Marketing Research: MKT 3150

Semester 1, 2019

Philosophical Foundations of Research

Prof. PAP Samantha Kumara

Department of Marketing
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Ruhuna
Matara
Non-Scientific Production of
Knowledge
 Authority
 Someone in power says so..
 Tradition/Culture
 “it’s the way things have always been”
 Common Sense
 “just makes sense”
 Media
 Window into a distorted reality
 Personal Experience
 “seeing is believing”?
Errors in Regular Human Inquiry

 Premature Closure
 Overgeneralization
 Selective Observation
 Halo Effect
How Science Works
 Scientific method
 Scientific attitude
 Journal articles
 Blind review
 Transformative process
Approaches to Social Research

Quantitative
 Objective observation
 Focus on variables
 Reliability
 Separation between theory and data
 Generalizable
 Large sample
 Statistical analysis
Approaches to Social Research

Qualitative
 Cultural meanings

 Focus on events

 Authenticity

 Merging between theory and data

 Situational

 Small sample

 Thematic analysis
Steps in Research Process
Quantitative Approach
Steps in Research Process
Qualitative Approach
Discussion

Thank you