Slide 4.1 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Chapter 4 Understanding research philosophies and approaches

Slide 4.2 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Underlying issues of data collection and analysis "Well begun is half done“ --Aristotle, quoting an old proverb Saunders et al, (2008) Figure 4.1 The research ‘onion’

Slide 4.3 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Summary: Chapter 4 Three major ways of thinking about research philosophy Epistemology Ontology Axiology

Slide 4.4 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Summary: Chapter 4 Ontology – –Ontology is the science of being, 'the study of what is The object of ontology is to determine what is What is the nature of this object: It is a Mobile It is the inquiry into being in so much as it is being, or into beings insofar as they exist—and not insofar as, for instance, particular facts can be obtained about them or particular properties belong to themfactsproperties Go to Wikipedia and review the fundamental questions

Slide 4.5 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Summary: Chapter 4 Epistemology is the science of truth; it is "the branch of knowledge concerned with how knowledge is derived.“ is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge It addresses the questions:philosophyknowledge What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? To what extent is it possible for a given subject or entity to be known? This is a mobile based on the idea that I can touch it, it rings and I can talk through it.

Slide 4.6 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Summary: Chapter 4 Axiology is derived from the Greek, axios meaning 'worthy' and logos meaning 'science.' As a general philosophical theory, it involves a study of 'goodness, or value, in the widest sense of these terms is the science of moral choice, of fundamental values

Slide 4.7 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Underlying issues of data collection and analysis The research ‘onion’ Saunders et al, (2008) Figure 4.1 The research ‘onion’

Slide 4.8 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Research Methods In research, we often refer to the two broad methods of reasoning as the deductive and inductive approaches ) Research Types Deductive Approach Inductive Approach

Slide 4.9 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Deductive Research Approach Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific.. Sometimes this is informally called a "top-down" approach.. Conclusion follows logically from premises (available facts) Theory Confirmation Hypothesis Observation

Slide 4.10 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Inductive Research Approach Theory Pattern Inductive reasoning works the other way,, moving from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories.. Informally,, we sometimes call this a "bottom up" approach Conclusion is likely based on premises.. Involves a degree of uncertainty Observation Tentative Hypothesis

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

Slide 4.12 Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009 Summary: Chapter 4 The two main research approaches are Deduction - theory and hypothesis are developed and tested Induction – data are collected and a theory developed from the data analysis