1. Chapter 4
In the chapter, it reveals of three main philosophical positions in relations to research:
Positivism
Interpretivism
Realism
Comparison
Figure 4.1
They are different, if not mutually exclusive views about the way in which knowledge is developed and judged as being acceptable.
All three have an important part to play in business and management research
(p2)
(p3)
(p4)
(p16)
(p5)
(p6)

2. Positivism Refers to natural science disciplines
Results of findings in this classification is highly structured and that they can be replicated
Eg:
Pure Science disciplines, maths, chemistry, physics, etc.
Applied Sciences, such as Engineering fields
(p1)

3. Interpretivism
Research works done here are mainly not based on the development of theories or rule of laws but to study and generalize the complexity of social aspect in business and management discipline
Remenyi et al. (1998:35)
“the details of the situation to understand the reality or perhaps a reality working behind them”
Social constructionism
Seek to understand the subjective reality of those that they study in order to be able to make sense of and understanding their motives, actions and intentions in a way that is meaningful for those research participants
Such as cultural differences in management styles
(p1)

4. Realism
“Based on the belief that a reality exists that is independent and human thoughts and beliefs”
It shares the features of positivism and interpretavism
Understanding people’s socially
Such as by social forces, structures or process that influence to their behavior
Eg. Ethical study toward people using computers, say in accounting firms
(p1)

5. (p8)
(p13)
(p12)
(next lecture)
(p1) 5

6. Chapter 4 (cont) Question:
Do we need to really know which area of these three is your research project?
(p7)

7. Chapter (cont)
In reality, we are more interested to gain understanding to those elements of the inner layer shown in Figure 4.1
That is,
Research approaches
Research strategies
Other relevant issues: creditability of findings
(p8)
(p12)
(p14)

8. Research Approaches Two main approaches to research:
Inductive, building theory
Deductive, testing theory
These two approaches should not be thought of mutually exclusive
Both can be used in combination on the same research project
The main influence on the choice of research approach should be the research questions and objectives
Difference between them
(p9)
(p10)
(p11)
(p7)

9. Inductive
As mentioned, this approach of research is based on the observations to the behavior or pattern of our study subjects
They are two possible forms of output:
Descriptive or qualitative results
Building up to a theoretical framework or theory
(refer to a social capital literature review paper as an exmaple)
(p8)

10. Deductive Five sequential stages of a deductive research (p 117):
deducing a hypothesis
a statement to which a set of relationship between, say a and b is tested
expressing how the variables are measured
testing point 1 using a statistical method
examining the result
modify the outcome, if needed
Generally, the above steps could be activated only when we identified and borrowed a model from literature as a basis for our research
(p8)

11. Differences (Box 4.1, p89) Deduction Induction Scientific principle
Move from theory to data
Study the causal relationships
Collection of data
A highly structured approach
Theory based on literature
Control of data validity
Sample size is important
Induction
Gaining understanding of subjects by observation
Close understanding of the research contest
Collection of qualitative data
Flexible structure
Less concern of the generalization
(p8)
TRA (or model built based on
literate review)
TAM
(Or applications)

12. Research strategy The main research strategies are: Experiment Survey
Eg. The use of computer lab for conducing e-Banking
Survey
Eg. Sent questionnaire for data collection
Case study
Eg to study an operations of a firm or culture of a society
Grounded theory
Building a model/theory from observation on how an event operates/works
Ethnography
Study the human races/characteristics
Action research
Study of a subject with refinement, such as dephi study for top key elements in IT development
Again, these should not be thought of as discrete entities
There may be a combination of some of these in the same research project
(p13)

13. Research Projects/strategies
In addition, they may also be classed into
(or known as purpose of research)::
Exploratory studies
Refer to what is happening, in primarily format
A group work of describe and explain, how and why
Descriptive studies
Refer to portray an accurate of subjects, or its population behavior
Explain how and what, not how
Explanatory studies
Refer to the study of causal relationships between variables
Explaining how things work
What is going on?
It could be:
Cross-sectional
Referring to the time horizons, or point of time, at which the subjects we study
Longitudinal
Studying the subject for a period of time, so that the change can be observed
(Org Beh & Human Dec Process)
(p7)

14. Creditability of research findings
Care should be taken to ensure that research results are:
Valid
In term of models, measurement items for variables
Reliable
Selected samples, biasness-free between dependent and independent variables
Ethical issues
Which might be included/implied by the choice of research strategy
Later, we will examine methods to secure the creditability of items 1 and 2.

16. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js_gg0E6dLI
Positivism
Youtube:
Youtube:
Youtube:
Research approach:
Interpretivism
Youtube:
Research approach:
Realism
Youtube:
Youtube:
Research approach:
(p1)