Information Criticality - Workshop 2 (Dr Natalie Paleothodoros) Ontology - Study of the world. Qualitative and Quantitative research approaches. Pros/Cons of each · Theory and Practice of each approach . I.e the principles that guides the way we think as qualitative researchers. · How these guide us through designing the whole research project practically. 2 Approaches to research Inductive Approach Building theory Associated with QUALITATIVE , INTERPRETIVISM . Deductive approach Testing theory Associated with Quantitative , Positivism. Principles of Research Methodology - Refers to the theory of how research should be undertaken ... AKA - Philosophy of the research approach taken. Or the principles of the research being conducted which underpin every decision you will make. i.e - The way you view knowledge (epistemology) The way you see the world (ontology) Epistemology (KNOWLEDGE) : Quantitative Research - Tends to take a positivist position where facts were seen as HARD facts , free from value (objective) . Qualitative - Tends to take an interpretivist position or ... (subjective)
"Non positivism" - In which facts and values are intertwined and hard to disentangle and both are involved in scientific knowledge (Walsham , 1995 , p. 75) Are facts , facts? . Politicians and their expenditure statistics - 100% of my expenditure is accounted for . NHS statistics on failures of staff - 60% of patients are dissatisfied with the bedside manner of nurses . Police statistics - 30% of police calls not reaching destinations within expected time · Government budget statistics - 20% cutbacks to the police and even larger threats to the NHS · Statistics on crimes reported - crime has fallen by 20% Politics of Facts (Refer to Latour , B and Woolgar S. (1979) Social aspects to numbers and politics behind STATISTICS. Figures can be manipulated - fraud. What you choose to measure leads to a set of results . And what you choose to ignore similarly impacts on your results. Budgets: What YOU choose to include (and exclude) in your budget has consequences and leads to sets of behaviours - these are not always best for business. Example - NHS budgets going down and targets going up . Same for police ... and this can lead to dysfunctional behaviour. Ontology (reality) The assumptions which we make about the way in which the world works. Objectivism - Entitles exist independent of social actors - POSITIVISM. Subjectivism - Individuals attach meaning to social phenomena and therefore we all construct our own reality (INTERPRETIVISM) i.e. - A football match or the weather. Do we trust facts?
Are they free from interpretation? Do we believe reality is out there waiting to happen? Do we construct our own reality? Practical Methods for Collecting Data Secondary and Primary data Qualitative and Quantitative data. Secondary data · Refers to the data that has already been collected by someone else " you don't go out there and physically collect it yourself (i.e. through questionnaires/interviews) · Someone else has already done this o It is important to