Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 180 views

    Research Philosophy

    Uploaded by

    gdayanand4u
    The document discusses research philosophy, which deals with assumptions about the nature of knowledge and truth. It addresses four main research philosophies in business studies: pragmatism, positivism, realism, and interpretivism. The choice of research philosophy depends on the nature of the study and has implications for research methods. Positivism is often associated with quantitative methods and large samples, while interpretivism uses qualitative methods like in-depth interviews. The document emphasizes that research philosophy provides the foundation for the research strategy and method choices in a dissertation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Research Philosophy

    Uploaded by

    gdayanand4u
    180 views4 pages
    The document discusses research philosophy, which deals with assumptions about the nature of knowledge and truth. It addresses four main research philosophies in business studies: pragmatism, positivism, realism, and interpretivism. The choice of research philosophy depends on the nature of the study and has implications for research methods. Positivism is often associated with quantitative methods and large samples, while interpretivism uses qualitative methods like in-depth interviews. The document emphasizes that research philosophy provides the foundation for the research strategy and method choices in a dissertation.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses research philosophy, which deals with assumptions about the nature of knowledge and truth. It addresses four main research philosophies in business studies: pragmatism, positivism, realism, and interpretivism. The choice of research philosophy depends on the nature of the study and has implications for research methods. Positivism is often associated with quantitative methods and large samples, while interpretivism uses qualitative methods like in-depth interviews. The document emphasizes that research philosophy provides the foundation for the research strategy and method choices in a dissertation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    180 views4 pages

    Research Philosophy

    Uploaded by

    gdayanand4u
    The document discusses research philosophy, which deals with assumptions about the nature of knowledge and truth. It addresses four main research philosophies in business studies: pragmatism, positivism, realism, and interpretivism. The choice of research philosophy depends on the nature of the study and has implications for research methods. Positivism is often associated with quantitative methods and large samples, while interpretivism uses qualitative methods like in-depth interviews. The document emphasizes that research philosophy provides the foundation for the research strategy and method choices in a dissertation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Research Philosophy

    Research philosophy is a vast topic and here we will not be discussing this topic in great details.
    Research philosophy is associated with assumption, knowledge and nature of the study. It deals with
    the specific way of developing knowledge. This matter needs to be addressed because researchers
    may have different assumptions about the nature of truth and knowledge and philosophy helps us to
    understand their assumptions.

    In business and economics dissertations at Bachelor’s level, you are not expected to discuss
    research philosophy in a great level of depth, and about one page in methodology chapter devoted
    to research philosophy usually suffices. For a business dissertation at Master’s level, on the other
    hand, you may need to provide more discussion of the philosophy of your study. But even there,
    about two pages of discussions are usually accepted as sufficient by supervisors.

    Discussion of research philosophy in your dissertation should include the following:

    1. You need to specify the research philosophy of your study. Your research philosophy can
    be pragmatism, positivism, realism or interpretivism as discussed below in more details.
    2. The reasons behind philosophical classifications of the study need to be provided.
    3. You need to discuss the implications of your research philosophy on the research strategy in
    general and the choice of primary data collection methods in particular.

    The Essence of Research Philosophy

    Research philosophy deals with the source, nature and development of knowledge[1]. In simple
    terms, research philosophy is belief about the ways in which data about a phenomenon should be
    collected, analysed and used.

    Although the idea of knowledge creation may appear to be profound, you are engaged in knowledge
    creation as part of completing your dissertation. You will collect secondary and primary data and
    engage in data analysis to answer the research question and this answer marks the creation of new
    knowledge.

    In respect to business and economics philosophy has the following important three functions[2]:

    1. Demystifying: Exposing, criticising and explaining the unsustainable assumptions,


    inconsistencies and confusions these may contain.
    2. Informing: Helping researchers to understand where they stand in the wider field of
    knowledge-producing activities, and helping to make them aware of potentialities they might
    explore.
    3. Method-facilitating: Dissecting and better understanding the methods which economists or,
    more generally, scientists do, or could, use, and thereby to refine the methods on offer
    and/or to clarify their conditions of usage.
    In essence, addressing research philosophy in your dissertation involves being aware and
    formulating your beliefs and assumptions.  As illustrated in figure below, the identification of research
    philosophy is positioned at the outer layer of the ‘research onion’. Accordingly it is the first topic to be
    clarified in research methodology chapter of your dissertation.

    Research philosophy in the ‘research onion’[2]

    Each stage of the research process is based on assumptions about the sources and the nature of
    knowledge. Research philosophy will reflect the author’s important assumptions and these
    assumptions serve as base for the research strategy. Generally, research philosophy has many
    branches related to a wide range of disciplines. Within the scope of business studies in particular
    there are four main research philosophies:

    1. Pragmatism
    2. Positivism
    3. Realism
    4. Interpretivism (Interpretivist)

    The Choice of Research Philosophy


    The choice of a specific research philosophy is impacted by practical implications. There are
    important philosophical differences between studies that focus on facts and numbers such as an
    analysis of the impact of foreign direct investment on the level of GDP growth and qualitative studies
    such as an analysis of leadership style on employee motivation in organizations.

    The choice between positivist and interpretivist research philosophies or


    between quantitative and qualitative research methods has traditionally represented a major point of
    debate. However, the latest developments in the practice of conducting studies have increased the
    popularity of pragmatism and realism philosophies as well.

    Moreover, as it is illustrated in table below, there are popular data collection methods associated
    with each research philosophy.

      Pragmatism Positivism Realism Interpretivism

    Highly
    Mixed or structured,
    Methods chosen
    multiple large samples, Small samples,
    Popular data must fit the
    method designs, in-depth
    collection subject matter,
    measurement, investigations,
    method quantitative or
    quantitative and quantitative, but qualitative
    qualitative
    qualitative can use
    qualitative
     Research philosophies and data collection methods[3]

    My e-book, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: a step by step


    assistance contains discussions of theory and application of research philosophy. The e-book also
    explains all stages of the research process starting from the selection of the research area to
    writing personal reflection. Important elements of dissertations such as research
    philosophy, research approach, research design, methods of data collection and data analysis are
    explained in this e-book in simple words.

    John Dudovskiy
    [1] Bajpai, N. (2011) “Business Research Methods” Pearson Education India

    [2] Tsung, E.W.K. (2016) “The Philosophy of Management Research” Routledge

    [3] Table adapted from Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) “Research Methods for
    Business Students” 6th edition, Pearson Education Limited

    You might also like