Creating Postgraduate Collaborations › Forums › CPC Supervision Development Course 2 › Module 3 › Module 3, Session 3: Research approach and design
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It is worth reflecting on the disciplinary approaches and knowing where I am grounded. I like the horizontal knowledge structure and the social constructivist view which gives the participants avenue for voicing their concerns
The research approach in my opinion solely depends on the discipline. In economics research approach is conducted econometrically and through the development of models and in natural sciences is done through experiments. Also, the design of research must be able to tackle the established research questions through collection, interpretation, analysis and discussion of data
Research design: a qualitative approach is often used in my field (ecology), but applied ecology would often draw from other disciplines such as economics.
It is important for a researcher to know and understand the existing worldviews. Having this knowledge will enable the student to choose the appropriate research worldview, approach and finally design according to their discipline. As a supervisor and also the postgraduate classes in our universities, should expose students to various worldviews which will enable them to have a wide choice on the areas of research according to their discipline.
I agree with your submission, Gollaz. The worldview and the research approach are truly the foundation from which every aspect of research is developed. It is, therefore, essential for a supervisor to guide their students in understanding the specific worldview and approach they will be adopting for their research before embarking on the research at all as this will make the conceptualisation and execution of the research clear and less difficult for students.
Being a computer scientist, we employ mixed methods research design, particularly exploratory sequential research design, using both exploratory and quantitative design.
I believe that the worldview is fundamental when approaching research in general. The fact that there are divergent worldviews (positivism versus postpositivism) brings about two exclusively incompatible explanations or understandings of the world itself. These views are irreconcilable if our ontological stances remain unchanging even if we sometimes tend to reconcile them using mixed methods. If a researcher sees the world from a positivistic ontology, whereby observation is the way to uncover it and learn how it functions, they would only provide knowledge that either confirms or disproves their hypothesis about it. Therefore, knowledge about the world is shaped by the tools that the researcher uses. Lab methods are different from interviews, for instance. Therefore, the type of knowledge they generate reflects the type of knowledge we want to have about the world.
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