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Research methodology and data
3. Research methodology and data
This chapter presents the research methodology of this dissertation. First,
underlying assumptions about the nature of scientific enquiry are
discussed, after which the choices concerning the research approach and
methodology are described. The research data and the analysis
methodology are also presented.
3.1 Nature of the research
Researchers are encouraged to state their position in terms of their views
and assumptions regarding the nature of scientific enquiry. The profound
questions concern the researcher’s views of ontology and epistemology.
Ontology refers to the conceptions of being and existence, and the basic
question for the researcher is “what exists”, or “what is reality”.
Epistemology concerns the nature of knowledge, and here the basic
question for a researcher is “what can be known”, or “how we can know”.
The answers to these questions have a fundamental impact on the choice of
the research methodology.
A distinction can be made between two main schools of thought: the
realist approach and the interpretivist approach (e.g. Suddaby, 2006). The
realist approach assumes that the reality exists objectively, i.e.,
independently of the knowledge of the observer, and that research objects
are concrete and measurable. The interpretivist approach views the external
world as socially constructed and subjective, believing that human beings
actively create their own realities. The current study does not follow either
of these contrasting views, but the approach rather resembles an alternative
perspective called critical realism (e.g. Modell, 2009; Reed, 2005). Critical
realism provides a way to bridge the polarized positions of the extreme
realist and interpretivist (or social constructivist) approaches in
organization and management studies (Modell, 2009). Critical realism
holds a realist perspective to ontology, assuming that research objects exist
and are real, but simultaneously adopts a relativist epistemology,
acknowledging that we do not have full and direct access to observe and
study research objects (Durand & Vaara, 2006; Reed, 2005). Thus, critical
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