APPROACHES TO RESEARCH

SESSION AIM

To provide an overview of the differing methods of research and their uses

SESSION OBJECTIVES

By the end of the session students will be able to:

Define key research terms and explain their relevance to business research

Distinguish between deductive and inductive approaches

State their own research position

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES

Your approach to your research philosophy, gives clues as to the way you view the world

Values have an important impact Are you concerned with facts? Are you concerned with feelings & opinions?

EPISTEMOLOGY Are you a ‘resources’ researcher? Are you a ‘feelings’ researcher?Includes: Positivism Interpretivism Realism

POSITIVISM

The philosophical stance of the natural scientist

Only data that can be observed results in credible data

Uses hypotheses Concerned with social reality that can be

observed The researcher is independent and value free

REALISM

Reality is independent of the mind A scientific approach to the development of

knowledge Direct Realism – ‘what you see is what you

get’ Critical Realism – A two stage approach

INTERPRETIVISM

Humans are social actors The researcher has to adopt an empathetic

stance Based upon phenomenology, the way in

which we make sense of the world around us

ONTOLOGY

Concerned with the nature of realityIncludes: Objectivism Subjectivism

OBJECTIVISM Portrays the position that social entities exist

in reality external to social actors

SUBJECTIVISM

Social phenomena are created from the perceptions and consequent actions of social actors

A constant state of revision Exploration of subjective meanings

RESEARCH APPROACH

Deduction (theory testing) A search for relationships between variables

THE FIVE STAGE DEDUCTIVE APPROACH

1. Deduce a hypothesis2. Express the hypothesis in operational

terms3. Test the hypothesis4. Examine the outcome of enquiry5. If required modify the outcome in light of

findings

INDUCTIVE APPROACH

Concerned with the context within which events were happening

Working with qualitative data

MULTI METHOD APPROACH

Also known as ‘triangulation’ Combines both inductive and deductive

methods of research approaches

RESEARCH STRATEGIES

Experiment Survey Case study Action research

TIME HORIZONS

Cross-sectional research Longitudinal research

SO WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO A GOOD PIECE OF RESEARCH? Reliability Validity

SESSION OBJECTIVES

By the end of the session students will be able to:

Define key research terms and explain their relevance to business research

Distinguish between deductive and inductive approaches

State their own research position