Research Philosophy Overview

Research philosophy refers to a researcher’s belief of how research data should be gathered, analyzed, interpreted and used (Crossan, 2003). A researcher’s subscription to a research philosophy is important because sometimes, what is believed to be true differs from what is known to be true and therefore the researcher needs to be grounded on certain beliefs to facilitate the validity and reliability of their research findings (Carr, 2006). For those seeking philosophy dissertation help, understanding these foundational beliefs is crucial. In the western tradition of scientific research, the two major forms of research philosophy are interpretivist and positivist research philosophies. While believers in the latter philosophy hold that the reality can be viewed from an objective standpoint, those who believe in the former philosophy hold that reality can only be observed through subjective interpretation (Dilley, 2004). The current study takes the interpretivist research philosophy.

The interpretive research philosophy assesses a phenomenon from the perspective of people experiencing it. In the current study, the phenomenon under investigation will be understood through a case study of one specific school student using interviews and documentary analysis. Thus, the author will rely on the student’s personal subjective data to tell the story from the student’s own perspective. Furthermore, in interpretivist research philosophy, as opposed to positivist research philosophy, reality is context dependent. Thus, the interpretivist philosophy will facilitate the understanding of the phenomenon under investigation within the respondent’s context.

One of the most significant theoretical underpinnings for the selection of interpretivist research philosophy in this study is that the author will study the respondent within their natural environment while acknowledging that it is almost impossible not to interfere with the natural data (Converse, 2012). While the author will interpret the data to derive meaning about the phenomenon under investigation, these interpretations will be considered as part of the scientific knowledge that the study is seeking to develop (Petty, Thomson, & Stew, 2012).

Nonetheless, despite the appropriateness of interpretivist philosophy for the achievement of current study’s objectives, there are several disadvantages that it will expose the study to. For instance, the interpretivist approach is so subjective that it exposes the entire study to researcher bias. Consequently, the subjective data gathered through the interpretivist approach may not be generalized to a larger population because it is mostly derived from personal values and perspectives (Mertens, 2010). This might have a significant damage on the validity of the entire study.