. (2005). The Structure of Empirical Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Williams, M. (2001). Problems of Knowledge. A Critical Introduction to Epistemology, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Jacquette, D. (2002). Ontology. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Guba, E. (ed.). (1990). The Paradigm Dialog. London: Sage. Psillos, S. (1999). Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks the Truth,

London: Routledge. Schick, T. (1999). Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From

Positivism to Postmodernism. Columbus, OH: Mc Graw-Hill. Boghossian, P. A. (2006). Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism

and Constructivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Berger P. L. and Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of

Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor. Zahavi, D. (2007). Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First-

Person Perspective. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

THE END