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 A collection of theories, concepts or ideas Different approaches 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 Post 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.

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