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Chap 02

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11 views

Chap 02

Uploaded by

Joe Flanigan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF

RESEARCH METHODS AND


STATISTICS
PARADIGMS

• A paradigm is a set of beliefs about the


world and how it functions, i.e. a
philosophy

• Research methods are based on


paradigms
TWO PARADIGMS

• The Positivist paradigm underlies the


scientific quantitative research method

• Interpretivist paradigm (also called


Constructivism or Phenomenology)
underlies the naturalistic qualitative
research method
POSITIVIST PARADIGM

• Objective world with universal laws and


causality. Value free.
• Uses precise, objective measures and
usually associated with quantitative
data.
• Researcher remains separate from the
subjects.
POSITIVIST PARADIGM
• Research is rigorous, linear and rigid
based on hypothesis testing

• Methods include experimental studies, re-


analysis of secondary data, questionnaires,
structured interviews

• Mostly uses deductive reasoning

• Generally a ‘scientific’ method implied


INTERPRETIVIST PARADIGM
• People experience physical and social
reality in different ways

• Reality is therefore socially constructed

• Focus on meaning of experience for


individual

• Researcher becomes fully involved


with individual subjects
INTERPRETIVIST PARADIGM
• Subjective with values made explicit

• Research process flexible and flows


from the material provided by
participants

• Methods include ethnography,


participant observation, focus groups,
depth interviews - generally inductive
Characteristics of the Scientific
Research Method Based on
Positivist Paradigm

• Control - to isolate the cause of an effect


• Operational Definition – enables
measurement of variables
• Replication - consistency of results
• Hypothesis Testing – systematic approach
to see if hypothesis holds
Limitations of the Scientific
Approach

• Humans can think and reflect on own and


others’ behaviour to seek meaning and
purpose
• Considerable individual differences in life
experience, personality, etc.
• The human environment is complex
• For these reasons control is imperfect and
reliable quantification difficult
The Qualitative Approach
• Strengths
– Awareness of complexity of environment
– Stress on validity of multiple meanings and
personal ‘reality’
– As a preliminary to a quantitative study

• Limitations
– Time commitment for the study and analysis
– Problems of generalization and interpretation
Qualitative Quantitative
In the quantitative approach, researchers
The aim of qualitative analysis is a classify and count features, and construct
complete, detailed description. statistical models in an attempt to explain
what is observed.

Recommended during earlier phases of Recommended during latter phases of


research projects. research projects.

Researcher may only know roughly in Researcher knows clearly in advance what they
advance what they are looking for. are investigating.

All aspects of the study are carefully designed


The design emerges as the study unfolds.
before data is collected.

Researcher uses questionnaires, attitudes


Researcher is the data gathering
scales,
instrument.
tests or equipment to collect numerical data.

Data are usually words, pictures (e.g.


Data are always numbers and statistics.
videos) or objects (artifacts).

Qualitative data are more 'rich', time Quantitative data are more efficient, able to test
consuming, and less able to be generalized. hypotheses, but may miss contextual detail.

Researcher tends to become subjectively Researcher tends to remain objectively


immersed in the subject matter. separated from the subject matter.
Classifying research
• Inductive research – theory building. Data
collected and patterns in data examined. This
aids the development of theory or model.
Usually qualitative research within
interpretivist paradigm.

• Deductive research – theory testing. A


theory provides several predictions
(hypotheses) about how things are in the
world. We gather data to test the hypotheses.
Usually quantitative research within positivist
paradigm.
INDUCTION
Develops theory from initial data – a bottom-up
approach. This is open-ended and exploratory,
major characteristics of the qualitative
interpretive approach.

THEORY DEVELOPMENT

PATTERNS

OBSERVATIONS
DEDUCTION
Starts with a theory or hypothesis from which certain
other things should logically follow. These implications
can be tested and on the basis of the results the initial
theory/hypothesis can be supported or rejected. This
process is the deductive process – a top-down
strategy, working from the general to the specific.

EXISTING THEORY

HYPOTHESIS

OBSERVATIONS

CONFIRMATION
Rapprochement in the Research
Cycle
The scientific quantitative approach and the
qualitative method are linked, since the
conclusions of an inductive approach (a
developing theory) can be further
evaluated by the deductive approach.

Conversely, a quantitative deductive study


may unearth some unexpected and hard
to explain result which could be explored
in detail using an inductive approach such
as case studies, one-to-one inteviews.
1. Define a question
2. Gather data Qualitative
Inductive 3. Analyse data (themes) Qualitative
4. Propose possible concepts &
their relationships, e.g. develop
theory
5. Identify hypotheses that arise
from theory
6. Gather data Quantitative
Deductive 7. Analyse data to test hypotheses Quantitative
8. Decide whether theory is
supported
REACTIVE SUBJECTS
• Subjects change their behaviour if being
watched or involved (Hawthorne Effect)
• Subjects respond to quality of interviewer
relationship and characteristics of
interviewer (e.g. gender; white coat effect)
• Subjects manipulate responses, e.g. lie,
give socially acceptable responses, vary
degree of cooperation, have expectations
about what is required, give deference
responses, etc.

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