Methodology2

1

Approaches to Methodology

2

selection

epistemology

collection

ethics

power

construction

paradigm

process

frameworks

truth

fact

fabrication belief

inductive

world view

deductivegeneration

textsontologycreation

Starting points

reliability

validity

who looks?

belief

data

sample

product

experience

3

common-sense

logical argument use of evidence

goal orientated opinion driven assumes an answer can be found

immigration controls – no-smoking workplaces – traffic calming

4

common-sense v social science

1. focus is on problem and a solution

2. concerned to persuade and propagate

3. immutable truths exist

1. issues in a process of inquiry

2. produces knowledge

3. sceptical about notions of ‘truth’

5

building blocks

TheoriesValues andunderstanding

Data

explanation

6

a model

Question/Issueto explore

analysis of datadevelopment of argument

data collectionreview of claimsand assertions

7

the process

existing literature

question or topic

questions about data and sources

research design

Data Collection

Analysis

writing up

8

quality?

validity reliability comprehensiveness coherence

9

methodological underpinnings

1. positivist

2. interpretivist

3. critical

4. cultural

10


Positivist August Compte - social science is

analogous to natural science. Its object is to uncover immutable laws of society.

Emile Durkheim - ‘our method is objective. It is dominated entirely by the idea that social facts are things and must be treated as such’ (1966)

11


Positivist Scientific method = experiment or

verifiable observation Motives, intentions, values and

frameworks of understanding of the researcher are irrelevant = social fictions NOT social facts.

Key method = statistical analysis combined with the comparative method

12


Interpretivist Making sense of the world involves

understanding the thinking, meanings and intentions of those being researched. Quantifying social action is limiting.

Meaning is contextual and co-created in social interaction

Key method = interview (structured - unstructured)

13


Critical The Frankfurt School

Researchers should foreground the social context within which research takes place

i.e. power relations and structural inequalities of capitalism

Feminist perspectives Focus on gender as the defining basis of

inequality

14

methodological underpinnings Critical

The aim is to provide a knowledge which engages the prevailing social structures which are understood as oppressive structures

To free from oppression Include wider social and structural contexts Interrogate power structures in the articulating and

presentation of research Acknowledges the significance of gendered relations (both positivists and interpretivists fail to see gender

as a significant variable throughout the research process assuming that knowledge is gender-neutral)

15

methodological underpinnings Choosing methodologies

How do we choose? Select appropriate to the problem Select according to the theoretical position of the

researcher Select on the basis of expertise Select on the basis of methodological

preference

Theory and method are closely linked - mutually informing

16


Cultural What is the meaning of ‘valid’ and ‘reliable’ data

for positivist and interpretivist research? Critical perspectives are reductionist. There is a need to focus on language,

representation and discourse. Meanings are produced in language and other systems of representation

Truth, reality and knowledge are problemmatic terms

Key method textual (multi-modal) analysis

17

Methodology

During the past two years you have encountered concepts in methodology in the various units you have studied on the programme.

How do they correspond to the map that I have just drawn?

18

Methodology

• How are you going to write about methodology?

• Where does the methodology ‘sit’ in the final research report?

19

Research Design: Linear

1. Define a problem

2. Formulate a hypothesis

3. Make operational decisions

4. Design a research instrument

5. Gather the data

6. Analyse the data

7. Draw conclusions8. Report the results

20

Research Design: cyclical

Making an ethnographic record

Asking ethnographicquestions

Collecting ethnographic data

Analysing ethnographic data

Writing an ethnography

Selecting an ethnographicproject

21

Methodology

Reflective Journal/

Research Diary

Research Report

Creative Product

22

selection

epistemology

collection

ethics

power

construction

paradigm

process

frameworks

truth

fact

fabrication belief

inductive

world view

deductivegeneration

textsontologycreation

Starting points

reliability

validity

who looks?

belief

data

sample

product

experience

23

Next session

From Methodology to Method Data Collection/Generation

Facilitating shared networks and resources

Keep returning to the Blog at http://mmuspaces.blogspot.com

Methodology2

Technology

Transcript of Methodology2