What is Philosophy?

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/studywithus/ugstudy/what-is-philosophy/

https://philosophy.missouri.edu/undergrad/what-philosophy

https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/arts/philosophy/why-philosophy/what-is-philosophy


Philosophy is an activity of thought, a type of thinking. Philosophy is critical and comprehensive thought, the most critical and comprehensive manner of thinking which the human species has yet devised.

Philosophy Online Text

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/default.htm

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%2012Conclusion/What_is_Philosophy.htm

https://philosophy.fsu.edu/undergraduate-study/why-philosophy/What-is-Philosophy


Updated on 23 September 2019, 13 November 2018

Cognitive Dissonance and Cognitive Peace of Scientists

Test for Cognitive Abilities
https://www.cognivue.com/about/overview/


Cognitive Dissonance: Its Use in Science
By Edwin G. Boring
Science  14 Aug 1964:
Vol. 145, Issue 3633, pp. 680-685
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/145/3633/680


1: Emotion as Cognitive and its Therapy
PART I: Emotions as Judgements versus Irrational Forces
1: Emotion as Cognitive and its Therapy
https://www.giffordlectures.org/books/emotion-and-peace-mind/1-emotion-cognitive-and-its-therapy


Einstein's God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit
Krista Tippett
Penguin, 23-Feb-2010 - Religion - 304 pages

A New York Times bestseller
"An exhilirating exploration of the meaning of it all." --Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God

Drawn from Krista Tippett's Peabody Award-winning public radio program, the conversations in this profoundly illuminating book reach for a place too rarely explored in our ongoing exchange of ideas--the nexus of science and spirituality. In fascinating interviews with such luminaries as Freeman Dyson, Janna Levin, Parker Palmer, and John Polkinghorne, Krista Tippett draws out the connections between the two realms, showing how even those most wedded to hard truths find spiritual enlightenment in the life of experiment and, in turn, raise questions that are richly, theologically evocative.

Whether she is speaking with celebrated surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland about the biology of the human spirit or questioning Drawin biographer James Moore about his subject's religious beliefs, Tippett offers a rare look at the way our best minds grapple with the questions for which we all seek answers.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=g7XUY74yEoQC


What Happens to the Brain During Cognitive Dissonance?
—Thea Buckley, India
November 1, 2015
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-to-the-brain-during-cognitive-dissonance1/




How to Think Like Einstein: Simple Ways to Break the Rules and Discover Your Hidden Genius
Scott D. Thorpe
Sourcebooks, Inc., 01-Dec-2015 - Self-Help - 272 pages
You can be a genius too! Learn the skills and hacks from the greatest minds in history!

From creative business and to improving relationships, How to Think Like Einstein provides the tools for the everyday challenges at the home and in the office. Innovator and author Scott Thorpe guides you step-by-step through the process of freeing yourself from your "rule ruts" so you can dream up amazing (and doable) solutions to the seemingly impossible. With brand-new material for today's readers, this new edition will reveal how you can solve problems in astonishing ways, including:

• thinking like a bug
• organizing a party
• learning the game of poker
• pretending you're James Bond
• acting like a millionaire
• and more!
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Hn3ICgAAQBAJ

The Research Process - Dan Remenyi - Chapter 7 - Summary - Narrative - Paradigm

Ch.7.Research Process



Kinds of Evidence, Ways of Thinking

Qualitative and quantitative – and it is useful to consider two kinds of thinking which are referred to here as narrative and paradigmatic.  Qualitative evidence uses words to describe situations, individuals, or circumstances surrounding a phenomenon while quantitative evidence uses numbers usually in the form of counts or measurements to attempt to give precision to a set of observations.

Narrative thinking involves the construction of a consistent and convincing description of the process or subject matter under investigation.

Paradigmatic thinking involves the construction of laws, rules or conjectures from which it is hoped deductions can be made that can be tested against the evidence or observations.  The construction of a narrative will depend largely, but not exclusively, on the qualitative information that is available, while be construction of paradigms will generally depend on both qualitative and quantitative evidence.

Sometimes the researcher will find him or herself drawing on quantitative evidence for a narrative. In other words quantitative evidence is also incorporate in the narrative.


It is possible to regard narrative thought and paradigmatic thought as two poles of a continuum along which ideas are refined from descriptive generalisations to quite specific statements of relationships.

From Primary Narrative to Paradigm
The transition from narrative to paradigm can be described in five distinct steps,

Primary   Narrative - -> Higher order  narrative --> Theoretical conjecture  --> Hypotheses  -> Paradigm                                                                        



Narrative analysis
The most difficult part of the transition process from primary narrative to paradigm or scientific statement often lies in the first two steps leading to the theoretical conjecture.

From the narrative to the theoretical conjecture
Creativity in research lies primarily in the narrative mode of thinking which dominates the five steps and it is mostly here that new discoveries are made and new ideas are developed.

By reformulating narrative accounts of the world in terms of paradigmatic laws and theories, however, one is then able to do several important things.

First of all, the relatively loose narrative description is developed into a tighter paradigmatic framework that enables the consistency of the ideas expressed in the narrative to be more rigorously tested.  Secondly, by a process of measuring and quantifying observations made on the environment and suggested by the theory, it is possible to begin to make predictions that can then be tested (testing the theory).

Finally, the paradigms so developed may be used to make predictions about what will happen in other situations, making it possible to discover both the extent to which the paradigmatic theory is of general applicability and the areas in which it breaks down and requires further elaboration (Further testing as well as use of theory).

Definition of a Primary Narrative

A primary narrative may be defined as a detailed textual description of the phenomenon being studied, based either on the literature or on a combination of the literature and other evidence collected through a grounded theory approach.

Typically a primary narrative will be a lengthy document that tells the story of the phenomenon being researched in a comprehensive way.
It is from this story that the theory will ultimately be distilled.

Definition of a Higher Order Narrative

A high order narrative may be defined as a description which both captures the essential aspects of the information represented in the primary narrative but provides a more parsimonious conceptual framework in which the ideas, concepts relationships have been defined.  The high order narrative will form the basis of the theoretical conjecture that will eventually be presented, reduced to hypotheses or empirical generalisations, and rigorously tested.

Theoretical conjecture. 

The theoretical conjecture can simply be the formalisation of the conclusions of the higher order narrative in such a way that it will be relatively easy to produce empirical generalisations or hypotheses for the purposes of further testing.

 Paradigmatic Thinking

In paradigmatic thinking, the theoretical conjecture be developed into one or more hypotheses or empirical generalisations.  Once this has been done quantitative evidence needed is collected  and  the hypotheses is  be rigorously tested using appropriate statistical techniques

---------------------

More Details given in the Chapter

Introduction

In this chapter some of the basic issues involved in the early stages of constructing a research project are discussed, and in particular the relationship between the collection of evidence and the formulation of a theoretical framework or model within which to interpret the results of the study are examined.


From the narrative to the theoretical conjecture
Creativity in research lies primarily in the narrative mode of thinking which dominates the five steps and it is mostly here that new discoveries are made and new ideas are developed.

By reformulating narrative accounts of the world in terms of paradigmatic laws and theories, however, one is then able to do several important things.

First of all, the relatively loose narrative description is developed into a tighter paradigmatic framework that enables the consistency of the ideas expressed in the narrative to be more rigorously tested.  Secondly, by a process of measuring and quantifying observations made on the environment and suggested by the theory, it is possible to begin to make predictions that can then be tested (testing the theory).

Finally, the paradigms so developed may be used to make predictions about what will happen in other situations, making it possible to discover both the extent to which the paradigmatic theory is of general applicability and the areas in which it breaks down and requires further elaboration (Further testing as well as use of theory).

Of course this is a positivistic view which would not always be shared by a phenomenologist, who might not be interested in generalisation in this sense.

The Point of Departure
It is possible that a researcher might wish to investigate an entirely new aspect of a subject on which little has been published, perhaps based on ideas or thoughts that arise from the research worker’s own experiences in organisations.

In such cases various empirical techniques such as grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), or concept discovery (Martin and Turner,1986) can be used to establish the point of departure.

Whichever technique is used, the information generated in this way will form what is referred to as the primary narrative.

  This was done in a dissertation on Strategic Information Systems:  Current Practice and Guidelines(Remenyi,1990a)  where a grounded theory approach was applied to 55 interviews in order to develop a primary narrative.

Definition of a Primary Narrative
A primary narrative may be defined as a detailed textual description of the phenomenon being studied, based either on the literature or on a combination of the literature and other evidence collected through a grounded theory approach.

  Typically a primary narrative will be a lengthy document that tells the story of the phenomenon being researched in a comprehensive way.
It is from this story that the theory will ultimately be distilled.

In the dissertation mentioned above(Remenyi,1990a) the primary narrative was some 200 pages long.

   An example of this process is discussed later in this chapter.
Qualitative versus Quantitative Evidence
It is necessary to produce a primary narrative if a theoretical conjecture is to be competently developed.


The importance of the primary narrative and the theoretical conjecture

Figure 7.3 also shows how a positivistic approach to research leads to an analytical test of hypotheses or empirical generalisations, whereas a phenomenological approach may, or most probably will not lead to a formal test of the hypothesis.

A phenomenological approach will generally be judged by the extent to which it provides a convincing synthesis of the available information.

In the dissertation referred to above (Remenyi,1990a) both qualitative and quantitative evidence was collected and approximately equal effort was expended on the collection and analysis of qualitative evidence through structured interviews and quantitative evidence collected through the use of self-completion, postal questionnaires.

Evidence Collection
During the course of a research project a large amount of information may be collected and incorporated into the primary narrative.
The problem now is how to use this to construct a higher order narrative.

A high order narrative may be defined as a description which both captures the essential aspects of the information represented in the primary narrative but provides a more parsimonious conceptual framework in which the ideas, concepts relationships have been defined.  The high order narrative will form the basis of the theoretical conjecture that will eventually be presented, reduced to hypotheses or empirical generalisations, and rigorously tested.

Narrative Thinking
Unfortunately the importance of narrative thinking, the construction of a consistent story that describes the essential features of the problem under investigation, is frequently not recognized or at least not openly acknowledged  in academic research.

Language and the Free Invention of the Mind
Starting from observations made on the environment, how can the laws be discovered or inferred, from which by a process of education, observations can be explained?
Einstein (1954) states the problem quite explicitly: ‘I am convinced that… concepts which arise in our thought and in our linguistic expression are all, when viewed logically, the free creations of thoughts which cannot inductively be gained from sense experiences.

‘The justification (truth content) of the system rests in the proof of usefulness of the resulting theorems on the basis of the sense experiences, where the relations of the latter to the former can only be comprehended intuitively’.
The challenge to modern science, according to Einstein, is that there is no strict, well-defined inductive method that can lead to the formulation of laws and theories, i.e. the creation of knowledge, but rather that these are ’the  free invention of the human mind’ (Einstein,1936).  The issue then is how to go about inventing theories and discovering paradigms.

Mental Models
Einstein as quoted by Holton(1978) makes reference to different types of thinking when he describes the drive to understand the world:
Man seeks to form for himself in whatever manner is suitable for him, a simplified and lucid image of the world, and so to overcome the world of experience by striving  to replace it to some extent by this image.
This is what the painter does, and the poet, the speculative philosopher, the natural scientist, each in his own way.  Into this image and its formation, he places the centre of gravity of his emotional life, in order to attain the peace and serenity that he cannot find within the narrow confines of swirling personal experience.

Scientific discovery is akin to explanatory story telling, to myth making and to poetic imagination.

Moszkowski(1970) quotes Einstein as describing the process of scientific discovery:

In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence; for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions.  The aspect of knowledge which has not yet been laid bare gives the investigator a feeling akin to that experienced by a child who seeks to grasp the masterly way  in which elders manipulate things.

Imagination and Models
When one attempts to develop models of the world, these start as narrative descriptions within which the imagination is allowed to range freely and widely over many possibilities.  After many years he arrived at his now celebrated theory in which a combination of random variation and survival of the individuals best adapted to their environment leads to selection for particular traits and eventually the appearance of new species.
Darwin developed his theory entirely narratively without the use of any formal paradigms.  The strength then of narrative thinking is that it encourages the free play of the imagination.

The Researcher’s Natural Aptitude
It is interesting to note that some individuals have much greater skill at narrative thinking than others and it is perhaps this skill which attracts them to qualitative rather than to quantitative research.  Various quantitative techniques, such as content analysis (Berelson,1980) and correspondence analysis(Greenacre,1984), may be used to help develop a higher order narrative based on the primary narrative before this is in turn developed into theoretical conjectures.

The importance of the list in table 7.1 is that it suggests that there are 16 key concepts which arise out of the primary narrative which need to be incorporated in the higher order narrative and perhaps ultimately in the theoretical conjecture.

In the research referred to above, only the nine top-scoring concepts were eventually incorporated into the theoretical conjecture.  This is because it was felt that these were the most important issues that had been brought to the researcher’s attention, and also that more than nine issues might make the  theoretical conjecture unwieldy and difficult to understand.

Honing a Paradigm

According to the positivistic tradition, narrative thinking on its own does not generally yield sufficient rigour for what one now regards as modern science and it is usually necessary to progress beyond the purely narrative presentation.   Such as fitness, inheritability, rates of mutation and population growth rates.
It can now be said that if a certain trait in an individual has a certain inheritability and produces individuals with a certain degree of fitness relative to others, it will in a predictable period of time become the dominant trait in that population.

In other words, one can subject Darwin’s theory to much more stringent tests than were previously possible.  One can now do more than simply argue (as Darwin did) that the validity of his theory follows from its consistent explanation of a large class of facts, but can make precise and  testable predictions based on quantitative analysis of the theory.

It is equally true that many years elapsed between Einstein’s reflections in the patent office and the development of his field equations and eventually the general theory of relativity which explains the nature of gravity in terms of the curvature of space-time brought about by the presence of massive bodies.  However, in both cases, the narrative description can be seen as a necessary prelude to the formulation of the fully paradigmatic quantitative theory .

Medawar(1984) express this connection between the two modes of thought as follows:
Scientific theories…. begin as imaginative constructions.  They begin, if you like, as stories, and the purpose of the critical or rectifying episode in scientific reasoning is precisely to find out whether or not these stories about real life.

To synthesise the many thoughts into a few more powerful explanations.

To see what is general; in what is particular and what is permanent in what is transitory is the aim of scientific thought.

In the eye of science, the fall of an apple, the motion of a planet round a sun, and the clinging of the atmosphere to the earth are all seen as examples of the law of gravity.  This possibility of disentangling the most complex evanescent circumstances into various examples of permanent laws is the controlling idea of modern thought.

The next step in the research process is to use the higher order narrative to develop a theoretical conjecture.  If the narrative has been constructed with this in mind then the theoretical conjecture can simply be the formalisation of the conclusions of the higher order narrative in such a way that it will be relatively easy to produce empirical generalisations or hypotheses for the purposes of further testing.

At this stage a substantial amount of research has been done and it is clearly, the case that if this has been conducted well, a major contribution could have been added to the body of knowledge and, in some cases, may be sufficient for a research degree.

For this to happen paradigmatic thinking is needed which requires that the theoretical conjecture be developed into one or more hypotheses or empirical generalisations.  Once this has been done quantitative evidence is required that can allow the hypotheses to be rigorously tested using appropriate statistical techniques.

The Range of Evidence
Research workers who espouse the qualitative or narrative approach to research sometimes argue that a single case study is enough to enable the researcher to add to the body of knowledge.
This single case study approach has interesting implications.  Clearly the discovery of a phenomenon as a result of a single case study may add significantly to the body of knowledge simply because it is established that this phenomenon exists.   A broader exercise, including multiple case studies or evidence from a variety of sources, is more likely to lead to interesting generalisations about the phenomenon under investigation.

The steps involved in qualitative research
Quantitative Research and Paradigms
For quantitative research it is usually obvious what evidence is required and this evidence may usually be collected within a tight structure.  Thus in the social sciences in general and information systems research in particular, evidence collection often involves the use of questionnaire.  Information systems research especially information systems management research that relies exclusively on evidence obtained from techniques such as questionnaires, should be regarded with particular circumspection.

Scientific understanding proceeds by way of constructing and analysing ‘models’ of the segments or aspects of reality under study.  The purpose of these models is not to give a mirror image of reality, not to include all its elements in their exact sizes and proportions, but rather to single out and make available for intensive investigation those elements which are decisive.  We abstract from non-essentials, we blot out the unimportant to get an unobstructed view of the important, we magnify in order to improve the range and accuracy of our observation.
A model is, and must be, unrealistic in the sense in which the word is most commonly used.
Nevertheless, and in a sense paradoxically, if it is a good model it provides the key to understanding reality.

A Model of the Quantitative Research Process
It omits the development of the primary and the higher order narratives as these techniques are not necessary, given that the researcher will already have a model or paradigm with which to work.



References - Latest

Interesting article
Narrative: An ontology, epistemology and methodology for pro-environmental psychology research
Philip Brown
Energy Research & Social Science
Volume 31, September 2017, Pages 215-222
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629617301767

ISSA Proceedings 2002 – Bourdieuian Criticism Of The Narrative Paradigm: The Case Of Historical Texts
by: Junya Morooka - University of Pittsburgh
http://rozenbergquarterly.com/issa-proceedings-2002-bourdieuian-criticism-of-the-narrative-paradigm-the-case-of-historical-textsi/

Barbara Czarniawska, Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity, University of Chicago Press, 1997
http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Narrating_the_Organization.html?id=oIHB7aJEipQC

The book referenced in the chapter  Jung C.G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections is available on archive.org


An article containing the process using primary narrative, higher order narrative and conjuncture development
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=S7CDl-cbPnUC&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false

Full thesis of the above paper by Marian Carcary
http://issuu.com/academic-conferences.org/docs/marian_carcary_june20

Full thesis having the primary narrative - higher order narrative - theoretical conjencture
A Model for the Formulation of Strategic Intent Based on a Comparison of the Business and the Military
by Colin George Brand
Supervisor: Dr. D. Remenyi
November 2010
University of South Africa
http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/4926/thesis%20brand%20cg.pdf?sequence=1

Full Thesis
ECommerce Information Systems Success: A South African Study
Shaun Pather
Supervisor: Prof D. Remenyi
November 2006
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
http://academic-publishing.org/pdfs/ECIS_Success_ShaunPather.pdf




Narrative method of enquiry
http://www.sonic.net/~rgiovan/essay.2.PDF


Theorizing or Coneptualizing Research in Economics
Chapter 7 http://home.sandiego.edu/~sumner/econ490/Lecture_7.pdf


Analyzing Qualitative Data and Concept Discovery
Ch. 8 From Filing Cabinet to Computer
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=zuCIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT224#v=onepage&q&f=false

in
Analyzing Qualitative Data
Alan Bryman, Bob Burgess
Routledge, 09-Sep-2002 - Social Science - 246 pages
This major inter-disciplinary collection, edited by two of the best respected figures in the field, provides a superb general introduction to this subject. Chapters include discussions of fieldwork methodology, analyzing discourse, the advantages and pitfalls of team approaches, the uses of computers, and the applications of qualitative data analysis for social policy. Shrewd and insightful, the collection will be required reading for students of the latest thinking on research methods.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=zuCIAgAAQBAJ


Updated  15 September 2019,  8 September 2016, 23 December 2014

Symbolic Interactionism - Introduction and Bibliography

Symbolic interactionsim addresses how meanings are produced by agents through their interaction with symbols (Klenke, 2016)

Herbert Blumer (1969) articulated the major premises of social interactionism. He was students of  George Mead.

Symbolic Interactionism: The Basics

Charles Quist-Adade
Vernon Press, 15-Mar-2019 - Social Science - 218 pages

This book is a survey of Symbolic Interaction. In thirteen short chapters, it traces the history, the social philosophical roots, the founders, “movers and shakers” and evolution of the theory. Symbolic Interactionism: The Basics takes the reader along the exciting, but tortuous journey of the theory and explores both the meta-theoretical and mini-theoretical roots and branches of the theory. Symbolic interactionism or sociological social psychology traces its roots to the works of United States sociologists George Hebert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and Herbert Blumer, and a Canadian sociologist, Erving Goffman; Other influences are Harold Garfinkel’s Ethnomethodology and Austrian-American Alfred Schutz’s study of Phenomenology.



Symbolic Interactionism: Basics explores the philosophical sources of symbolic interactionism, including pragmatism, social behaviorism, and neo-Hegelianism. The intellectual origins of symbolic interactions can be attributed to the works of William James, George Simmel, John Dewey, Max Weber, and George Herbert Mead. Mead is believed to be the founder of the theory, although he did not publish any academic work on the paradigm. The book highlights the works of the intellectual heirs of symbolic interactionism— Herbert Blumer, Mead’s former student, who was instrumental in publishing the lectures of his former professor posthumously with the title Symbolic Interactionism.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=CluZDwAAQBAJ


Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method

Herbert Blumer
University of California Press, 1986 - Social Science - 208 pages

This is a collection of articles dealing with the point of view of symbolic interactionism and with the topic of methodology in the discipline of sociology. It is written by the leading figure in the school of symbolic interactionism, and presents what might be regarded as the most authoritative statement of its point of view, outlining its fundamental premises and sketching their implications for sociological study. Blumer states that symbolic interactionism rests on three premises: that human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings of things have for them; that the meaning of such things derives from the social interaction one has with one's fellows; and that these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process.
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Symbolic_Interactionism.html?id=lhdyvDMUeLMC

Key Sociological Thinkers: Second Edition

Rob Stones
Macmillan International Higher Education, 06-Nov-2007 - Social Science - 408 pages

The second edition of this popular and established text provides a comprehensive guide to 23 of the most influential thinkers in sociology. Written by leading academics in the field, Key Sociological Thinkers 2e provides a clear and contextualized introduction to classical and contemporary theory.

Each chapter offers an insightful assessment of a different theorist, exploring their lives, works and legacies. Drawing upon examples from the everyday world, an innovative 'Seeing Things Differently' section in every chapter demonstrates how theoretical ideas can be used to illuminate aspects of social life in new ways.

Included in this new edition:
• Four new chapters, looking at Theodor Adorno, Michael Mann, Dorothy Smith and Zygmunt Bauman
• Chapter updates on recent developments
• An important new introduction
• Three types of contents page to provide easy navigation of the text
• Useful glossary boxes throughout, with their own dedicated contents page, to highlight and explain complex theoretical ideas.

Key Sociological Thinkers 2e provides a stimulating overview of the best of sociological thought, from Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel to Nancy Chodorow, Michel Foucault and Anthony Giddens. It continues to be an essential text for all students of sociological theory.
Chapter 5 is Herbert Blumer

Symbolic Interactionist Theory
Sociological Paradigm #3: Symbolic Interactionist Theory
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-herkimer-intro-to-sociology-1/chapter/reading-symbolic-interactionist-theory/

Mead vs. Blumer: The Divergent Methodological Perspectives of Social Behaviorism and Symbolic Interactionism
Clark McPhail and Cynthia Rexroat

American Sociological Review
Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jun., 1979), pp. 449-467 (19 pages)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2094886

Hermeneutic Phenomenology

As a branch or method of phenomenology, hermeneutic phenomenology is concerned with the life world or human experience as it is lived. The focus is toward illuminating details and seemingly trivial aspects within experience that may be taken for granted in our lives, with a goal of creating meaning and achieving a sense of understanding.  While Husserl focused on understanding beings or phenomena, Heidegger focused on ‘Dasein’, that is translated as ‘the mode of being human’ or ‘the situated meaning of a human in the world’. Husserl was interested in acts of attending, perceiving, recalling, and thinking about the world and human beings were understood primarily as knowers. Heidegger, in contrast, viewed humans as being primarily concerned creatures with an emphasis on their fate in an alien world.

Consciousness is not separate from the world, in Heidegger’s view, but is a formation of historically lived experience. He believed that understanding is a basic form of human existence in that understanding is not a way we know the world, but rather the way we are. Koch (1995) outlined Heidegger’s emphasis on the historicality of understanding as one’s background or situatedness in the world. Historicality, a person’s history or background, includes what a culture gives a person from birth and is handed down, presenting ways of understanding the world. Through this understanding, one determines what is ‘real’, yet Heidegger also believed that one’s background cannot be made completely explicit. Munhall (1989) described Heidegger as having a view of people and the world as indissolubly related in cultural, in social and in historical contexts.

Interpretation is seen as critical to this process of understanding. Claiming that to be human was to interpret, Heidegger (1927/1962) stressed that every encounter involves an interpretation influenced by an individual’s background or historicality. Polkinghorne (1983) described this interpretive process as concentrating on historical meanings of experience and their development and cumulative effects on individual and social levels.

This interpretive process is achieved through a hermeneutic circle which moves from the parts of experience, to the whole of experience and back and forth again and again to increase the depth of engagement with and the understanding of texts [interview transcripts] (Annells, 1996; Polkinghorne, 1983). Kvale (1996) viewed the end of this spiraling through a hermeneutic circle as occurring when one has reached a place of sensible meaning, free of inner contradictions, for the moment.

Sources

http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/2_3final/pdf/laverty.pdf
(Laverty explains the differences between Husserl's way of phenomenology and Heidegger's way phenomenology)

Hermeneutic Phenomenological  Research Method Simplified - 2011 article
http://www.ku.edu.np/bodhi/vol5_no1/11.%20Narayan%20Kafle.%20Hermeneutic%20Phenomenological%20Research%20Method.pdf



Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research: A Practical Guide for Nurse Researchers
 By Marlene Zichi Cohen
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=jPIqRic8TXMC  

Hermeneutic Phenomenological study of Philanthropian Leaders
Lisa Barrow
http://www.bookpump.com/dps/pdf-b/1122373b.pdf


Understanding and Leading Organization - A Hermeneutic Philosophical Investigation
Dominik Heil
http://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/wp-app/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Issue1_2010-Heil.pdf


Phenomenological Reduction and Emergent Design: Complementary Methods for Leadership Narrative Interpretation and Metanarrative Development
Donald L. Gilstrap
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
International Journal of Qualitative Methods 6 (1) March 2007
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/IJQM/article/viewFile/469/455


Authentic leadership and the narrative self
Raymond T. Sparrowe
The Leadership Quarterly 16 (2005) 419 – 439

Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy (Google eBook)
Max Van Manen
SUNY Press, 01-Jan-1990 - Education - 202 pages
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fBCZ5n6okOYC


Researching Lived Experience, Second Edition: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy
Max van Manen
First published in 1990
Routledge, 16-Jun-2016 - Social Science - 220 pages

Bestselling author Max van Manen’s Researching Lived Experience introduces a human science approach to research methodology in education and related fields. The book takes as its starting point the "everyday lived experience" of human beings in educational situations. Rather than rely on abstract generalizations and theories in the traditional sense, the author offers an alternative that taps the unique nature of each human situation. First published in 1990, this book is a classic of social science methodology and phenomenological research, selling tens of thousands of copies over the past quarter century. Left Coast is making available the second edition of this work, never before released outside Canada. Researching Lived Experience offers detailed methodological explications and practical examples of inquiry. It shows how to orient oneself to human experience in education and how to construct a textual question which evokes a fundamental sense of wonder, and it provides a broad and systematic set of approaches for gaining experiential material which forms the basis for textual reflections. The author: -Discusses the part played by language in educational research-Pays special attention to the methodological function of anecdotal narrative in research-Offers approaches to structuring the research text in relation to the particular kinds of questions being studied
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=1LZmDAAAQBAJ

Investigating subjectivity: Research on Lived Experience
Carolyn Ellis, 1992
http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Investigating_Subjectivity.html?id=Fakwo1jA8mMC

Researching Entrepreneurship as Livid Experience
http://henrikberglund.com/Phenomenology.pdf

Conducting phenomenological research: Rationalizing the methods and rigour of the phenomenology of practice.
Errasti-Ibarrondo B1,2,3, Jordán JA4, Díez-Del-Corral MP1,3, Arantzamendi M2,3.
To offer a complete outlook in a readable easy way of van Manen's hermeneutic-phenomenological method to nurses interested in undertaking phenomenological research.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29543383



A presentation of research on negative capability done using hermeneutic phenomenology by Anil Behal.
Phd oral presentation
8 April 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNURaOGy8Hg
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Read Transcendental Phenomenology  also

Updated  14 Sep 2019,  20 July 2013

Qualitative Research in Psychology

Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods
Jonathan A Smith
SAGE, 18-Dec-2007 - Social Science - 288 pages

Covering all the main qualitative approaches now used in psychology - the Second Edition offers readers a step-by-step guide to carrying out research using each particular method with plenty of pedagogical advice. All chapters are written by international experts - many of them key figures in either the inception or development of their chosen method.
Key features of the Second Edition include:

- updated and extended chapters

- examples of good research studies using each approach

- text boxes and further readings
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=D5xHYpXVDaAC


Psychology and 'Human Nature'
Peter Ashworth
Routledge, 12-Nov-2012 - Psychology - 198 pages

Psychology and 'Human Nature' problematizes what psychology usually takes for granted - the meaning of the psyche or 'human nature'. Peter Ashworth provides a coherent account of many of the major schools of thought in psychology and its related disciplines, including: sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, radical behaviourism, existentialism, discursive psychology and postmodernism. For each approach he considers the claims or assumptions being made about 'human nature', especially regarding issues of consciousness, the self, the body, other people and the physical world.

Psychology and 'Human Nature' will be essential reading for all students of psychology.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KsWJ7uxTizYC

Postmodernism - Introduction - Bibliography

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

Postmodernism relies on critical theory, an approach that confronts the ideological, social, and historical structures that shape and constrain cultural production. Common targets of postmodernism and critical theory include universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress. Postmodernist approaches have been adopted in a variety of academic and theoretical disciplines, including political science, organization theory, cultural studies, philosophy of science, economics, linguistics, architecture, feminist theory, and literary criticism, as well as art movements in fields such as literature and music.

Postmodern thinkers frequently call attention to the contingent or socially-conditioned nature of knowledge claims and value systems, situating them as products of particular political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence. Postmodernism is often associated with schools of thought such as deconstruction and post-structuralism, as well as philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Fredric Jameson.


Good explanation of various cultures in the context of postmodernism:
https://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/introduction.html

Logical Positivism - Empiricism - Introduction - Bibliography

Logical Empiricism
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logical-empiricism/

Some sentences to be examined and understood from the article.

In late 1929 Wittgenstein proposed (Waismann 1967/1979), in conversations with Schlick and Waismann, a strict verificationism as a basis for identifying the legitimate parts of discourse, this seemed to the logical empiricists to be a very attractive tool for setting aside the unscientific parts of philosophy.

This does not mean, however, that all logical empiricists or even all members of the Vienna Circle accepted the strict verificationist view that in order to be meaningful a claim must be implied by a finite number of observation sentences. Even though those observation sentences need not be true, this view had the drawback that so-called laws of nature would not be meaningful on this criterion. Schlick was prepared to bite the bullet and hold that laws were not statements at all but principles of inference. Others were not prepared to go so far and sought more liberal formulations. 

The central idea behind verificationism is linking some sort of meaningfulness with (in principle) confirmation, at least for synthetic sentences. The actual formulations embodied not only such a link but various particular accounts of confirmation as well.

Ayer was careful to restrict his criterion of meaningfulness to synthetic sentences and to demand only in principle confirmation. And the formulation seems very natural: Confirmation is a feature that applies to sentences (or groups of them) and not to sub-sentential parts, and for an empiricist the content that a synthetic sentence has would be empirical content. So it would seem that to have empirical content a sentence, A, should either directly imply some observational sentence or add to the observational content of some other sentence, B. That is, the conjunction of A and B should imply some observational sentence not implied by B alone.

Ayer understood the principle to be a definition, defining a technical term, ‘meaning’. If so, then the sentence expressing the principle would indeed be analytic.

By 1935 Carnap had introduced an important new element into his philosophy called the Principle of Tolerance. Tolerance is a radical idea. There is no uniquely correct logic (1934/1937 xiv–xv). Empiricism is a convention (Carnap, 1936/1937 33). Perhaps more precisely each of the various versions of empiricism (including some sort of verificationism) is best understood as a proposal for structuring the language of science. Before tolerance, both empiricism and verificationism are announced as if they are simply correct. Correspondingly, what Carnap called metaphysics is then treated as though it is, as a matter of brute fact, unintelligible. But what is announced thus dogmatically can be rejected equally dogmatically. Once tolerance is in place, alternative philosophic positions, including metaphysical ones, are construed as alternative proposals for structuring the language of science.

Carnap believes that there are indeed very good practical reasons for adopting the proposal of verificationism, for choosing a language of science in which all substantive (synthetic) claims can, at least in principle, be brought before the court of public experience. The reason is that if we do not require this, the result is “wearisome controversies” that there is no hope of resolving. 

Thought of in this way the verifiability principle does not describe natural language, it is not intended to. It is intended to reform language to make it a more useful tool for the purposes of science.



Logical positivism
PHILOSOPHY
WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/logical-positivism

Phenomenology - An Approach to Psychology

I came across the topic - Four Approaches to Psychology and Phenomenology was included as an approach to Psychology under Subjective approaches

Interesting article on phenomenal psychology
http://www.iep.utm.edu/phen-psy/


An Approach to Phenomenological Psychology: The Contingencies of the Lifeworld
in Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
Author: Peter Ashworth  (Ashworth wrote number of articles on phenomenology)
https://brill.com/view/journals/jpp/34/2/article-p145_1.xml


Phenomenology and sociology
http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Social-Phenomenology.htm



Updated on 11 Sep 2019, 23 July 2015

The Non-Positivist Research Strategy - Phenomenology - Qualitative Evidence

Phenomenology and Non-Positivism - Introduction

To understand and develop theory of the problems of people and organisations, an alternative to positivist research strategy is non-positivist approach to research to evidence collection..  It is increasingly accepted among business and management scholars that phenomenology provides a suitable base for researching the central issues concerning people and their behavior.

Different Definitions

Cohen and Manion (1987) : ’Phenomenology is a theoretical point of view that advocates the study of direct experience taken at face value; and one which sees behaviour as determined by the phenomena of experience rather than by external, objective and physically described reality.’

In phenomenology, the perception of an individual about an external event or stimulus is the basic object of the enquiry. The meaning given by a person to the external event or stimulus can be expressed by that person only. Hence direct experience of the person is the basic evidence on input side and his response to the perceived meaning as expressed by him and his actual behavior can be the output.

Rudestein and Newton(1992) suggest that phenomenology ‘attempts to describe and elucidate the meanings of human experience’.

The above definition also indicates the attention to human experience or perception of external events.

According to Camus (O’ Brien,1965, ‘phenomenology declines to explain the world, it wants to be merely a description of actual experience’.

Phenomenology does not explain or describe external event as the important thing. Its focus is on the description of the experience or the  perceived external object.

Phenomenology- What? Why? And How?

The Context of the Research

In business and management studies it is essential to understand the context within which the research is being conducted by considering social or cultural factors that impinge on the research problem.

Some Philosophical Underpinnings

Philosophically the non-positivist position derives from phenomenology, which emphasises the primacy of  experience (perception). 

The term phenomenology essentially describes the philosophical approach that what is directly perceived and felt is considered more reliable than the explanations or interpretations of the external events by the researcher.   It is a search for understanding based on the interpretation of the person participating as informer rather than the interpretation of the external event made by the researcher. 

The phenomenological approach is now one of the qualitative evidence collection and research approached to research.

The primacy of Context

Phenomenology assumes that knowledge can be gained by concentrating on phenomena as experienced by people.

Within phenomenology also there are multiple approaches. One approach is based on  the relationship between self and society, as expressed in the work of Mead(1934), the originator of phenomenological psychology.  Mead accorded primacy to the process from which the ‘organism creates its environment’ ( Clegg and Dunkerley, 1980:267) which leads to the distinction between act and content, with the stress on the act and what that means to the actor (Yontef,1993).

In phemenological approach, the external variables being manipulated could not be treated as independent of the meaning ‘which individuals assigned to them’. This is a finding of Hawthorne study. Today this is one of the fundamental assumptions of phenomenological researchers (Collins and Young, 1988)

Phenomenology and Qualitative Methods

The evidence-gathering technique in the theoretical tradition of phenomenology uses a very specific method in which the researcher must first attempt to remove all traces of personal involvement in the phenomena being researched. It means researchers should not give undue importance to the external event that he is aware of. He has to focus on the meaning given to it by the interviewee or the research subject person.

Similarly the researcher has to limit any other influences from impinging on the evidence – collection exercise before finally gathering data around specific themes.

The interviewing process  followed  by  feminist and hermeneutic researchers is different. 

Non-positivist research assumes that objects of enquiry in the social sciences are social issues – a key concern is that research should acknowledge and treat people as essentially human rather than as mere objects.

Central to this argument is the fact that people have the ability to think, argue, and experience the world or events in idiosyncratic ways and that positivistic research strategies (which assume universally common ways) are unable to deliver an understanding of these human dimensions.

Control and the Research Process

These assumptions about the need and use of controls are seldom relevant in non-positivist research, due to the difficulty of controlling variables in social settings.

Evidence Collection in a Natural Setting

Non-positivist research essentially relies on collecting evidence in as natural and non-controlled a setting as possible, rejecting the formalism imposed on research activity by a positivist approach. Experiments that involve controlled variables are not part of qualitative approaches.

Using Non-Positivist Methods

Researchers are subject to prejudices, cultural beliefs and values that they bring into the research process with them and they influence choice of research strategy. Certain characteristics of the researcher, supervisor and the institution favor selection of qualitative research strategy.  These include socialisation, the nature of the object being investigated, the outcomes sought from research and who is funding the research.

Socialisation

The disciplines from which the researcher comes, as well as his or her work experiences, will have a strong influence upon the research strategy that is favoured.

Funding the Research

The agency or organisation that is funding the research often determines the nature of the object to be investigated and the methods that are to be used in undertaking that task.

Developing the Qualitative  Research Strategy

By research strategy is meant consideration by students as to which research community they feel they belong to, and that the researchers know the epistemological, ethical and ontological assumptions of their research. 

Easter by-Smith et al.  (1994:27) proposed philosophical positions that generate a useful classification of the key features of positivist and phenomenological paradigms.  They can be visualized as a continuum and  can be used to explore the orientation of the researcher in order that strategies and tactics can be consciously selected.

Qualitative research strategy or paradigm is selected when certain positions on ontology, epistemology, human behavior and sample size are specified.


Epistemology is based on non-positivist criteria.
Actions of human beings are voluntary subject to their awareness of alternatives and choice.
Ideographic methods (small sample sizes) are preferred by qualitative paradigm. 

Beginning the Research

Howard and Sharp (1983) outline a process model that is useful in identifying the phases that form part of the qualitative research process.  They distinguish between the ‘planning’ and effectuation’ stages and these in turn can be broken down into the activities set out below :

Planning :

Identify a broad area of study
Select the research topic
Decide the approach
Formulate a plan of action

Effectuation:

Collect the evidence
Analyse or interpret the evidence
Present the findings.

As Marshall and Rossman (1995) argue, the planning stage is fundamental to the consideration of issues such as developing an argument that is convincing, showing how the particular case being investigated fits with the bigger picture, and that the design of the research is sound.  It is through this planning that the competence of the researcher is demonstrated.

Area of study and Topic
In this respect, creativity and immersion in a topic area are  important ingredients

Induction

Within a non-positivist paradigm, there is more emphasis on theory development and it is acceptable for the generation of a research topic or question to come from experience rather than reflection on existing theory and concepts. More research studies in positivist research are of theory testing nature  Thus, an inductive process to generate the research question is entirely acceptable in qualitative research.  Intuitive notions about phenomena often from part of the practice of researchers.  The most creative theories are often imaginative visions which spring from the observed or recorded facts.

Deduction

In the qualitative research, alternatively the student might well start from a deductive position and then seek to use the methods suggested by Howard and Sharp (1983) to generate research topics. These range from looking for ideas in text (theses, journal articles, books and reviews, the media) to communication with others (experts in the field, colleagues, potential users of the research outputs.)

In this approach, the researcher understands the existing theory, and selects his topics and subjects with a view to  see how the specific instance selected by him fits into the wider whole theory.

Importance of the Literature

Non-positivist researchers will use real-life problems that emerge from experience as the inspiration for research (Marshall and Rossman,1995:17).  It is important that this is done in tandem with at least an emerging understanding of the literature.

Formulating the research problem is the next important step in which intuitive notions should be more fully investigated and narrowed down into a researchable, informal hypothesis or statement

Feasibility of the Research

Once the research problem has been formulated, it is important to think about the feasibility of the research and to be satisfied that there is sufficient material (published literature, secondary and primary evidence) to work with.

Plan the Research

The main challenge in planning the research is for the student to consider, and explicitly state, the overall design of the study.  The research methodology and the specific research methods have to be explicitly stated at the beginning of the research study. Qualitative studies may have inbuilt flexibility to change the method as the study progresses. This feature is also mentioned in the research design stage.

There are differences in methods employed by different qualitative research approaches. A feminist researcher will specifically set out to exploit personal involvement, whereas phenomenological interviewing might stress the removal of ‘all traces of personal involvement in the phenomena being studied’, such that all preconceptions are removed and do not interface with the research process (Marshall and Rossman,1995:82).  On the other hand, a researcher wishing to undertake hermeneutical research will attempt to generate high–quality textual material for examination.

Marshall and Rossman (1995:41) have developed a table matching research questions with tactics. strategies. The purpose of the study and the research question is the starting point for determining specific research strategy and evidence-collection techniques.

Research Proposal - Qualitative Research Strategy

The final outcome of the above process will be a research proposal covering the following:

What :    outline of research problem, tracing historical roots and  linking specific to general; conceptual framework and   literature review; purpose of study and specific research              questions.

How :     description of research strategy and design which will yield specific evidence required to answer questions;  methods justified and linked back to research question and research site.

Where :  where the research will be conducted                                                                                                                                                      
When :   ideally a time line to spell out major phases of  research process

Gaining Access

Access to the interviewee (the ability to get close to the object of study, to really be able to find out what is happening) is the researcher’s biggest problem. The choice of site (interviewee) should be clearly justified and a good research site will have the following properties:

Entry should be possible;
The site will present the possibility of collecting pertinent evidence;
Trust can be established with respondents;
Evidence quality and credibility of the research can be assured.

The researcher can best ensure that conditions 1 and 3 are met by developing good relationships with gatekeepers and/or informants (Gummesson,1991).

Collecting Evidence

It is now well accepted that where a non- positivist approach is adopted, it is difficult to separate evidence collection from hypothesis construction and theory building.

Evidence collection can usefully be divided into three types: observation, interviews, textual analysis.

Observation

The main aim of observation in research is to gain an understanding of other cultures by sharing the space of the research site at least for some part of the duration of the research.   The argument for adopting observation as an evidence-collection strategy is that real understanding will come about through extended observation as this enables an understanding of both the context and process of behavior.

Interviews

This is a method commonly used in non-positivist research. Open-ended interviews and semi-structured interviews.

The schedule could for example be sent to academic and practitioner referees who can provide feedback on how they understood and responded to questions.

Advice that the key to getting on with evidence collection is that the researcher should really (and appear to) ‘have a sincere curiosity about the lives and experiences of others.  In our experience the best way to break the ice is to discuss informally an issue (mutual friends or interests, important recent news which relate to the company, etc.) unrelated to the research per se, which will allow both the researcher and the respondent too relax.

A second potential problem can arise from covering everything on the interview schedule or guide.  If there is an interview schedule to cover the researcher should be able to use questions as prompts to steer conversation in the desired direction or, indeed, to use  these to probe particular issues.

Researchers may supply informants with a copy of the interview transcripts.  This is done to ensure that the transcription is an accurate portrayal of the proceeding, which is an essential check on the validity of the evidence, but also to sustain the relationship with respondents.

Analysis of Texts (Transcript of the interview)

This is the most demanding aspect of non-positivist research.  In practice this means that the evidence has to be read, re-read, and such themes or concepts have to be catalogued.  It is vital that this process is based on the evidence itself and that these themes emerge from the bottom up, rather than being the result of selecting a theory by convenience and then dipping into fragments that support such a theory.

Evidence Analysis Software

Most qualitative researchers do not make use of computers in analysis, except for producing and keeping a record of interview transcripts.  Today, however, the situation is different and for those researchers who feel comfortable with using a computer-based approach to analysis there is a wide choice of software available -  from simple text retrievers through to conceptual network builders.

For instance, Silverman (1994) advocates the use of such analysis software to assist with analysis of field notes such that the researcher can more easily file and index text into several different categories. Alternatively, NUD.IST might be used to facilitate searching by indexes and to generate new categories and relationships.

Evaluation of Qualitative Research

Criteria used of positivist studies

Validity

In non positivist research validity concerns whether the researcher has gained full access to knowledge and meanings of respondents.  Hence the importance of good-quality access to enable such contact to be made within the research site.  There is also the need to feed research field notes or interview transcripts back to respondents for verification to ensure that it reflects their understanding of the phenomenon (Collins and Young,1988).  Access therefore becomes one of the criteria against which the research will be evaluated.

Collins and Young(1988) further contribute ideas regarding validity in hermeneutical research.   The authors argue that a positive response to the questions, together with an internally consistent argument, would place a particular research account in line to have validity conferred by readers and users of that research.

Reliability

The distinguishing characteristic here is that similar observations should be made by researchers on different occasions  (Easterby - smith et al.,1994) and the concern is therefore with how replicable the study is.   Marshall and Rossman (1995) advocate that, rather than pretend that research conditions can be replicable, it is much better to accept the particularist nature of the research and to follow good practice guidelines such as establishing an audit trail.

This can be achieved by keeping the evidence collected in an easily retrievable form to enable others to investigate it should doubts regarding the research ever be raised.  Second, the researcher should keep a log or journal cataloguing research design decisions and justifications for these.  In this way the methods used become transparent and the parameters regarding the research questions, setting, assumptions and theoretical frameworks are open to scrutiny.

Generalisability

Here the researcher is essentially concerned with the applicability of theories that were generated in one setting to other settings.   Gummesson (1991:79) argues that qualitative research is less concerned with making statements about the commonality of particular findings than with the fact that good qualitative research should enable one to attain an understanding of organisational processes.  He argues that generalisation can be understood in two ways:

Quantitative studies based on a large number of observations are required in order to determine how much, how often and how many.  The other… involves the use of in-depth studies based on exhaustive investigations and analyses to identify certain phenomena, for example the effects of change in corporate strategy, and lay bare mechanisms that one suspects will also exist in other companies.

Quality of Qualitative Research 

A list was constructed by drawing on the work of Lincoln and Guba (1995).

Credibility

The issue of credibility refers to being able to demonstrate that the research was designed in a manner that accurately identified and described the phenomenon to be investigated.  Here the credibility (rather than internal validity) will derive from an in-depth description of the complexities of the research setting, drawing on empirical evidence.  Such a representation of the phenomenon will therefore be valid for that particular study.  This does mean that the research should explicitly state the parameters of the study in terms of the population, setting and theoretical framework used.

Transferability

This refers to external validity and is dependent upon the researcher stating the theoretical parameters of the research explicitly.  Here it would be important to specify how the specific phenomenon or research setting being investigated ties into a broader case, making clear the specific organisational processes about which generalisations will be made.

Dependability

The positivist construct of reliability assumes unchanging conditions that enable replication of the study.  This assumption does not hold for non-positivist research and it is more appropriate for the researcher to account for changes in the conditions of the phenomenon being investigated, as well as research design changes which are made because of a better understanding of the research setting.

Confirmability

With phenomenological research the concept of confirmability is used instead of objectivity.  The question to pose is: does the research confirm general findings or not?  The test is whether the findings of the research can be confirmed by another similar study.

Additional Resources

An Introduction to Phenomenological Research
http://www.sld.demon.co.uk/resmethy.pdf
(A good reference to read - This article may be focusing on using phenomenology in educational research)

Nomothetic Approach to Science - Idiographic Approach to Science by KVSSNRao

Five Qualitative Approaches to Enquiry (Cresswell Book?)
Narrative Research, Phenomenological Research, Grounded Theory Research, Ethnographic Research, Case Study Research  (Interesting descriptions of each approach is given in this chapter)
http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/13421_Chapter4.pdf

Research Methods for Managers

John Gill, Phil Johnson
SAGE, 21-Jan-2010 - Business & Economics - 288 pages


The  text  succeeds in providing a step-by-step guide to implementing particular methodologies, while simultaneously encouraging a strong awareness of philosophical assumptions.

NEW to the Fourth Edition:

- Expanded coverage to accommodate recent developments in management research methodology. New topics include: doing a literature review, case study research, action research, mixed methods, and writing-up.

- Packed with practical research examples and exercises that encourage students to reflect upon the issues raised and relate them to their own experience.

- Additional learning features including critical reflection boxes, case studies and chapter summaries.

- A companion website with a full Instructors' Manual and PowerPoint slides. Students have free access to downloadable journal articles and author podcasts.

Visit the companion website at www.sagepub.co.uk/gillandjohnson

Using a practical approach, but with explicit attention to the role of theory in management research, the new edition of Research Methods for Managers is a stimulating guide for students in management, organization and organization research.

Preview the book: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Research_Methods_for_Managers.html?id=R4Q3u54hWEoC


Naturalistic Inquiry
Yvonna S. Lincoln, Egon G. Guba
SAGE, 1985 - Social Science - 416 pages

Showing how science is limited by its dominant mode of investigation, Lincoln and Guba propose an alternative paradigm--a "naturalistic" rather than "rationalistic" method of inquiry--in which the investigator avoids manipulating research outcomes. A "paradigm shift" is under way in many fields, they contend, and go on to describe the different assumptions of the two approaches regarding the nature of reality, subject-object interaction, the possibility of generalization, the concept of causality, and the role of values. The authors also offer guidance for research in the field (where, they say, naturalistic inquiry always takes place). Useful tips are given, for example, on "designing" a study as it unfolds, establishing "trustworthiness," and writing a case report. This book helps researchers "both to understand and to do naturalistic inquiry." Of particular interest to educational researchers, it is valuable for all social scientists involved with questions of qualitative and quantitative methodology.
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Naturalistic_Inquiry.html?id=2oA9aWlNeooC


Relativism
Egon G. Guba
Curriculum Inquiry
Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 17-23 (7 pages)
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1180091?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Transcendental Phenomenology

Two approaches to phenomenology were highlighted by Cresswell in his book on Qualitiative Research Methodology (Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry): hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 1990) and empirical, transcendental, or psychological phenomenology (Moustakas, 1994).

Transcendental phenomenology is based on principles identified by Husserl (1931) and was translated into a qualitative method by Moustakas (1994). 

All phenomenological approaches  seek to understand the life world or human experience as it is lived.  

Meaning is the core of transcendental phenomenology of science, a design for acquiring and collecting data that explicates the essences of human experience.



According to Van Manen, hermeneutic phenomenology research is a dynamic interplay among six research activities. Researchers first turn to a human phenomenon, a concern, which seriously interests them (e.g., satisfaction, grief, motivation). They want to identify the essential themes involved in this phenomenon by listening to or reading about the lived experience of people who experienced the phenomenon. They write a description of the phenomenon, maintaining a strong relation to the topic of inquiry and balancing the parts of the writing to the whole. Phenomenology is not only a description, but it is also seen as an interpretive process in which the researcher makes an interpretation (i.e., the researcher “mediates” between different meanings) of the meaning of the lived experiences.

Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental or psychological phenomenology is focused less on the interpretations of the researcher and more on a description of the experiences of participants. In addition, Husserl’s concept of  epoche (or bracketing) is emphasized. The investigator has to set aside
his experience, as much as possible and has to take a fresh perspective toward the phenomenon under examination based on the description of the lived experience presented by the participant in the research project. The term “transcendental” means “in which everything is perceived freshly, as if for the first time.”  This state is seldom perfectly achieved but the researcher has to be aware of the need for bracketing and concentrate as much as possible on the participant's description.

Moustakas (1994), includes in the research process, identifying a phenomenon to study, bracketing out one’s experiences, and collecting data from several persons who have experienced the phenomenon. The researcher then analyzes the data to identify significant statements or quotes and combines the statements into themes. Then, the researcher provides a list of various experiences of the persons (what participants experienced), a structural description of their experiences (how they experienced it in terms of the conditions, situations, or context), and a description that explains the overall essence of the experience.

Procedure for Conducting Transcendental Phenomenological Research


Moustakas’s (1994) approach

Moustakas (1994) has indicated the steps in phenomenological analysis using a  structured approach.
The major procedural steps in the process would be as follows:

• The researcher has to  determine if his research problem is best examined using transcendental  phenomenological approach.

The type of problem best suited for this form of research is one in which it is important to understand several individuals’ common or shared experiences of a phenomenon. The understanding of the common experiences will help in developing practices or policies to deal with the phenomenon, or it helps in developing a deeper understanding about the features of the phenomenon.

• A phenomenon of interest  is decided.

• To fully describe how participants view the phenomenon, researchers must bracket out, as much as possible, their own experiences.

• Data are collected from the individuals who have experienced the phenomenon. The data collection in phenomenological studies consists of indepth multiple interviews with participants. Polkinghorne
(1989) recommends that researchers interview from 5 to 25 individuals who have all experienced the phenomenon. Other forms of data, such as observations, journals, art, poetry, music, and other forms
of art related to the phenomenon are also collected. The interviews can be in the form of taped conversations, formally written responses,  and both can have accounts of vicarious experiences of drama, films, poetry, and novels.

• The data collection centers around two broad, general questions: What have you experienced in terms of the phenomenon? What contexts or situations have typically influenced or affected your experiences of the phenomenon? Other open-ended questions may also be asked based on the situation. But, the question on what and how focus attention on gathering data that will lead to a list of experiences (including their description) and a structural description of the experiences, and ultimately provide an understanding of the common experiences of the participants.

• Data analysis: Building on the data from the first and second research questions, data analysts go through the data (e.g., interview transcriptions) and highlight “significant statements,” sentences, or quotes that provide an understanding of how the participants experienced the phenomenon. Moustakas (1994) terms this step horizonalization. Next, the researcher develops clusters of meaning from these significant statements into themes.

• The themes are then used to write a description of what the participants experienced. Then the description of the context or setting that influenced how the participants experienced the phenomenon, called imaginative variation or structural description is developed from the cluster of data developed for the theme.

• From the structural descriptions, the researcher then writes a composite description that presents the “essence” of the phenomenon, called the essential, invariant structure (or essence). Primarily essence  is derived from the common experiences of the participants. It means that all experiences have an underlying structure for the phenomenon.

Illustrative Research Paper

Using Transcendental Phenomenology to Explore the “Ripple Effect” in a Leadership Mentoring Program
Tammy Moerer-Urdahl
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
John W. Creswell
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
http://wigan-ojs.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/IJQM/article/viewFile/4470/3594
http://nraomrp.blogspot.com/2013/07/using-transcendental-phenomenology-to.html


Phenomenological Research Methods
Clark Moustakas
SAGE, 27-Jul-1994 - Psychology - 192 pages

In this volume, Clark Moustakas clearly discusses the theoretical underpinnings of phenomenology, based on the work of Husserl and others, and takes the reader step-by-step through the process of conducting a phenomenological study. His concise guide provides numerous examples of successful phenomenological studies from a variety of fields including therapy, health care, victimology, psychology and gender studies. The book also includes form letters and other research tools to use in designing and conducting a study.

Google Book Link - No preview facility
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=QiXJSszx7-8C

Phenomenology: history, its methodological assumptions and application
Mohamed-Patel, Rahima
2002, MA thesis
https://ujdigispace.uj.ac.za/handle/10210/1594
(Many dissertations using phenomenology are in the above collection)


Husserl's books and articles on Archive.org

A methodology for modern phenomenology
http://enlightenedworldview.com/blog/?title=a-methodology-for-modern-phenomenology&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Husserl's philosophy
http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/husserl.html

Lecture on phenomenology
http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/phenomlect.html


Researching Lived Experience, Second Edition: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy
Max van Manen
First published in 1990
Routledge, 16-Jun-2016 - Social Science - 220 pages

Bestselling author Max van Manen’s Researching Lived Experience introduces a human science approach to research methodology in education and related fields. The book takes as its starting point the "everyday lived experience" of human beings in educational situations. Rather than rely on abstract generalizations and theories in the traditional sense, the author offers an alternative that taps the unique nature of each human situation. First published in 1990, this book is a classic of social science methodology and phenomenological research, selling tens of thousands of copies over the past quarter century. Left Coast is making available the second edition of this work, never before released outside Canada. Researching Lived Experience offers detailed methodological explications and practical examples of inquiry. It shows how to orient oneself to human experience in education and how to construct a textual question which evokes a fundamental sense of wonder, and it provides a broad and systematic set of approaches for gaining experiential material which forms the basis for textual reflections. The author: -Discusses the part played by language in educational research-Pays special attention to the methodological function of anecdotal narrative in research-Offers approaches to structuring the research text in relation to the particular kinds of questions being studied
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=1LZmDAAAQBAJ

Updated  11 September 2019,   13 September 2016,  27 August 2013

Philosophical Background to Research - Dan Remenyi - Chapter Summary

The starting point in all research undertakings is to focus clearly on the fact that the ultimate purpose is to add something of value to the body of accumulated knowledge and in this case accumulated business and management knowledge.   This means that an unanswered question or unsolved  problem will be identified and studied and the researcher will attempt to produce a useful and logical solution to the problem. Of course the  problem is  difficult and  the solution is not obvious. When the problem is solved, the answer will add material value to the subject area being studied.

Philosophical Questions

There are at least three philosophical questions about research itself that should be addressed at the outset of the research. These are:

Why research?
What to research?
And How to research?
It could also be argued that Where to research? And when to research ? Although of lesser philosophical importance, also deserve attention.

Why Research?

The Need for research is related to the fact that there are many issues and subjects about which we have incomplete knowledge.

The second aspect of the need for research is related to ‘Homo sapiens’ compulsive need for growth.  There appears to be an endless requirement for increased performance in all aspect of life. Therefore there is the need continually to break the frontiers of knowledge through the research process.

What (and where) to Research ?

The questions what to research? And Where to research? Are closely related.

What to research may at first seem obvious. In business and management the main focus of research should be on issues related to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the business and management  process.

Every would-be researcher will previously have studied a particular subject or discipline in some considerable depth.  This may have been achieved through an undergraduate degree in economics, sociology, psychology or accounting, to mention only few possible options.  It may also have been achieved without a degree, through many years of working experience, especially where the individual has made a definite effort to keep up with the latest thinking in the field by reading the appropriate literature.

These studies and/or experiences will have provided a strong base on which to build a research programme.  However, as well as having in-depth knowledge of the subject, the aspirant researcher should also be widely read in order to put the research into context as well as to identify and draw on interdisciplinary linkage and connections.

Although some people do change disciplines, such a change will demand a substantial amount of work before the candidate becomes fully up to date with the subject matter and acquires sufficient familiarity  with the relevant body of academic thinking.

In addition to the researchers’ own competence there is the issue of the expertise of the chosen institute and potential supervisors.

Whether or not such a personality oriented approach is adopted, it is most important for the student to find a research field in which the faculty has expertise and interest.

Business research is commonly aimed at helping to develop management understanding of how business organizations work.   It is frequently suggested that the best business research should lead to the development of guidelines by which individuals in positions of responsibility can manage their business responsibilities more efficiently and effectively.

How to Research?

At the outset it is important to appreciate that the nature of the research process is often relatively unstructured and frequently unpredictable. It is something described as a voyage of discovery during which the researcher learns much about research methodologies, about the subject in which the research problem falls, about the research phenomenon or thesis and he  may even learn something of him or herself.

A major concern to the researcher is the ability to deliver a convincing, or at least a credible, answer or solution that will be accepted by his or her peers.  It is important for the researcher to be able to convince the peer group that the approach to the research has been sound.  This requires an understanding of the nature of the processes required to create knowledge.

To claim that a valuable or significant addition has been made to the collection of knowledge, the researcher should comply with a scientific method, or approach, which is a set of guidelines/rules that have evolved to ensure the integrity, reliability and reproducibility of the research work.

Research Methodologies in Perspective

Research methodology refers to the procedural framework within which the research is conducted. It describes an approach to a problem that can be put into practice in research programme or process, which Leedy (1989) formally defines as “an operational framework within which the facts are placed so that their meaning may be seen more clearly.

In the modern physical sciences, the solid tradition of experimental research and careful observation was combined with a rigorous formulation based In mathematics.  Indeed,Needham(1988) has argued that “Modern [as opposed to mediaeval or ancient]  science is the mathematisation of hypotheses about nature …  combined with rigorous experimentation.’

This is so much the case that now the rules of scientific experiments are seldom explicitly taught to aspirant natural scientists.

Research in the Social world

Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and many others through the ages have made important contributions to social science. Research into business and management is even more recent with the Hawthorne experiments in the late 1920s and early 1930s probably being among the earliest structures business research studies.

Because research into business and management has developed relatively recently, much attention is given to the methods employed to justify the claim that something material and valuable has been added to the body of accumulated knowledge. As a result, research methodology is explicitly taught to those undertaking business and management studies.

Furthermore any material research in business or management, such as that undertaken for a masters or a doctoral degree, requires that the methodology used be clearly spelt out, perhaps in a chapter of its own (Remenyi,1990b),so that the results of the research are convincing or at least credible.

A degree of generality is intrinsically built into the laws developed by the social scientist even when generalisation is not a key issue.  This occurs because once a phenomenon has been identified, even only once, the probability of it being unique is so low as to make it almost impossible.  In fact there is a growing confidence among social scientists that their work is fully scientific and that in some cases traditional physical and natural scientists are actually being left behind because of their reluctance to consider new ways of thinking about scientific methods.

Perhaps in the end the view of Marx(1844) will prevail, ’Natural science will in time incorporate into itself  the science of man, just as the science of man will incorporate into itself natural science : there will be one science.’

Empirical versus Theoretical Research

One of the most commonly used differentiates research into empirical or theoretical studies.  Empirical is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as : ‘based on, or guided by, the results of observation or experiment only’, While theoretical  is defined as, ‘contemplative, of the mind or intellectual faculties’.

The rationale behind this bias for empiricism is a philosophical assumption that evidence, as opposed to thought or discourse, is required to be able to make a satisfactory claim to have added to the body of knowledge.  Of course it is not always easy to collect usable evidence which can lead to convincing and believable results. Furthermore, every empirical investigation presupposes an understanding of the material under investigation and therefore some kind of theoretical position.

The empiricist goes out into the world and observes through experiment or even by relatively passive observation of what is happening.  By studying these observation and collecting related evidence, the empiricist will draw conclusions and make the claim that something of value has been added to the body of knowledge

The research theorist, on the other hand, studies the subject through the writings of others and through discourse with learned or informed individuals who can comment on the subject area, usually without any direct involvement in observation of behaviour and the collection of actual evidence.  The theorist reflects on these ideas and using his or her intellectual capabilities constructs a new or different view of the situation ,which sometimes may be regarded as a new theory.  At the end of the theorist’s work  conclusions are also drawn and a claim is made that the researcher has added to the body of knowledge.

A paradigm or theory is no more than the conventional wisdom of the subject .

On the other hand theoretical research, although not directly based on evidence collected from observation, also relies on ideas which have at some previous time been based on specific observations or original  evidence collected by means of empirical work.  Theoretical research does not occur in a vacuum, it is rather the result of thinking about the findings of previous  empirical research and of debating the different theoretical interpretations that others have made.

Empirical research is the dominant paradigm in business and management research.

Empirical research is frequently associated with a positivist view which has sometimes been described as a tough-minded approach to facts and figures, derived from the physical and  natural sciences.

Characteristics of a positivist

Being a positivist, or perhaps more correctly a logical positivist, implies that the researcher is working with an observable social reality and that the end product of such research can be the derivation of laws or law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists.  Positivism came into its own with the work  of Auguste Comte (1798-1857)who outlined an approach to positivism in his ‘course of Positive Philosophy’, published in six volumes between 1830 and 1842.

This philosophical stance or paradigm sees the researcher as an objective analyst and interpreter of a tangible social reality.  Underlying positivism is the assumption that the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research.  It is assumed that there are independent causes that lead to the observed effects, that evidence is critical, that parsimony is important and that it should be possible to generalise or to model, especially in the mathematical sense, the observed phenomena.  Positivism emphasises quantifiable observations that lend themselves to statistical analysis.

Falsification and Revolution

One of the central tenets of positivism is the idea of falsification, which was introduced by Karl Popper.  According to Popper an idea could not be regarded as scientific unless it was falsifiable.

This may be seen as the way that falsification actually works its way through to theory or paradigm rejection.

Phenomenology

According to Cohen and Manion (1987), ’Phenomenology is a theoretical point of view that advocates the study of direct experience taken at face value, and one which sees behaviour as determined by the phenomena of experience rather than by external, objective and physically described reality.’

The phenomenological school of thought started with the work of Franz Brentano(1838-1917) and was developed by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) who set out the basic methods of phenomenology in his work Logical Investigations. Unlike the positivist, the phenomenologist does not  consider the world to consist of an objective reality but instead focuses on the primacy of subjective consciousness.

Each situation is seen as unique and its meaning is  a function of the circumstances and the individuals involved.  To the phenomenologist the researcher is not independent of what is being researched but is an intrinsic part of it.

The phenomenologist believes that the world can be modelled, but not necessarily in a mathematical sense.  A verbal, diagrammatic, or descriptive model could be acceptable.

The researcher constructs a meaning in terms of the situation being studied.

Comparison between Positivism and phenomenology

One of the key tenets of positivism is that it takes a reductionist approach to exploring the relationships among the variables being studied.

This reductionist approach should by its very nature lead to simplifications of the real world environment in which the variables naturally or usually exist.

We can describe positive research as the researcher taking still photographs of the situations and the process is repeated until enough evidence has been collected to make some sort of generalisation about the cause presently in all situations giving rise to an output present in all situations.

On the other hand, a phenomenological approach to research is not reductionist but holistic.

At the end of the research study the phenomenological researcher has also produced a still photograph of the variables being studied.  This photograph is more sophisticated as it focuses on capturing more variables than the one obtained by the positivist buts its purpose is still development or creation of theory. 

By definition, it is more difficult to replicate such holistic studies and generalisations are much more problematical.

A map of the world is no less a model than is E=mc2, which is Einstein’s model for the relationship between energy and mass.

‘Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.‘ Research studies have to be acknowledge by peers.

Choosing a Research Strategy

The philosophical orientation that is adopted plays an important role in business and management research and the researcher needs to establish his or her approach early on it the research process.   Usually the choice between the different approaches is not difficult for researchers to make.

Most research at the masters and doctoral level will require both theoretical and empirical work.  Few business and management students would attempt purely theoretical research as this would be difficult and it would be neither academically acceptable nor really possible to undertake a purely theoretical research project at this level.

Whether  a positivistic or a phenomenological approach is taken will largely depend on the background of the researcher.  If the first discipline of the researcher has been in the numerical sciences then he or she will probably be most comfortable with a positivistic research paradigm, but if the researcher has come from a sociological field then the phenomenological approach may be an option for making the  choice.  Whatever research paradigm is chosen the ability to develop a convincing argument in support of the research findings is paramount.

A  researcher has to be able to convince an audience  of the value and relevance of his or her research efforts. This audience, which may be composed of examiners, funders and colleagues, is likely to be critical.

In addition, the academic researcher needs to explain why his or her research should be considered important and needs to be able to point out precisely what was found and what use the findings are to the community.  The researcher needs to be able to argue convincingly that something new and of value has been added to the body of knowledge.

Sound answers to these questions rely on the philosophical underpinning of the research process.

Management Research: An Introduction

Mark Easterby-Smith, Richard Thorpe, Andy Lowe
SAGE, 28-Mar-2002 - Business & Economics - 194 pages
This second edition of the best selling Management Research has been completely revised and updated to represent changes in research methods.
This book provides an invaluable guide for all those undertaking research in and around organizations, including managers. It considers not only methods, but also the nature of management research, its philosophy and politics.

The authors update the field both in relation to the new kinds of research problems being encountered in management research, and by incorporating the substantial methodological developments that have taken place over the last ten years. The book:

{ provides a useful introduction to the subject of management research

{ tackles complex issues in an accessible way

{ provides a definite statement of basic methodologies for management research

{ covers the full range of methods and techniques, qualitative and quantitative

{ considers the role of research as a vehicle for both personal learning and organizational development
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Management_Research.html?id=EczlVa2192gC

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Commercial research or intelligence is about accessing already established knowledge and presenting it in a more accessible manner for the purposes of routine decision making. This type of research, although conducted by many business schools in order to earn money, may have virtually no scholarly or academic merit.
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Updated on 10 September 2019,  23 July 2019, 4 June 2014