Transcript Chapter 4

Slide 4.1
Chapter 4
Understanding research philosophies
and approaches
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.2
Underlying issues of data collection and
analysis
"Well begun is half done“
--Aristotle, quoting an old proverb
Saunders et al, (2008)
Figure 4.1 The research ‘onion’
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.3
Summary: Chapter 4
Three major ways of thinking about research
philosophy
• Epistemology
• Ontology
• Axiology
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.4
Summary: Chapter 4
• Ontology –
– Ontology is the science of being, 'the study of what is
• The object of ontology is to determine what is
What is the nature of this object: It is a Mobile
It is the inquiry into being in so much as it is being, or
into beings insofar as they exist—and not insofar as, for
instance, particular facts can be obtained about them or
particular properties belong to them
Go to Wikipedia and review the fundamental questions
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.5
Summary: Chapter 4
• Epistemology
is the science of truth; it is "the branch of knowledge
concerned with how knowledge is derived.“
• is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature
and scope (limitations) of knowledge It addresses the
questions:
• What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired?
• To what extent is it possible for a given subject or entity
to be known?
This is a mobile based on the idea that I can touch it, it
rings and I can talk through it.
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.6
Summary: Chapter 4
• Axiology
• is derived from the Greek, axios meaning
'worthy' and logos meaning 'science.' As a
general philosophical theory, it involves a
study of 'goodness, or value, in the widest
sense of these terms
• is the science of moral choice, of fundamental values
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.7
Underlying issues of data collection and
analysis
The research ‘onion’
Saunders et al, (2008)
Figure 4.1 The research ‘onion’
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.8
Research Methods
In research, we often refer to the two broad methods of
reasoning as the deductive and inductive approaches
Research
Types
Deductive
Approach
Inductive
Approach
)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.9
Deductive Research Approach
Theory
Hypothesis
Observation
Deductive reasoning works
from the more general to
the more specific..
Sometimes this is
informally called a
"top-down" approach..
Conclusion follows
logically from premises
(available facts)
Confirmation
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.10
Inductive Research Approach
Theory
Tentative
Hypothesis
Pattern
Observation
Inductive reasoning works
the other way,, moving
from specific observations
to broader generalizations
and theories..
Informally,, we sometimes
call this a "bottom up"
approach
Conclusion is likely based
on premises..
Involves a degree of
uncertainty
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.11
Deductive and Inductive research
Major differences between these approaches
Saunders et al, (2009)
Table 4.2 Major differences between deductive and inductive approaches to
research
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 4.12
Summary: Chapter 4
The two main research approaches are
Deduction - theory and hypothesis are
developed and tested
Induction – data are collected and a theory
developed from the data analysis
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009