Epistemological Foundations

Epistemology is the study of knowledge, and so of science: the study of its nature, its validity and value, its methods and its scope. Epistemological ques­tioning is vital to serious research, as through it researchers can establish the validity and legitimacy of their work. All research is based on a certain vision of the world,

What is Knowledge?

Before we can give due thought to the question of what knowledge is, we must first consider the related question of the nature of reality. Does reality exist independently of the observer, or is our perception of reality subjective. What part of ‘reality’ can we know? 1. A Positivist Understanding of Reality For positivists, reality

Generating New Knowledge

1. Explaining Reality By accepting the assumptions of objectivity, the ontology of reality and the determinism of the social world, positivists commit themselves to the search for external reality and the mechanisms that condition it. The positive ideal would be to find a universal law that explains reality and reveals objective truth. Even the most

Validity Criteria of Knowledge

Researchers can evaluate the knowledge they produce by using different cri­teria of validity. Each of the epistemologies we are looking at – the positivist, the interpretativist and the constructivist – incorporate a number of validity criteria. 1. Positivist Validity Criteria For positivism, specific criteria enable researchers to distinguish clearly between scientific and non-scientific knowledge. These

Plurality of Epistemological Paradigms

In this section we look at the researcher’s position in relation to the paradigms presented earlier. We discuss whether researchers have to choose between paradigms, or whether, to the contrary, they have a degree of freedom to tailor their own position. To answer these questions, researchers need to think about the position they wish to

Constructing the Research Problem

The research problem is the general question the researcher is trying to respond to, or the objective of a study. In a way, it is the answer to the question ‘What am I looking for?’ The research problem is relatively broad and general, distin­guishing it from other ‘questions’ that are in fact more precise and

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What is a Research Problem?

1. A Question Expressing a Knowledge Project To construct a research problem is to elaborate a question or problematic through which the researcher will construct or discover reality. The question produced links or examines theoretical, methodological or empirical elements. The theoretical elements of the research problem may be concepts (collective representation, change, learning, collective knowledge

Process of Constructing the Research Problem

1. Point of Departure Researchers can use different points of departure to elaborate their research problem. Concepts, theories, theoretical models relating to the phenomenon they wish to study, methodological approaches or tools, facts observed within organizations, a field-study opportunity, a general theme of interest, or a com­bination of these may be used. Studying a well-known

Theoretical Background of Processes Central to the Construction of Knowledge

Exploration and testing are two processes through which we construct knowl­edge. To explore in management consists of discovering, or looking further into, a structure or a way of functioning in order to satisfy two broad objectives: the quest for explanation (and prediction) and the quest for comprehension. Through explo­ration, researchers satisfy their initial intentions: to

Exploration Process to the Construction of Knowledge

In management research, empirical methods – various forms of observation, interviews, investigations, simulations or quasi-experimentation, or a combi­nation of various techniques (multi-methods) – are used more frequently to explore and to develop new theoretical constructs than in testing them (Snow and Thomas, 1994). While the exploration process itself does not presuppose a choice of either

Testing Process to the Construction of Knowledge

Testing is, as we have noted, a process by which a theoretical element is assessed in a real situation. While researchers are free to employ qualitative or quantitative methodological designs to test their propositions, quantitative methods are more frequently used to serve the logic of the testing process. 1. Testing a Hypothesis When a hypothesis

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Choosing Data: What Approach with Which Data

1. What Is ‘Data’? ‘Data’ is conventionally seen as forming the premises of theories. Researchers seek out and gather information – data – which can then be processed, using methodical instrumentation, to produce results and to improve on or to replace existing theories. However, two unstated and questionable propositions are hidden behind this commonsense understanding

Choosing a Research Approach: Qualitative or Quantitative?

Researchers have to decide what type of approach they want to use to collect and to analyze their data. In other words, how they are going to tackle the empirical side of their research. We begin this section by examining what distinguishes a qualitative from a quantitative approach. We then show how these two approaches

Researching Content and Researching Process

Understanding a research question requires making a certain number of choices. We will examine here two ways of studying the same management phenomenon: researchers can choose between content-based study and process-based study. The many different definitions found in books and articles describing these two options all focus on the following elements: Content-based research proposes an

Content-Based Research

Researchers carry out content-based research in order to reveal the composition of the object under study. There are many reasons why a researcher may want to carry out this type of research. Nevertheless, this elementary, broad definition of content-based research hides the tremendous diversity to be found within studies of this type. This suggests that

Process-Based Research

Let us go back to the metaphor of video. If content-based research is com­parable to hitting the pause button, then the film is rolling again in process- based research. The time dimension is placed at the heart of the managerial issues studied. That which researchers intend to describe and understand (for example, decision-making or strategic

Positioning Research

The first two sections of this chapter contrasted content-based research with process-based research. The aim of the third section is to enable researchers to measure the consequences of their choices and clearly position their research. We encourage researchers to be aware that the two approaches, one based on content and one on process, are mutually

Research Design

The research design1 is the framework through which the various components of a research project are brought together: research question, literature review, data, analysis and results. According to Grunow (1995), it is a crucial element of any empirical research project, whatever the research question and the chosen methodological point of view. However, many research designs

Epistemology and Research Design

Before we present in detail the debate over the implications the epistemo­logical positioning of a research project may have on its design, we will briefly mention the evolution of research approaches that has brought about this debate. The related question of the degree of maturity of knowledge in a field of study and the type

Planning the Research

The design stage often results in a proposal stating the approach the researcher will follow and the essential methodological choices he or she has made (the data collection and analysis methods he or she will use, and the observational field). These choices should always be justified in line with the research question. Although such formalization