Response
Response to Sandra
I agree that philosophical assumptions influence the direction of specific research and theory development. An individual’s actions, behaviors, and knowledge development stem from beliefs, morals, and values. From the discussion, I can tell that you align with the pragmatism and interpretivism research philosophies. It is indeed true that pragmatism allows a researcher to use qualitative and quantitative methods. However, pragmatism tends to seek practicality. An interpretive stance, however, focuses more on qualitative data to collect exciting facts (Goldkuhl, 2012). A qualitative researcher can use the pragmatic approach to create new knowledge meant to call for action (Goldkuhl, 2012). There is a relationship between your post and Brian’s in regards to the use of qualitative research. It appears that both of you attempted to establish multiple views and, therefore, the use of an interpretive design is effective.
Response of Brian
Indeed, values and beliefs can influence the interpretation of data. Therefore, it is true that opinions and morals can have an impact on the research process. You have excellently identified with the interpretive philosophy because you prefer to observe interactions between people. Such implies that your knowledge of realism substantially depends on the social construction of human performers (Walsham, 1995). Therefore, the collection of qualitative data is ideal in the context of interpretivism. Although this model is suitable for collecting qualitative data, I feel that the use of the pragmatism philosophy helps create new knowledge. However, the application of pragmatism depends on a researcher’s study questions. Therefore, interpretivism tends to open to collecting a wide range of qualitative data as a study progresses as opposed to relying on the guidance offered by research questions. Overall, interpretivism is useful in your case, as you have attempted to establish diverse views of a phenomenon.
References
Goldkuhl, G. (2012). Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(2), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2011.54
Walsham, G. (1995). The emergence of Interpretivism in IS research. Information Systems Research, 6(4), 376-394. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.6.4.376