Understanding research philosophy

Research philosophy deals with the source, nature and development of knowledge. In simple terms, a 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 essence, addressing research philosophy in your dissertation involves being aware and formulating your beliefs and assumptions.  As it is illustrated in figure below, the identification of the 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’

There are different types of research philosophy, which are described below:

What about ontology?

In the research literature there is frequent mention of ontology and you might be wondering why ontology does not figure in the schema developed to

Four elements as foundation of the research process

As a starting point, it can be suggested that, in developing a research proposal, we need to put considerable effort into answering two questions in

Understanding research philosophy

Research philosophy is an important part of research methodology. Research philosophy is classified as ontology, epistemology and axiology. These philosophical approaches enable to decide which

Positivism: the march of science

Inherent in the methodologies guiding research efforts are a number of theoretical perspectives, as the previous chapter has suggested and Table 1 has exemplified. Furthermore,

The great divide between the qualitative research and quantitative research

In the model we are following here, you will notice that the distinction between qualitative research and quantitative research occurs at the level of methods.

In all directions of the research process

Back we go to our arrows. We have been drawing arrows from left to right—from one item in one column to another item in the

Constructionism: the making of meaning

Constructionism is well removed from the objectivism found in the positivist stance. In some areas it seems to have replaced objectivism as the dominant paradigm.

Post-positivism

Early inroads into the absoluteness and dogmatism of positivist science were made by a pair of eminent physicists, Werner Heisenberg (1901- 76) and Niels Bohr

Positivism

The coining of the word ‘positivism’ is often attributed to Auguste Comte. Unjustifiably, it seems. While he did make up the word ‘sociology’ (and its

Conformism or critique?

It would seem important to distinguish accounts of constmctionism where this social dimension of meaning is at centre stage from those where it is not.

‘Social’ constructionism

If seeing interpretation as a making of meaning does not condemn us to subjectivism, it does not condemn us to individualism either. We have to

The construction of meaningful reality

In the constructionist view, as the word suggests, meaning is not discovered but constructed. Meaning does not inhere in the object, merely waiting for someone

Roots of interpretivism

Interpretivism is often linked to the thought of Max Weber (1864— 1920), who suggests that in the human sciences we are concerned with Verstehen (understanding).

Interpretivism: for and against culture

In the schema presented in the Introduction, the first column is headed ‘Epistemology’. Objectivism, which we have related to positivism and post-positivism, and constructionism, which

Realism and relativism

Social constructionism is at once realist and relativist. To say that meaningful reality is socially constructed is not to say that it is not real.

Modern hermeneutics

Dilthey is of central importance in the history of modem hermeneutics. He was not the first modern hermeneuticist, however. Around the turn of the nineteenth

The hermeneutic mode of understanding

What, one might ask, are the characteristic ways in which hermeneutic theories differ from other approaches to meaning and understanding? For a start, it can

Historical origins of hermeneutics

While the word is only about two-and-a-half centuries old, hermeneutics as a disciplined approach to interpretation can be traced back to the ancient Greeks studying

Interpretivism: the way of hermeneutics

The term ‘hermeneutics’ came into modem use in the seventeenth century in the context of biblical studies. Hermeneutics was, and is, the science of biblical

Phenomenology

Phenomenology, in itself, is a simple enough concept. The phenomenological movement was launched under the batde cry of ‘Back to the things themselves!’. The ‘things

Symbolic interactionism

Symbolic interactionism offers what is very much an American perspective on life, society and the world. As already noted when discussing constructionism, it stems from

Critical inquiry: contemporary critics & contemporary critique

This chapter links closely to the one we have just left. It will reinforce the continuity between the two if we take up again the

Critical theory

The philosophical stance of the Frankfurt School might not have been dubbed ‘critical theory’ until the 1950s but the words themselves had certainly occurred in

The Institute for Social Research

The Frankfurt School has been mentioned several times already. It has its origins in the Institute for Social Research set up in 1924 under the

Marxism after Marx

On Marx’s death it was left to Friedrich Engels to take things forward. From papers left by Marx he compiled and published the two further

Critical inquiry of Karl Marx

Despite the caveat that has just been entered, Karl Marx (1818-83) must be recognised as one of the principal moulders of modem thought. Certainly, he

Critical inquiry: the Marxist heritage

In discussing interpretivism in the previous two chapters, the issue of critical inquiry has already emerged for us. By and large, interpretivism is an uncritical

Feminist ‘epistemology’

Tong’s categories have led us on a long journey. While this has been a speedy journey and we are left rather breathless, our fleeting glimpses

The many feminisms

How does one go about sorting out feminist issues? Perhaps one should start by listing and describing the various forms that feminism takes? While it

Feminism: re-visioning the man-made world

How do feminists envisage the human world they inhabit? And what, in consequence, are the assumptions that feminist researchers bring to their various forms of

Critical inquiry today

Critical forms of research call current ideology into question, and initiate action, in the cause of social justice. In the type of inquiry spawned by

Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed

Research in the vein of critical inquiry cannot escape the influence of Paulo Freire (1921-97), whose best known work is Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972a).

Jurgen Habermas and communicative reason

Horkheimer was suspicious of Habermas from the start. He was extremely critical of Habermas’s Students and Politics research project, a piece of work he undertook

Reference

• Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for business students (5th ed., pp. 1–617). England: Pearson. Retrieved from http://ebooks.narotama.ac.id/files/Research Methods for Business Students (5th Edition)/Cover %26 Table of Contents – Research Methods for Business Students (5th Edition).pdf.