Qualitative Research

Methodology
Session 3 & 4
By
Dr. Qudsia Kalsoom
School of Education
 Session Contents
• Research Paradigms
• Scientific Research
 Aim of Ontology
The aim of ontology is to answer ‘what is most real,
what is most basic, and what is to be accounted for
in terms of what’.
 Broader Metaphysical Positions
• Materialism/ metaphysical realism
• Immaterialism/ metaphysical idealism
 Materialism or Physicalism
• Material objects exist in the EXTERNAL world ‘independently
of the minds of perceivers’ (Musgrave, 1993, p. 122) or the
external world exists independent of human minds.

Or reality is out there

• The roots of this thought are that everything in the world can
be reduced to a set of physical properties-that ultimately
everything is matter.
 Immaterialism/ Metaphysical Idealism
Everything is mental or an aspect of, or dependent on,
the mind/ mental (Alston, 2002)
This ontological position is rooted in the work of
Berkeley (1686-1753) who believed that:
Objects in the external world are nothing but collections
of ideas and the only kinds of things in the world are
minds and ideas.
Berkeley shifts our focus to SENSE data and ideas. So
what there is and what we can know are:
• Appearances
• Collection of ideas
Immaterialism/ Metaphysical Idealism
An idealist thinker believes that ‘what we call reality’ is
something which depends for its existence upon our own
minds
(Examples of Depression, God, Challenges, Global
Warming)
Even trees and rocks and their properties are
mind-dependent entities.
Some metaphysical questions in social
sciences are:
• Does law really exist?
• Is morality essence of human beings?
• Is truth/ reality contextual and historical?
• Does slavery exist today?
• Does education really emancipate people?
 Ontology vs Epistemology
Greek word 'logos' means 'theory or word.' The
prefix of 'ontology' is a derivative of the word
'ousia,' that means ‘being’ or ‘real thing’. Ontology
is not itself reality; it is theory of, or words about,
reality.
The prefix of 'epistemology' comes from 'episteme,'
for knowledge.
Epistemology is not itself knowledge or
interpretations; it is theory of, or words about,
knowledge and interpretations.
Ontology & Epistemology in Research
• What are perceptions?
• Perceptions are psychologically held premises
that are considered true. They are as real as
are material substances.
• How perceptions of people can be
investigated?
• Perceptions can be investigated through
questionnaire data.
 Task
Work in pairs OR small groups and write down any one
generalization. Moreover, mention how was that
generalization reached and what is your opinion about
the existence of REALITY mentioned in that
generalization.
Example
Water boils at 1000 C (a generalization)
Many of us know this because of we have observed this.
Some know this through reading that scientists have
experimented and proved that water boils at 1000 C.
Boiling is a physical and observable condition. It can be
observed and measured.
 Why scientific research?
• The answers provided by the most of the ways of
acquiring knowledge are not always reliable. Experts
may be mistaken; source documents may contain no
insights of value; colleagues may have no experience
in the matter; and one’s own experience or intuition
may be irrelevant or misunderstood.
• This is why a knowledge of scientific research
methodology can be of value. The scientific method
provides us with another way of obtaining
information—information that is as accurate and
reliable as we can get.
What is scientific research?
Scientific research may be defined as the human
activity directed toward the advancement of
knowledge (Nelson, 1959).
OR
In very simple terms, research may be defined
as the systematic pursuit of the not-yet-known
(Appadurai, 2001).