Research philosophy Lots of ways at looking at the world, western academic world privileges 2: 1. Positivism 2. Interpretivism These are often called paradigms. What are paradigms? Paradigms set out the world view, or belief system of the researcher. Each paradigms combines: . the nature of the world as believed by the researcher [ontology] . the relationship between the researcher and the researched [epistemology]. What we know and how we know it The paradigm adopted guides how the researcher will conduct their research. Positivist Ontology Based on: . Reality is considered as an objective phenomenon that holds the truth . Reality can be discovered as it is governed by unchangeable laws of cause and effect . Reality is neither time nor context-bound and therefore reality can be generalised · The nature of human behaviour- human behaviour is predetermined, rationale and therefore predictable Interpretivism Ontology Based on: . Nature of reality, that there is no such thing as reality. There are multiple realities constructed by individuals and groups of individuals and these change over time · Nature of human behaviour- human behaviour is what it is . There are causes but these aren't universal and don't have a universal effect. Voluntarism . People are what they are, rational or irrational Positivist Epistemology Made up of following: · Only true form of knowledge is that which is scientific · Empirical falsification: a theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven but can be falsified meaning it can and should be scrutinised by decisive experiments · Knowledge is discovered and verified through direct observations or measurements of phenomena · Complexity can be tackled by reductionism in order to understand the whole · An emphasis on objectivity, measurement, falsification and repeatability · All underpinned by probability theory Interpretivist Epistemology
Made up of following: · Knowledge is a social construct · All knowledge is subjective, the researcher is involved in its construction (includes scientific knowledge with possible exception of mathematics)