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    Collins, H - 2010

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    Collins, H - 2010

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    Tumi Mbali Tsita
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    Collins, H _2010

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    Collins, H - 2010

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    Tumi Mbali Tsita

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    of 38
    ee RESEARCH aA e OU ee OF RESEARCH A a Nh DRS Ets HILARY poLUNs BLOOMS BURY Foire boots Antnprint of Maamehary Pl nprit preity known a A using so bested Square 1285 froabuay Londen New toe wos 30° Nricoue KS, SLOOMSBORY andthe Diana tretradenars of Bloomsbury Pbliing Pie Fiat poled zo by NA Psing erintes ty ard Boks 205, © stonsturyPalisting Pe, 2030 tary clings eerie he ight under he Cont, eign nd Sates At. 988, to Be eres Aer of theron. ight era par of his uniction maybe repouceor anemia nay former by ary mens, cri or mechan, nla eee recording oy nfermatin storage revival ten, ‘etout ror prmisin i writing Ham he ers oregon for saves tay nul pein acting on refraining fem aio a of he meri th puto car be aceptes iy Soonsbury the author: esa sh brary Cataloguing e-abieaton Data catalogue recor is book saab from the Been tran Ison Pu a2 ganss08 POF 78.2 940829076 est aus reba, ater Mane iia ee eancept devised ty Kathryn st Printed ad baud nnn Ai ean stamps have been mae te trace clr an crea copra ler fe ages reproduces thick Momo any rit ave een naverterl ted te pbistr wl en nr to nsrporae context 10, The nature of research We constantly try to understand our environment ane how our world appoars to our senzes. We tend ‘to do this in three ways: experience, reasoning and research, Ths moans that somatimes we know what is happening because we've had experience oft before, sometimes we can reason why i is happening and ot other times we need to find out by searching for information. We know that thes ‘ways of understanding are nat separate in real lfe, ‘but often overlap. And when we try to make sense cof what is happening, in our day-to-day I we depend a lot on experience and the value of our ‘experience, which should not be undarestimated Experience is valuable within research because Ft gives usa source from which we can devise our hypothesis or research questions. However, we ‘need to recogrise that experience has imitations ‘00, fe are attempting to find out the ultimate ‘ruth about a phenomenon. What is research? In our everyday lif, we come across the word ‘research’ on a daily basis. When we watch 2 television programme which discusses the level of employment of factors in the economy, research ‘normally provides the data upon which the reports teased. When advertisers refer to users’ opinions fn the results ofusing a product, research normaly provides the date ypon which the claims forthe product are based. Many of us eiticive such uses of date because it can be dificult to understand how thes clims are made ‘and what processes and analysis the researchers have acualy undertaken. This makes ithsr!for us to ‘evaluate how accurate the information realy is leis parhaps all t20 easy to collect facts without having a lear purpose or objective to lst the facts we have researched without evaluating or interpreting thom, orto usa the word research’ just 10 get ideas noticed. In order for our audience to find our retearch erecibie, believable and relevant, we need to ensure that our research presents 3 systematic and organised way af finding answars to significant or pertinent questions in the fllowing way. = Systematic: reeearch needs to be systematic, A definite set of procedures and steps should be folowed. Completion of a number of tages in the researc process is essential the most accurate results are to be recorded. Organised: research must be organised, structured ‘and mathodeal.itiea planned procecure, not ' spontaneous one eventhough the plan ean change from time to tm. Is focused anc limited to speci spe, Question: research is focused on relevant, useful and important questions, Withaut a question, resoarch has no focus, drive or purpose. However, realising the importance er relevance cof your findings ie arguably one of the most important factors ~ Aoswor whether its the anewor to hypothesis ‘or even a simple question, research s successtul when we find answers. Sometimes the answer is no, but thisis still an answer. ‘But research is not aMays as stvaightforward as Indicated. There may be stages inthe inquiry whore you may rot be gute sure what you ar looking for ot having found something that you were not looking for you will then need t find out how imporant or relevant this facing is. Sometimes, this can prove to be the most exciting aspect of rosearch. ‘The nature of research ‘The nature of research within the creative industries Figure? ‘THE KEY COMPONENTS OF A RESEARCH PROJECT CRITICAL . ‘ REFLECTION ON THEORY CRITICAL «LJ CRITICAL REFLECTION | ) ' REFLECTION ‘ ON SELF \ ON PRACTICE ANALYSIS The ay components ea researc rjc nude a canbiatinof tical refecon on He theory, There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after. —J.R.R. Tolkien DEFINING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM SL __ TT Understanding research philosophies ‘The term “research philosophy’ relates to the development and nature of knowledge. Although ‘this sounds rather grand itis exectly what you are doing when you are engaged in resoarch. Even if ‘the purpose of the research i to answer a problem ‘or quastion ina defined context, you wil still be developing new knowledge. ‘The research philosaphy you decide to use means that you accept certain assumptions sbout the ‘way that you view the world. These assumptions will ‘give you the underpinning or platform from which te launch your research strategy, You wil be guided your choice by your own beliefs, style of working ‘and practical considerations. In this section, three core approaches to reflecting ‘on rarch philosophy will be considered epistemology, ontology and exielogy, Each contains important differences, which influence the way we think about the research procost: — Epistemology isthe study ofthe theory of knowledge, including the nature, ope and limitation oft = Ontology ie the philosophical study ofthe nature ‘of being or existence, — Axiology isthe study of quality ar value, and is ‘often concerned with ethics and values. “These three ways of research wil vary depending on your choiee of philasophcal perspective, Epistemology Epistemology isthe study ofthe nature of, knowedge within field f study. Defined narrow, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belt a aoe era ed ee eee eee Seca eerste eee lot Se ‘As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: what ae the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What ae ts sources? What is its structure? And, what are is its? As the study of ustfied belie, spistemolagy aims to answer questions suchas: how are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? |sjstfcation intemal or axtoral to one's Onn mind? Understood more broadly, epistemology is about the creation and dissemination of knowiedge in particular contexts, ERS OF RESEARCH “Turning ideas into research projects derstanding research philosophies Research approaches | PARADIGMS. cL Staateates | cworces | APPROACHES. t TIME HORIZONS | mernoos Ontology Ontology i concerned with the nature of ely “This ies assumptions abou the way the word eperats ad the comeritment held to pariular views by researchers. Two aspects of ontlogy exist. bjecvis and subjeciviam. Objectivism represents the postion that soc entes et in ealty external to social ators concerned with ther xitence Subjecvism holds tht social phenomene ae ‘ceated fom the perception and consequent actons of thoze socal actors concemed wth their exsence. ‘One might que tha designs objective and might take an objective stance by saying that designers perform smir roles and ae ubject to job specications and procedures to which they must achhere = they are part of formal organisational structure, threlore thei actions canbe mestued png eke when conkuting ears ate eer when Fening anced pon nh wi enable you te acl yar poet n sequal caesar ve “The subjectivst view holds that socal phenomena are ‘created fom perceptions and the subsequent actions ‘of socal ators, and are therefore na constant state ‘of evision. This fellows from an interpratv stance that tis necessary to explore subjective meanings _motvating toca actors in order to understand them. Inthe case of cents ofa design company, it would bbe your job as researcher to understand the subjective realty ofthe clients, and to understand ‘heir motivations ard actions in a meaningful way ‘Axiology ‘Asiology is concerned with values, inluding ‘esthetics and ethics, but it als includes the process ‘ef research. The roles that your own value play in the research process are important if you wish your research to be credible, You may apt to write a ‘statement of your own values in relation to the topic you are studying ~ this will heighten your awareness cof any value judgements you may make when drawing conclusions from your own research, DEFINING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Research paradigms ‘A paradigm can be thought of as a lens through which we view the world, Oferant lenses necossitate cliferent assumptions about the nature ofthe ‘world andthe ways in which we should atternpt to understand it. There are meny diferent lenses that exist for viewing and understanding the world, and the following section presents asimpiication ‘of a complex and constantly shifting set of bboundlarios that dafine the currant paraciome, Although there ea great deal of civersty ant ‘overlap betwoon the range of perspectives that can defing paradigms, a distinction can be made ‘betwoen current approaches baced on the physical sciences, such es the ‘posit paredigm, and ternative paradigms such ak constrictive, Imerpretivsm,crtal theory and phenomenclogy. (One diference betwoon these to paradigm clusters involves their views onthe existence of sociel word which i separate fom the physical wo. “The list of recognised paracigms incudes: postvism, realizn, iterpretvism, objectiism, subjectvsrs, [pregmatiem, functional racical humanist and radical stucturalis. Some ofthese paradigms are lscussed inthis section, because they ae relevant to the creative industries (though not exclusive to them) Positivism ‘As. philosophy, positivism isin accordance with the empiricist view that knowledge stems from hurman experience. thas an atomistic, ontological view ofthe world as comprising discrete, observable clement and events that intact n an observable, determined and regular manner Individual cases are subsumed within hypotheses about general avs cof nature, and there an assumption thot human beings and human societies ae subject o laws in the same way thatthe natural weld is Postvim holds that al phenomena should be Understood through the employment of sient ‘method and aims to create a thearaticaly neutral language of obseraation by stipping hypotheses and theories of subjective conten It's determinis de-amphassing free wil, emotion, chance, choice and morality; and it posits a conceptual division betwen “ac” and ‘value’, in which only epi verifiable ideas essentially count as knowiedge! 0 "yuby. Postivism rejects universal or abjective grounds for values, and argues that they can be Justled only on arbitrary, normative, technical or utilitarian grounds It euthorses recommendations {or scial reform onthe basis of truth cais and certainty, Positivism alzotheoretclly prosupporet ‘that scientific texts reflector miror a reality that viet outside the text and that a truth comespond with this outside reality. This presupposition of representationality coincides with the paradigmat ‘contention thet language isa neuta tool used to present clear and defittve meanings thet capture ‘essential tuths Interpretivism Interpretvim is associated with the philosophical potion of idealism, and ie used to group togethe Un ‘Symbolic interactionism “symbolic nteractionism originate in the work of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) ands informed by the philosophy of pragmatism. t understands that both subjects and objects are constituted inthe ‘ongoing transaction of organism and environment (The Cambricige Dictionary of Philosophy, 1999) and s009 society, othe exchange of significant gestures, as what makes individualism, consciousness and sefe-consciousness possible; and understands consciousness as being made possibe via an ‘nternlistion of signicant gestures. ftarguos that cldreninteralse social attitudes and instutions via ole play, in which they act out the rolos oF “generalised others! and relate them to broader social Instiutions. Symbolic interactonism holds that ‘experience and social phenomena must be undaretaod from the perspective ofthe role ofthe ‘ctor in any given situation. ‘As. research mothodology, symbolic interactionism has developed within the fd of etnogeaphy, and both share the idea that any one culture irreducible and incompareble. This research paradigm postultos ‘that wa can only comprehend a culture from within, by ‘getting ins’ how it soos the worl by focusing ‘on coles, cultural scripts, interactions between roles fr ator, social rules or games, players and tule, However it also orgues thet human beings do not imply respond to social conditions mechanically or passively but actively create, enact and change ‘meanings and actions in 3 problem-solving made that reflects pereonal and toca values. It has givan ‘ive to interactonist research including the » The practice: A well-structured research project The practitioners: Pradeep Sharma onthe creative influence THE PRACTICE Research ontology Metaphysics an area of philosophy that explores the big human issues. Ideals with “realty principles beyond what empirical sconce can readily explain. Ontology a part cof metapnysis, is concerned with the way ‘the world works and what makes things ‘ea could be deserlbed a the study of beng! ‘Thore ae two commenly held views of realty 28 outined below. ‘Objectivism mantains that we, as individuals, ‘oust within 2 realty that is exteral to and Independent cf us. Absolute laws and universal truths govern our being’ These ‘naturel’ laws are considered fay constant and reliable over tine ‘Subjectviem states that we create a would ‘around us, tough our perceptions and socal Interactions, which gwva meaning to realty This view meintens thatthe wodd sin a state ‘of constant fiz because thats the nature ‘of indvidals, andthe contoxts within which we operste. ‘Since these views are clesty in opposition itis ficult ra reason how ether can provide the totality of knowledge and capture the entirety ‘of such enorrnous questions as ‘what is real Nor cant aay that I beleve the uth inside ‘or outside of our own beings. | am incined, therafore, to ake a pragmatic vew of how reality isand assure that aspects of both perspectives ‘can uncaver valuable information This is similar te Nietzsche's ‘perspactivit view. Tho wider the perspective, the broader the understanding, Research epistemology So, what da | consider accaptable knowledge? het ie important and uselul ie answering my research quastor? There are thie main nays 10 answer these questions shall deal fret vith positvsm Psitivist views are generally held by natural Scientists. It holds tat realy is deduced fom “what ean be radly shown to produce patterns and predictable behaviours, socording to ‘established lave. The tuth is measured quantitetively and labels are applied to individual elements and governing systems. Realty is represented by objects, facts and tangible data, Ths realty has a separate ‘oristonce fom onesaf Positist take an ‘objective viewpoint and this approach is ‘considered ae the least based by ‘scence! Research i bated on observable and rmessurable realty Positwism asserts that only what you can see and touch is oa. It uses existing thecries to gonerate hypotheses fr investigation, These hypotheses ‘can be cantirmed ot efuted the development of futher theory Positwam attompts to dscover “independent and 'value-ee! research, external tothe process of de collection, 0 that replication of experiments can withstand ‘statistical analyse While ‘independent, value-Fee" information is what 'm looking for, thisie not really a eutabe philosophy to use 10 investigate my question, asit dows not offer ‘4 wide enough perspective. Cold hard fects ‘are not what | am looking to find, Since socal science thinking guides much of this research, | wil look next st the possiblity of using interpretiigm to search for an answer to my quest MANAGING THE RESEARCH DESIGN eamemnceomeei aol THE PRACTICE Interpretivism Irtorpracvie takes tho vow that wth constructed through an understanding of the meanings that individuals apply to jphenoinens ina socially constructed word ‘This view collects qualtavely and uses an Inductive approach to theory Uniile postvim, Interprets beleves that being able to ‘generalise is nat mportant, but that is the context within hich the phenomena occurs ‘that demonstatos reality pertinent to each, specifi stuation, Realty represented by subjective perception and understanding of incvidual differences, Today, nterpretive narrative is considered as equally clevant 2 positivist statistics. Interprets argues that inaghts to the ‘complex world of businoes are lost inthe ‘generalised and rigid laws and thectes of posits, The reaaatcher, often part ofthe sta

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