Research Methods Into Positivism And Social Constructivism

interrogation Methods Into Positivism And sociable ConstructivismThere has been heated discussion over the use of positivism and genial constructivism in instruction explore over the past few decades. And champion whoremaster find that most of the theorists take a neutral view with show to this situation. After the mid-eighties there has been a trend towards societal constructivism nevertheless unconstipated then no matchless is gummy completely to the principles of one single philosophy.The primary(prenominal) idea backside positivism is that society is an external component and therefore its properties or characteristics must(prenominal)iness be measured verifiablely rather than by every immanent means like intuition, sensation etc. This view was off fix up proposed by French theorist Auguste Comte (1853) tally to whom All costly intellects sop up repeated, since Bacons time, that there whoremaster be no real knowledge but that which is based on observa ble facts. Hence his view has two main assumptions i.e. reality is external and objective and knowledge is based upon postings of this reality. Thus there atomic number 18 accredited postulates of this philosophyIndependence The seeker must be independent in his thoughts and is not bendd by any factors era observing the reality.Value-freedom This involves deciding upon the region to be studied and how to flying field it. Positivism suggests doing this on the basis of objective query and not on human beliefs.Causality The main objective of social and behavioral sciences is to evaluate the causes and fundamental laws behind the fluctuations in the behavioral pattern of heap.Hypothesis and deduction every enquiry get out be based on certain dead reckoning and the ruminations will be made to either prove or disprove this hypothesis statement.Operationalization The search concepts must be suppose in such a way that the facts obtained from observations can be measured dat a-basedly.Reductionism This concept believes that a bigger difficulty will be easy to solve if it is shargond into smaller elements which can be separately solved.Generalization In club to sustain familiar conclusions on fluctuations in human behavior, it is indispensable that the look for must be conducted among prototypes of appropriate size. On the basis of results obtained from the sample size, the researcher can make wider judgments on the whole macrocosm.Cross-sectional analytic thinking This kind of regularities can be easily identified by comparing the differences in the samples.All the above given implications argon the corporate view points of different theorists of positivism. But there were many theorists who were having contrasting opinions on these postulates likewise. Even Comte was not funding the reductionism concept. Wittgenstein proposed in his past studies that all factual intentions can be broken down into smaller simple-minded propositions that we re entirely independent from each separate. He himself later challenged this theory arguing that elementary propositions can be logically tie in to each other (Pears, 1971). Thus this philosophy is at a lower place an unending debate among the theorists. Aiken (1956) came up with the view that positivism is the best way to find out the behavioral patterns in human beings which may be originated as a result of metaphysical speculation.The concept of social constructivism on the other generate was developed based on the works of Berger and Luckman (1966), Watzlawick (1984) and Shotter (1993). This philosophy is based upon idea that people use vocabulary as a medium for sharing their experiences and it is through this way, they make sense of the world. Hence this theory suggests that people form, create and make themselves and their worlds by means of the verbal skills. It is much concerned about the crop and crossing peoples way of interacting with each other (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1995). It is considered as social because it focuses on the inter activity rather than the individual.Hence even though there exist a clear dichotomy between the two philosophies, there exists a high difference in opinion among the researchers about the selection of methods. Therefore a number of flexile has to be done between these two philosophies in auberge to conduct a research.Figure matrix of research designsDetached measure researchCase method(Yin)Quasi-experimental designEthnographyPositivist SocialGrounded theoryExperimental Designdesign constructionistCo-operative enquiryAction researchInvolvedThe following are pure researches mentioned in the figure aboveAction research Action research cannot completely drop dead to pure research as it contains certain elements of applied research too. In this research, the researcher tries to be as much close to the research area or subject. This is because the researcher intends to make a direct influence for which he may make cert ain alterations even in the research process. The ground concept behind this research was that if one wants to know a subject well he must try to metamorphose it. This theory was widely accepted in Organizational Development where the trainers use it for enhancing the team tellingness (French Bell, 1978 Homan, 1979).Survey Research This is a kind of research process which requires direct interaction with the samples. If done properly, this research can give accurate information which can be highly useful in resolve the research problem. Survey research gives much importance to primary data and involves systematic observation (Sapsford, 2007). Therefore this research helps to take better business decisions by which way the business activities can be handles much more effectively.Experimental design In this research, the experimenter assigns subjects at random to a bear witness or control group. The test group conditions are then manipulated by the researcher so as to evaluate th eir effect with regard to the control group who are in a normal setting. But this kind of flying field is preferably difficult to conduct in real organizations since its not easy to obtain a captive commonwealth for the research.Quasi-experimental designs This was developed when the researchers found it difficult to create pure experimental designs under the positivist concept. This was clearly explained by Campell and Stanley (1963), who assessed a number of designs which made use of multiple weighing machines so as to minimize the impact caused by incomplete matching of control and test groups.Ethnography This is a theory based on social constructivist principle where the experimenter will try to be a part of the research so as to consider the mindset of the experimental group and the meanings and significances that the samples bring in their behavior of themselves and others.Case Method There are several(prenominal) research designs at present and most of them are similar to fieldwork methods while some others pin in the intermediate position. Case study method is the kind of research design which comes under the last mentioned category. The most important deliberations to this topic were made by Robert Yin (1993). The other popular contributors to this method are postal service (1995), Eisenhardt (1989), and Hamel et.al (1993).Grounded theory This theory is based on constructivist principles and helps the researcher to understand how he will proceed with the research. This concept got worldwide attention from the studies of Glaser and Strauss (1967). In this method, the researcher mainly has to develop a theory by means of comparative method, i.e. viewing the same event in different situations and analyzing the difference.Co-operative enquiry This is a type of action research where all the participants of the research contribute equally to the development of enquire and show active fellowship in the research process (Heron, 1996 Reason, 2003).Ap art from the above research designs, there exist certain other designs which can be used for management researches. The most important ones among them are critical inquiry, participant observation and narrative methods. All these methods have certain similarities with the above mentioned designs as well as certain grotesque features of their own. Hence they are also widely accepted in business research and used check to the requirements.2. The different areas of research that holds high significance area) Research topic Finalizing the research topic is the first and most important part of a research since it is based on the depth of title that the research proceeds (Kumar, 2005). In the broad sense, research title can be any question or problem that you need to upshot or any assumption that needs to be challenged. As per the haggle of Powers, Meenaghan Twoomey (1985), Potential research questions may occur to us on a regular basis, but the process of formulating them in a meani ngful way is not at all an easy task. In order to frame a research title, it is essential to have a thorough knowledge of research methodological psychoanalysis as well as on the abstractive aspects of the topic. The research title can be formulated based upon four sources namely daily life, practical issues, past research and theory (Johnson Christensen, 2010). They form the initial base for the structuring of research title. Thus the research topic serves as a foundation to the research and hence if it is frame in properly, the study will also move in the right direction. The research problem can vary in complexity and hence the way it is formulated determines the research approach, study design, sampling strategy, research instrument as well as many other factors. Therefore there must be certain considerations while selecting a research topic. The main considerations are interest, magnitude, measurement concepts, expertise take aim, relevance, ethical issues etc. (Kumar, 200 5). If the research topic fulfills most of these considerations, then it can be regarded as a suitable one.b) Research question A research question refers to the problem that the experimenter seeks to answer through the research. The research question is an essential element of every research despite of the fact that it is qualitative and quantitative. But they will vary jibe to the nature of research. If the research question is qualitative, then it will be intended for finding out the birth between two variables. A variable is something which has more than one value (Vaus, 2002). Hence research questions for these kinds of researches are not much specific. While on the hand, a quantitative research question tends to more meticulous as it will be based on mathematical results. Business research usually applies qualitative research questions since they ask more general questions which can be used for exploring the samples views or responses on a particular phenomenon. It is usual ly an interrogative sentence which aims to relate two or more variables. It can be of three types namely descriptive, predictive and causal. The researcher must have thorough understanding of the variables that are related in the research. These questions are open-ended, general, and over-reaching regarding an issue, problem or phenomenon.c) Research hypothesis (es) They can be referred to as doubtful answers to the research questions. This is because the solution to them can be found out after statistical analysis however and hence it forms a critical step in the evidence-gathering process of a research (Guerrero Nachmias, 2010). There will be two hypotheses while conducting this process. The first hypotheses will be referred to as research hypotheses (H1) and the other one will be termed as delusive hypothesis (H0). The research hypotheses are formulated based upon the parameters of population but its form is different from research to research. Null hypothesis is the one set as a counter the research hypothesis. It is because every research hypothesis is set in order to prove a relationship. Hence it is necessary to set an alternate hypothesis that could disprove the relationship. For hypothesis testing, the researcher aims to disprove the null hypothesis in order to provide support to the research hypothesis. Therefore research hypotheses are orientated towards a particular direction. This means it states whether a population mean is greater than or lesser than a particular value.d) Research objectives A researcher intends to summarize what must be achieved by means of the research. The objectives of the study must be in alignment with the problem statement. There are mainly two types of objectives set for a research- general objective and specific objective. General objective states what the researcher intends to achieve in general terms through conducting this study. This general objective when broken down to smaller parts for better solving becomes specific objectives. Research objectives are better than research questions since they lead to higher specificity in the research (Saunders et.al. 2003).3. A research design process that could be adopted in business researches is as followsWeb 01 An overview of the research design processThis research design can be used in most management studies with little variations. This process starts with identification of research problem. Every research must have a problem which needs to be solved through the research process. Business researches usually intend to find answers to some social issues, business problem or a phenomenon. After pointing the research problem, the next step is find out the research objectives and questions. A research question is the problem or issue that the research intends to solve while research objectives tend to summarize the area that is to be achieved by the study. Hence both these factors lie in close relation to each other. The next task in the research design process is conducting the substitute research. This is done by means of an extensive literature study. This way the researcher gathers details on the theoretical aspects of the research. Hence the researcher will be searching in books, journals, articles, online databases, websites etc for appeal the data. An appropriate methodology for conducting the research must be developed by this time. Research methodology helps in determining the research philosophy, approach, method, study design etc. All these factors are highly important for the successful completion of research. After collecting the secondary data, the researcher will look out for methods for collecting the primary data. There exist several research methods for data collection. The research instrument will be decided based upon the literature study (Taylor et.al. 2006). The most common research instruments accept surveys, interviews, questionnaires, etc. In some cases, the researcher conducts a cowcatcher stud y in order to obtain responses from a small portion of the population. These research instruments help to amplification valid data from the samples. After collecting the primary and secondary information, the researcher decides upon the methods for their analysis. Literature review analysis is quite critical for researches as they would help in gaining insights on the core issues and provide suitable recommendations. The analysis of primary data is done by means of certain analysis techniques. The most common methods take on percentage analysis, chi-square test, ANOVA, z-test etc. They help in providing empirical findings for the research which are most accurate. After obtaining the findings, they are interpreted to reach at final judgments and conclusion. On the basis of these interpretations, the researcher could provide suitable suggestions or recommendations for solving the research problem.4.a) A survey is used for describing a population and it usually involves systematic ob servation or interviewing. Surveys involve what the researcher wants to find out and the answers also will be defined under a specific range (Sapsford, 2007). The most common survey instruments used in management and social researches are questionnaires and interviews. For constructing a questionnaire, the responses must be provided in a range. Hence it must have certain measurement shells. There are mainly four types of measurement scales used in surveys. They are titular Scale This is a kind of measurement scale where the objects are assigned to categories without any numerical properties. These scales have definite identity of their own but have no other characteristics (Jackson, 2007). Those variables which are measured victimization these scales are named as categorical variables since they try to classify the information collected. But these variables have no empirical value. Examples of variables measured through nominal scales are ethnicity, gender etc. These variables cann ot be hence used in mathematical analysis. Hence these scales are considered as the lowest level of measurement since the variables are different by means of quality rather than quantity in this (Bordens Abbott, 2006).Ordinal Scale They form the next level of measurement used in surveys. They constitute numbers which are in a predetermined order so that there will be certain relationships which can be inferred from them (Sapsford, 2007). Hence the objectives are assort into certain categories which form a rank order through a range. The data in this scale do have certain identity and properties but they dont have equal unit size and positive zero.Interval Scale In this scale, the measurement units are all of equal size. Therefore it fulfills the three main criteria of an ideal scale i.e. identity, magnitude and equal unit size. It forms the third level of measurement used in surveys. Hence this scale contains the characteristics of both nominal and ordinal scale but is much more effective than the other two (Malhotra Dash, 2008). Fahrenheit scale is the most prominent interval scale used.Ratio scale This forms the highest measurement scale and has all the characteristics of nominal, ordinal and interval scale. It is the most complicated scale since it allows the researcher to identify the right-down differences between scale points as well as helps him in comparing the responses obtained (Hair et.al. 2007). This scale possesses an absolute zero which indicates the absence of variables in measurement.b. Questionnaire is the most commonly used research instrument. The main characteristics of a good questionnaire are as followsIt must be short and precise. So while framing a questionnaire, hear that the research objectives will be met from the analysis of responses of the questionnaire.Usage of simple language The questionnaire must be framed in such a way that the respondents find it easy to understand.Start with interesting questions The questionnaire wil l include questions that will generate interest in the samples to answer and encourage them to fill out the complete form.absence seizure of leading questions If there are leading questions in the form, it will encourage the respondents to answer in a particular way. But this is not considered as a good practice since the sample must not be influenced by any means in writing an answer.The number of choices wont be too long because the respondents will find it difficult to assess all of them. Hence the choice list must be small.Include simple concepts which the samples could understand. Including complicated concepts will make it a tough task for the respondents to answer the questions properly.The elements of a bad questionnaire are included below.It will have more open-ended questions than close-ended ones. This will make it difficult for the respondents to answer the questions and also their answers wont be similar. The analysis of these responses is not possible through any stati stical method.The questions will be vague. The respondents will not be able to understand the real meaning of this question and this will influence their answer.The research questions are not communicated through this questionnaire. This way the questionnaire fails to serve its purpose.