1. RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY From Positivism to Phenomenological: Where is your research placed?

2. Objectives The objectives of this lecture is to:
Discuss and understand the different philosophies of research
Provide information to the researcher to motivate the approach taken in conducting the research project
Provide information on describing the research philosophy and methodology

3. Question
What does it mean to discover something?

4. Question What does it mean to discover something?
What does it mean to invent something?

5. Question What does it mean to discover something?
What does it mean to invent something?
What is research? A discovery or an invention?

6. What is Research?
The purpose of research is to discover something about the world

7. The Roots of Research (1)
Roots of research, as we know it, can be traced back to Bacon (1561) and Descartes (1596)
These roots founded research that is known as Positivistic research or Positivism
Positivism is known as the natural scientist approach to research
Why?

8. The Roots of Research (2)
Natural scientists (physicists, botanists, biologists, etc.) attempted to discover the laws of nature
Research mostly conducted by means of laboratory experiments
Natural science researchers are totally independent during research

9. The Roots of Research (3)
By the late nineteenth century social scientific research emerged and also used these positivistic approaches
Research also conducted mostly through experiments
The social science researcher act as an observer of an independent and pre-existing reality
Researcher should stay distant and not allow values and bias to distort their objective views

10. Philosophy
Different philosophers’ views led to different stances on research philosophies
The following two research philosophies/models are important to us:
Positivism
Interpretivism

11. Positivism (1)
Positivistic research, whether natural or social science oriented, seeks facts
Results of positivistic research should be laws
factual
exact
precise
absolute

12. Positivism (2)
According to positivists, laws provide the basis for the explanation of some phenomenon, and to predict the occurrence of the phenomenon and therefore allow them to be controlled
If laws can be established between the variables, then rules can be deduced
Thus, natural and social worlds are bound by certain fixed laws in a sequence of cause and effect

13. Positivism (3) Focus on the facts – ignore everything else
Research is conducted
firstly by accepting given facts of the phenomenon/happening,
secondly by determining laws that govern the phenomenon and
finally by forecasting future phenomena according to these laws
Objectivity is required as far as possible
BUT, objectivity is much harder to achieve in social sciences than in natural sciences

14. Positivism (4)
There is a fundamental distinction between facts and values
Science deals with facts
Values not so well received in science
Positivism in social science led to empiricism
Empiricism - The practice of medicine that disregards scientific theory and relies solely on practical experience

15. Positivism (5)
Therefore, positivism is about facts / absoluteness / exactness / preciseness
Preferably total objectivity of researcher
Typically:
Natural science, a hypothesis proven or not proven by experiments
Social science, a hypothesis proven or not proven through empirical analyses

16. Phenomenological (1)
Social scientists began to argue against positivism
Argument:
physical sciences deal with objects that are exclusive / independent of human beings whereas
social sciences deal with actions and behaviour that are inclusive / part-of human beings

17. Phenomenological (2)
It is argued that interrelationship of the researcher and what is being researched is impossible to separate
A phenomenon is a perceived occurrence
Therefore, the phenomenological paradigm is concerned with understanding human behaviour from the researcher’s own frame of mind

18. Phenomenological (3)
Phenomenological view is that reality cannot be researched without being part of it
As the researcher forms part of reality (that being researched), subjectivity plays a role
This approach has to be more qualitative
Focus is on the meaning rather than the measurement of social phenomena

19. Interpretivism (1)
Interpretivism / phenomenology focuses on the world of meaning and methods of studying it
Interpretivism goes beyond facts – to meaning
People, as living beings, have got meaning attached to it
Interpretivism relates to the interpretation of human and organizational behaviour

20. Interpretivism (2)
Therefore, interpretivism goes beyond the facts and study the meaning thereof
In positivism it is;
true/false or
yes/no
In interpretivism it can be:
between true and false or
partially yes,

21. Models Applied to Information Systems
IS is an interdisciplinary field of study
IS research can be classified as positivistic or interpretive

22. Models Applied to Information Systems
IS research is positivistic if it involves:
Evidence of formal propositions
Quantifiable measures of variables
Hypothesis testing
Drawing of inferences about a phenomenon from a representative sample to a stated population

23. Models Applied to Information Systems
IS research is interpretive if
Researcher interacts with human subjects, changing the perceptions of both parties (thus, interpretation or meaning is attached to interaction)
Case studies or observation, for example, because some interpretation is attached to the interaction

24. Quantitative vs Qualitative
All IS research can be classified as either
Quantitative originally from natural sciences
Qualitative developed in social sciences

25. Quantitative vs Qualitative
Examples of Quantitative:
Survey methods
Laboratory experiments
Formal methods
Numerical methods (mathematical modelling)
Examples of Qualitative:
Case studies
Interviews
Observation

26. Positivism vs Phenomenological
Positivism Phenomenological
Quantitative Qualitative
Objective Subjective
Scientific Humanistic
Experimentalist Interpretivist
Hypothesis testing Generating theory
Uses large samples Uses small samples
Data is highly specific and precise Data is rich and subjective
The location is artificial The location is natural
Generalises from sample to population Generalises from setting to another
Facts Values
True / false Likert scale (1 to 5)
Measurement Meaning

27. Positivism vs Phenomenological
Positivism Phenomenological
Your research

28. Positivism vs Phenomenological Research Methods
Positivism Phenomenological
Questionnaires Case studies
Surveys Interviews

29. Research Philosophy in Social Research
Why studying Social Research?
Social = involvement of people/communities
The development of an Information System is viewed as a social activity, combining social systems and technology to the benefit of the organization and society as a whole

30. Summary (1)
Natural sciences try to limit variables only to the one being researched
Social sciences must accept many variables that interact
Therefore, research in Natural Science can be more ‘accurate’ than in Social Sciences

31. Summary (2) Positivistic research: Interpretivistic research:
Total objectivity
Researcher does not influence the environment at all
Interpretivistic research:
Subjective = total objectivity cannot be guaranteed
Allows for personal interpretations

32. Summary (3) Positivism predict and explain natural laws Interpretivism
understand social practices and relations