14,535 research outputs found
Helping Business Schools Engage with Real Problems: The Contribution of Critical Realism and Systems Thinking
The world faces major problems, not least climate change and the financial crisis, and business schools have been criticised for their failure to help address these issues and, in the case of the financial meltdown, for being causally implicated in it. In this paper we begin by describing the extent of what has been called the rigour/relevance debate. We then diagnose the nature of the problem in terms of historical, structural and contextual mechanisms that initiated and now sustain an inability of business schools to engage with real-world issues. We then propose a combination of measures, which mutually reinforce each other, that are necessary to break into this vicious circle – critical realism as an underpinning philosophy that supports and embodies the next points; holism and transdisciplinarity; multimethodology (mixed-methods research); and a critical and ethical-committed stance. OR and management science have much to contribute in terms of both powerful analytical methods and problem structuring methods
Critical Realism and Statistical Methods: A Response to Nash
This article offers a defence of critical realism in the face of objections Nash (2005) makes to it in a recent edition of this journal. It is argued that critical and scientific realisms are closely related and that both are opposed to statistical positivism. However, the suggestion is made that scientific realism retains (from statistical positivism) a number of elements that result in misleading accounts of social processes and events: indicators are used which do not reflect the close relationship between structure and agency; indicators refer to reified and not real properties of both structures and agents; and indicators do not refer to causal properties of objects and entities. In order to develop a narrative of causal processes, as Nash argues researchers should, then some adjustments need to be made to the principles that underpin scientific realism
Knowledge management research within the built environment: Research methodological perspectives
As built environment is of major importance to all societies and economies, it
is essential that the discipline advances as rapidly and rigorously as possible. Only by use of
appropriate methodologies and methods of research, the body of knowledge for construction
can be established and advanced with confidence. Research is always executed in context and
it is vital to give careful consideration to the research methodology at the outset of the
research. This paper discusses available research philosophies and methodologies, while
highlighting the main facets of the arguments on their relative characteristics. Issues that need
to be considered when selecting the most appropriate approach and research methods when
undertaking research in built environment context are outlined. In highlighting above, the
paper explains and justifies the selected research strategy for a performance oriented
knowledge management research in built environment context. Social constructionism stance
in terms of epistemological undertakings and idealistic approach under the ontological
assumptions with value laden purposes are suggested together with the deployment of
multiple exploratory case studies approach and triangulation techniques
The Philosophical Universe And The Information Systems Research Journey: A Hitchhiker’S Guide To A Virtual Galaxy
There is concern among information systems (IS) scholars that the lack of philosophical engagement and conviction among the research community threatens the future integrity and creativity of the research process. The paper seeks to respond to Weber’s call for IS researchers to clearly present their “ontological and epistemological assumptions” and to accept Myers’ invitation for “further reflection and debate on the important subject of grounding interpretive research methodology”. The approach of the paper is to present a self-reflective case study, following Schön, of the author’s doctoral research journey. The paper aims to make a contribution by: presenting the work of two philosophers new to the IS discipline and proposing a dynamic model that opens IS research to engagement with the complex philosophical universe. The argument is developed using analogy and by describing the author’s journey towards a philosophical system that reflects his worldview
Critical realism and its prospects for African development research and policy
This paper outlines critical realism, a relatively new philosophy of science, in an attempt to increase awareness of it amongst African researchers. The paper argues that this school of thought has important implications for framing social science research and development policy in developing countries. Critical realism is a radical critique of the Western philosophy, especially positivism that is closely associated with rational choice theory and Western modernity. It has four discernible progressive phases, each of which is a complete philosophical system. A discussion of its relevance to African scholars follows, centered on the fact that critical realism gives primacy to the human values of freedom and emancipation rather than to material concerns which are central to Western modernity. Recent publications have challenged contemporary African philosophy to be more responsive to popular aspirations for socio-economic development, instead of dwelling excessively on long running debates amongst different schools of philosophy. Critical realism is presented as worthy of further investigation by scholars in Africa that seek new ways forward, and relevance in a rapidly changing world. Development research and policy is used to illustrate its potential. It is found that a critical realist approach may lead to meeting of some important precedents necessary for any meaningful development to occur in Africa. Key Words. Critical realism, economic development, development policy, social science research Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya (PAK)New Series, Vol.3 No.1, June 2011, pp.61-8
Developing mixed methods research in sport and exercise psychology: potential contributions of a critical realist perspective
Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies did not report their underpinning research philosophical assumptions. Evaluating the merits and limitations of these positions against critical realist assumptions suggests that several paradigmatic disagreements are potentially reconcilable. These include (a) maintaining that ontological and epistemological concerns are important for methodological integrity of a mixed methods study; (b) switching between paradigms in the same study is problematic; and (c) refuting the qualitative-quantitative incommensurability thesis, therefore allowing mixed methods research without compromising philosophical coherence. From a critical realist position, we suggest that both quantitative and qualitative designs are justifiable in a mixed methods study because (1) they help corroborate, refine, or refute plausible explanations of phenomena (epistemological), but (2) with different methodologies utilised to perform different tasks in the same research design related to different psycho-social system features (ontological). We call for a collaborative engagement by researchers across paradigmatic positions to work towards the advancement of methodological pluralism in our research community
Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction in Sri Lanka: What Methodology?
Research methodology is the procedural framework within which the research is conducted. This includes the overall
approach to a problem that could be put into practice in a research process, from the theoretical underpinning to the
collection and analysis of data. Choice of methodology depends on the primary drivers: topic to be researched and the
specific research questions. Hence, methodological perspectives of managing stakeholder expectations of PDHR context
are composed of research philosophies, research strategy, research design, and research techniques. This research belonged
to social constructivism or interpretivism within a philosophical continuum. The nature of the study was more toward
subjectivism where human behavior favored voluntary stance. Ontological, methodological, epistemological, and axiological
positioning carried the characteristics of idealism, ideographic, anti-positivism, and value laden, respectively. Data collection
comprises two phases, preliminary and secondary. Exploratory interviews with construction experts in the United Kingdom
and Sri Lanka were carried out to refine the interview questions and identify the case studies. Case study interviews during
the secondary phase took place in Sri Lanka. Data collected at the preliminary stage were used to assess the attributes of
power, legitimacy/proximity, and urgency of stakeholders to the project using Stakeholder Circle™ software. Moreover,
the data collected at secondary phase via case studies will be analyzed with NVivo 8. This article aims to discuss these
methodological underpinnings in detail applied in a post-disaster housing reconstruction context in Sri Lanka
Utilizing Philosophical Critical Realism and Actor Network Theory to Develop the Construct Internet
IS researchers utilize a variety of philosophical and cognitive positions to interpret the world and issues in the field of Information Systems. The paper suggests that without mediation, two opposing philosophical perspective positions at a meta level, such as positivism and realism, can result in IS researchers proposing incompatible models of given phenomenon at an applied level. The incompatibility of the models is further manifested when attempts are made to develop complex IS constructs such as the Internet which comprises of both the physical implementation and the contextual space it creates, from competing models instead of starting from an ontological examination. The paper utilizes the explanatory potential of Critical Realism as a philosophical foundation and Actor Network Theory (ANT) as a scaffold, by developing the Internet as a construct utilizing the three domains supported in Critical Realism being the real, actual and empirical, and illustrating how future work can build on such a construct by utilizing AN
The influence of philosophical perspectives in integrative research: a conservation case study in the Cairngorms National Park
The benefits of increasing the contribution of the social sciences in the fields of environmental and conservation science disciplines are increasingly recognized. However, integration between the social and natural sciences has been limited, in part because of the barrier caused by major philosophical differences in the perspectives between these research areas. This paper aims to contribute to more effective interdisciplinary integration by explaining some of the philosophical views underpinning social research and how these views influence research methods and outcomes. We use a project investigating the motivation of volunteers working in an adaptive co-management project to eradicate American Mink from the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland as a case study to illustrate the impact of philosophical perspectives on research. Consideration of different perspectives promoted explicit reflection of the contributing researcher's assumptions, and the implications of his or her perspectives on the outcomes of the research. We suggest a framework to assist conservation research projects by: (1) assisting formulation of research questions; (2) focusing dialogue between managers and researchers, making underlying worldviews explicit; and (3) helping researchers and managers improve longer-term strategies by helping identify overall goals and objectives and by identifying immediate research needs
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