SBPD7001

Approaches to Research and

Academic Communication
Induction Week

3. Philosophical underpinnings of
research
 Understanding Research
This module takes the view of research as a
process of systematic inquiry to generate new
knowledge.
Working from a well-specified question to
choose the most appropriate ways of
investigating it.
The Research Process
Thinking Identifying
about a specific
topic questions

Selection of
Communicating appropriate
what has been methods
learned of
investigation

Drawing Systematic
conclusions investigation
Building on previous research
 Observations and research
Day-to-day observations are not quite the same thing
as research.
What defines research and sets it apart is that it uses
particular, pre-specified methods to systematically
seek answers to a particular question.
Research is best conceived of as a process of original
investigation to learn something new.
Research involves observation and making
connections
How do different bits of information relate to
one another?
What is the wider context?
How does it relate to the theory about my
topic?
Making connections allows us to address
much more interesting questions.
 Academic research
An investigation of a particular research
question
Draws on theory to make connections
Seeks to contribute in a small way to a wider
body of knowledge and theory
 Other activities
involving research skills
Needs analysis
Project evaluation
Can you think of more?
 Exercise
What research skills are involved in business
management activities such as needs analysis
and project evaluation?
How do these activities differ from academic
research?
How can academic research inform these non-
academic management activities?
 Positionality
Although research is systematic, the presence
of the researcher inevitably has an effect on
the subject under study.
The researchers own position and world view
will always have an effect on the way the
research is carried out and how the findings
are interpreted.
What influence does positionality have on
research?

Culture

Education Gender

Relationship
to
Background participants
and
Experience
 Ontology
Positionality issues are sometimes referred to as ontology in
research.
Ontology is, literally, the study of being.
Ontological considerations in research:
Who you are
Who your research subjects are
The relationship between you and the subject of your research
What aspects of being will you investigate? (thoughts, actions,
experiences, organisation of individuals or groups)
How much of another persons being can you observe as a
researcher?
How much of a persons being can they describe themselves?
 Epistemology
Epistemology is theory of knowledge what
do we know and how do we know it?
While this might initially seem like a
needlessly abstract concept, it is in fact very
important for designing a research project
aimed at gaining new knowledge.
 Epistemology:
questions to ask yourself
What do you know or want to know?
How do you know this?
How would you go about demonstrating to
somebody else that what you know is true?
What would it take to convince you that this
was not in fact true?
 Some epistemological frameworks
Empiricism knowledge is based on experience, observing
something through the five senses
Rationalism knowledge is acquired through rational thought
processes or is innate
Constructivism knowledge is constructed through social
interaction, convention and perception (inter-subjective
experience)
Scepticism questions whether certain knowledge is possible
How would you approach research differently if you
subscribed to one or other of these epistemological
frameworks?
 Ontology has thus to become dependent on
epistemology. What there is is seen as the product of
our strategies for finding things out. If our
epistemology changes, as we move from one world-
view to another, so do our beliefs about what is real.
Trigg, R. (2001) Understanding Social Science (2nd ed.)
Oxford: Blackwell. p. 24.
 What is reflexivity?
Reflexivity is the act of turning backward, the act of mirroring
the self Reflexivity allows for the revelation and
contemplation of ones own biases, theoretical
predispositions, preferences, the researchers place in the
setting and the context of the social phenomenon being
studied (Foley, 2002). It is a means for a critical and ethical
consideration of the entire research process.
-Joy, A. et al. in Belk, R. (ed.) Handbook of Qualitative Research
Methods in Marketing, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006, p. 345.
 Emic and etic perspectives
Emic perspectives refer to the insider point
of view.

Etic perspectives refer to the outsider point

of view.
 What are the advantages and the limitations
of each of these points of view?
How might you elicit an emic perspective in a
situation in which you are an outsider?
How might you maintain objectivity in a
situation in which you are an insider?
 Reading To Do
Grix, The Foundations of Research, Ch. 2, 6.