Aligning Methodology and Method

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Aligning Methodology and Methods It is extremely important that there is a clear fit between your methodology and research methods. This will then enable the reader of your research to identify how your thinking about research has informed your use of data collection techniques. The starting point is always to examine your ontology and epistemology as this will confirm what type of research you consider to be significant. So when interrogating your ontology ask yourself if you tend to see the reality of a situation in black or white terms or in shades of grey? Do you believe that reality is observable or can we only ever discover partial truths when researching the social world? And in terms of epistemology ask yourself what type of research knowledge you regard as valuable: broader studies with large numbers of respondents or deeper investigations which seek out the detail? Asking these questions will enable you to examine the assumptions upon which your research will be based. If your thinking can be connected to an established research philosophy then you will be on firm ground and you will be able to defend your approach. For undergraduate and Masters research it is safest to link your thinking to positivism or interpretivism as these are the most mainstream positions. Once you have a clear research methodology in place you can start to think about methods. In general positivism can be matched with quantitative data and interpretivism with qualitative data. The table below may help to explain the nature of these relationships more fully: Positivism Deductive approach Quantitative research Researcher objectivity Tight research objectives Emphasis on breadth Large sample size Data in numbers Ideal methods: survey and Numerical secondary data Interpretivism Inductive approach Qualitative research Researcher subjectivity More open research objectives Emphasis on depth Time spent with subjects Data in words\behaviours Ideal methods observation and interviews

Sometimes it may be necessary to utilise data collection techniques that do not appear to match a particular methodology. For example a researcher who is investigating a sensitive topic such as bullying may find that victims are unwilling to face up to an interview in line with an interpretivist philosophy. However a researcher may then make use of a qualitative survey (using open questions) to acquire data. Conversely some positivist researchers will use highly structured telephone interviews to collect numerical data (see for example Guest & Conways psychological contract research for the CIPD).

Whilst it is not possible (in research at this level) to mix methodologies it is possible to mix methods and this is often encouraged in order to achieve triangulation (using multiple methods to confirm the validity of data). So, for example, a student who is interested in researching work motivation in the undertaking profession may wish to conduct an initial survey to generate issues that can be explored more deeply at interview. As the interviews would represent the principal (rather than introductory) stage of the research the research philosophy would be interpretivism. On the other hand the student may wish to commence a positivist study by holding short interviews with a small number of undertakers to draw out the potential motivators that can be researched amongst a larger number of colleagues. Again the survey would represent the principal research tool and therefore in line with a positivist study. Activity Discuss your proposed methodology and research methods with a colleague and seek to justify the alignment. Refer to your ontology, epistemology, research methodology and research methods. The extent to which you are able to convince your colleague that your thinking makes sense should enable you to gain useful feedback on the security of your methodology\method alignment.