Philosophy

a whole system of thinking (Neuman, 2011:94)

the established research traditions in a particular discipline (Mouton, 1996:203)

meaning

or a philosophical framework, (Collis and Hussey 2009:55)

the accepted theories, traditions, approaches, models, frame of reference, body of research and methodologies

meaning

a model or framework for observation and understanding (Creswell, 2007:19; Babbie, 2010:33; Rubin & Babbie, 2010:15; Babbie, 2011:32).

meaning

positivism

Positivism relates to the philosophical

stance of the natural scientist and entails working with an observable social reality to

produce law-like generalisations. It promises unambiguous and accurate knowledge and originates in the works of Francis Bacon, Auguste Comte and the early twentieth-century

group of philosophers and scientists known as the Vienna Circle.

post-positivism

Post-positivism (post-modernism) is characterized by two sub-paradigms, namely interpretivism (constructivism) and critical theory (critical post-modernism)

realism

realism is seen as a bridge between positivism and post-positivism (Blumberg et al., 2011:18; 6 & Bellamy, 2012:60).

Ontology

Ontology refers to assumptions about the nature of reality (Saunders et al, 2016)

Ontology

Epistemology

Epistemology concerns assumptions about knowledge, what constitutes acceptable, valid and legitimate knowledge, and how we can communicate knowledge to others (Burrell and Morgan 1979)

epistemology

Axiology

Axiology refers to the role of values and ethics within the research process (Saunders et al, 2016)

axiology

methodology

methodology

The procedures of qualitative research, or its methodology, are characterized as inductive, emerging, and shaped by the researcher’s experience in collecting and analyzing the data (Creswell and Poth, 2018).

Meaning

Leedy and Ormrod (2010:12) agree with Babbie and Mouton (2008:74) that research methodology refers to the researcher’s general approach in carrying out the research project. Mouton (2001:56) views research methodology as focusing on the research process and the kind of tools and procedures to be used. The point of departure would be the specific task (data collection) at hand, the individual steps in the research process, and the most “objective” procedures to be employed.

Essence

In essence, as Carter and Little (2007:1317,1320) express, methodologies justify methods, which produces data and analyses, and methods produce knowledge, so methodologies have epistemic content. Put simply, the research methodology in this research thus refers to the approach adopted to follow in gathering and analysing data.