Qualitative Research Methods (Week 5) Flashcards
Define Theoretical Perspective?
How you, the researcher, view the world and the assumptions that you
make about the nature of the world and of reality
What is there?
What is reality?
How can we understand existence?
Define Epistemology
The assumptions that you make about the best way of investigating the world and about reality
How we know what we know
What is valid knowledge?
How can we obtain it
What is the world view of realist ontology?
The world is ‘real’, and science proceeds by examining and observing it
There is a single truth
Facts exist, and can be revealed through experiments
Define methodology
The strategy, plan of action, the way that you group together your research
techniques to make a coherent picture
Define method
What you actually do, the techniques and procedures you use to gather and analyse data/evidence related to a specific research question or hypothesis
What are the 2 main schools of epistemology?
Positivism and social constructionism
What do positivists believe?
Positivists believe that the best way to investigate the world is through objective methods, such as observations. Positivism fits within a realist ontology.
What do social constructionists believe?
Social constructionists believe that reality does not exist by itself. Instead, it is constructed and given meaning by people. Their focus is therefore on feelings, beliefs and thoughts, and how people communicate these. Social constructionism fits better with
relativist ontology.
What is the world view of relativist ontology?
The whole truth is constructed
Scientific laws are basically created by people to fit their view of reality
There are many truths
Facts depend on the viewpoint of the observer
What approach do realists tend to have?
Positivist approach - gather quantitative sources of data
What approach do relativists tend to have?
Social constructionist approach - gather qualitative sources of data
