MIS Research Methodology Course (2)
Positivism V.S Interpretivism
What are
different Philosophical schools of thought “world view”?
Interpretivism and Positivism
What is Ontology?
Ontology means “what is the reality?” Reality could be
Constructionist or Realist (objectivist)
What is
difference between Constructionist and Realist Ontology?
Constructionist believes that reality is formed and shaped
in the minds of people. And this reality is different from organization to
organization and from country to country. What is right in Egypt may be not
right in US.
Realist Ontology believes that there is a single reality and
all people in the world have the same reality. Therefore, it is better to use
it for universal laws and building conceptual models.
What is
Epistemology?
Epistemology means the theory of getting the knowledge.
Epistemology could be Interpretivist or Empiricist. It addresses the relationship between the
knower and what is known? How do we know what we know? What counts as
knowledge?
What is
the difference between Interpretivist and Empiricist?
Interpretivist means that you look, observe, or listen and
interpret what you see or listen.
Empiricist means you experiment your hypothesis in an
objective way to get the knowledge.
What are
different research designs?
Fixed design and Flexible design
Compare
between Positivism and Interpretivism.
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Positivism
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Interpretivism
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Goal of the research
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Filling knowledge gap or finding universal laws
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Solving problem , how do situational and cultural
variations shape the reality
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Reality
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Single
reality in the mind of people
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No
single reality – reality is different from context to context
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Ontology
“What is the reality”
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Realist/Objectivsit
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Constructionist
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Epistemology
“How can we get the reality”
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Empiricist
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Interpretivist
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Research Approach
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Deductive (you
test the theory or test the explanation)
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Inductive (you
develop your theory)
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Research Methods
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Questionnaires
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Focus
Group, Observation, and Interviews.
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Research Design
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Fixed Design
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Flexible Design
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Thesis, Paper structure, or Conference paper
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Abstract,
Introduction, Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, Literature Review,
Research Methodology, Data Collection, Analysis, and Validation.
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Abstract,
Introduction, Aims & Objectives, Research Questions, Research
Methodology, Literature Review, Data Collection, Analysis, and Validation
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Voice
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Impersonal voice.
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Personal voice.
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Validity
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Validated
using statistics
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Validating
using interviews
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Generalization
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You could generalize
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You could not generalize the idea.
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Comparability
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You
can compare results from different studies since there are standardized
statistical tools
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You
cannot compare easily since the observers are different
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Names
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Quantitative, Objectivism
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Qualitative, Subjectivism
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Scope
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Problem
as a whole are better understood if they are reduced into the simplest possible
elements
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Problems
as a whole are better understood if the totality of the situation is looked
at.
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Suggested Readings
Tuli (1997) “The Basis Distinction between qualitative and
quantitative research in social science: Reflection on ontological,
epistemological and methodological perspectives”, available on Facebook group.
Holden & Lynch “Choosing the Appropriate Methodology:
Understanding Research Philosophy”, available on face book group.
The course will be once a week. Therefore, it is expected to finish after 80 weeks or 2 years. The lesson will be recorded Friday night. Then, it will be published Saturday or Sunday via YouTube on this channel
Additionally, supplementary materials will be published on the facebook group which is
You could also subscribe to this blog to follow up my notes and uploads.
e-mail : a.badewi@cranfield.ac.uk
