Summary ‘Advanced Research Methods’ 2021
Weblecture 1 Introduction to qualitative research methods, chapter 2
Epistemology & ontology;
Epistemology; knowledge about knowledge, how do we know whether or not some claim is
true or false? Why something is evidence, partly depends on the criteria.
- Episteme; ‘knowledge’ or ‘science’
- Logos; ‘knowledge’, ‘information’, ‘theory’ or ‘account’
Ontology; how do we know whether or not something is real or illusory? Does a certain
phenomena exist without our knowing and perceiving it?
- Ontos; ‘being’
- Logos; ‘knowledge’, ‘information’, ‘theory’ or ‘account’
Positivism & relativism;
Positivist/realist perspective; there is the possibility of a neutral observation. Science should
focus on only directly observable phenomena (ignoring subjective dimensions of human
action). Empirical truth is established through replicable findings
- The reality exist, waiting for our discoverence
- Knowledge is a cumulative, unmediated and complete representation of reality
- God’s eye frame of reference
- Deductive, quantitative (1920s Vienna Circle)
- Epistemology; Theories should be tested in a hypothetico-deductive way. Resultant
approach (erklaren)
o Inductive verification; if all dogs we observed are smart, than we conclude
that all dogs are smart
o Deductive verification; if all dogs are smart, and a particular animal that we
see is a dog, the dog is smart
- Ontology; it exists ‘out there’, independent of us
Scientific revolutions with Thomas Kuhn; new paradigms with new truths
Relativist/subjectivist perspective; we have to admit to dealing with a socially constructed
reality.
- Reality is socially constructed
- Skepticism about the major foundations of Western thought
- Participant frame of reference
- Inductive, qualitative
- Epistemology; there is no privileged epistemology, due to different and
incommensurable discourses; it depends on the practical consequences and thus the
researcher needs to clarify the context and why certain methods were choosen
- Ontology; it would be created though our everyday talk
Qualitative neo-positivism; either neo-empiricism
- Something in the middle between positivism and relativism
o Because it’s combining it’s a bit tricky
, - There is a truth out there, independent of the knower, but it is up to the researcher
to collect that and get through that truth by sticking to the right procedures and how
to do that
- Interview ‘pipeline for transmitting knowledge’
Interpretivism; human interpretation is the starting point for developing knowledge about
the social world (verstehen)
- Hermeneutics; the meaning of a part can only be understood if it is related to the
whole
o Hermeneutic cycle; link between pre-understanding and understanding is
made. There is no interpretation without any prior knowledge (Heidegger)
- Etnomethodology; seek to understand and interpret how individuals make sense of
their lifeworlds (Garfinkel)
- Sense-making; how individuals or groups retrospectively make sense of events such
as disasters or crises
Critical theory; aims to understand how practices and institutions of management are
developed and legitimized within relations of power (capitalism). What power is concealed
in what we think to be the ‘normality’?
- Politics, values and knowledge
- Related to relativism, the most critical towards positivist philosophy
- A call for reflexivity from the researcher
Postmodernism/-structuralism; no meaning exist beyond language. How we make sense is
driven by historical, contextual, social contingent discourses – forming ‘hyper-realities’
- What we take to be knowledge is constructed in and through language
- Everything is relative to the eye of the beholder
- Subjectivist ontology subjectivist epistemology
- ‘Linguistic turn’; language is never innocent
Postcolonialism and indigenous epistemologies; encourage the framing of research
questions in different ways
- Lens of qu90eer theory; that people can be viewed collectively based in one shared
characteristic (e.g. gender) is flawed.
To have credibility (internal validity), qualitative research papers must address the following
four areas;
1. Theoretical positioning of the researcher
2. The congruence between methodology, beliefs on knowledge and the methods
3. Strategies to establish rigour
4. Analytical lens (epistemological and ontological)
You should check for the trustworthiness of your conclusions; with members of the
community you are studying (member checking; discuss the conclusions with the
respondents), use outsider/insider roles and triangulate. And you should work with multiple
researchers and check each other’s coding.
Weblecture 1 Introduction to qualitative research methods, chapter 2
Epistemology & ontology;
Epistemology; knowledge about knowledge, how do we know whether or not some claim is
true or false? Why something is evidence, partly depends on the criteria.
- Episteme; ‘knowledge’ or ‘science’
- Logos; ‘knowledge’, ‘information’, ‘theory’ or ‘account’
Ontology; how do we know whether or not something is real or illusory? Does a certain
phenomena exist without our knowing and perceiving it?
- Ontos; ‘being’
- Logos; ‘knowledge’, ‘information’, ‘theory’ or ‘account’
Positivism & relativism;
Positivist/realist perspective; there is the possibility of a neutral observation. Science should
focus on only directly observable phenomena (ignoring subjective dimensions of human
action). Empirical truth is established through replicable findings
- The reality exist, waiting for our discoverence
- Knowledge is a cumulative, unmediated and complete representation of reality
- God’s eye frame of reference
- Deductive, quantitative (1920s Vienna Circle)
- Epistemology; Theories should be tested in a hypothetico-deductive way. Resultant
approach (erklaren)
o Inductive verification; if all dogs we observed are smart, than we conclude
that all dogs are smart
o Deductive verification; if all dogs are smart, and a particular animal that we
see is a dog, the dog is smart
- Ontology; it exists ‘out there’, independent of us
Scientific revolutions with Thomas Kuhn; new paradigms with new truths
Relativist/subjectivist perspective; we have to admit to dealing with a socially constructed
reality.
- Reality is socially constructed
- Skepticism about the major foundations of Western thought
- Participant frame of reference
- Inductive, qualitative
- Epistemology; there is no privileged epistemology, due to different and
incommensurable discourses; it depends on the practical consequences and thus the
researcher needs to clarify the context and why certain methods were choosen
- Ontology; it would be created though our everyday talk
Qualitative neo-positivism; either neo-empiricism
- Something in the middle between positivism and relativism
o Because it’s combining it’s a bit tricky
, - There is a truth out there, independent of the knower, but it is up to the researcher
to collect that and get through that truth by sticking to the right procedures and how
to do that
- Interview ‘pipeline for transmitting knowledge’
Interpretivism; human interpretation is the starting point for developing knowledge about
the social world (verstehen)
- Hermeneutics; the meaning of a part can only be understood if it is related to the
whole
o Hermeneutic cycle; link between pre-understanding and understanding is
made. There is no interpretation without any prior knowledge (Heidegger)
- Etnomethodology; seek to understand and interpret how individuals make sense of
their lifeworlds (Garfinkel)
- Sense-making; how individuals or groups retrospectively make sense of events such
as disasters or crises
Critical theory; aims to understand how practices and institutions of management are
developed and legitimized within relations of power (capitalism). What power is concealed
in what we think to be the ‘normality’?
- Politics, values and knowledge
- Related to relativism, the most critical towards positivist philosophy
- A call for reflexivity from the researcher
Postmodernism/-structuralism; no meaning exist beyond language. How we make sense is
driven by historical, contextual, social contingent discourses – forming ‘hyper-realities’
- What we take to be knowledge is constructed in and through language
- Everything is relative to the eye of the beholder
- Subjectivist ontology subjectivist epistemology
- ‘Linguistic turn’; language is never innocent
Postcolonialism and indigenous epistemologies; encourage the framing of research
questions in different ways
- Lens of qu90eer theory; that people can be viewed collectively based in one shared
characteristic (e.g. gender) is flawed.
To have credibility (internal validity), qualitative research papers must address the following
four areas;
1. Theoretical positioning of the researcher
2. The congruence between methodology, beliefs on knowledge and the methods
3. Strategies to establish rigour
4. Analytical lens (epistemological and ontological)
You should check for the trustworthiness of your conclusions; with members of the
community you are studying (member checking; discuss the conclusions with the
respondents), use outsider/insider roles and triangulate. And you should work with multiple
researchers and check each other’s coding.
