My DPhil supervisor, Dr WIllem Schurink, emphasised the importance of qualifying your scientific beliefs and research paradigm, especially when undertaking qualitative research. It is necessary, he argued, to make your philosophical-theoretical predispositions known. Walsh and Farrow (2006: 280) remark that "the main thing to remember is that competing interests in themselves do not necessarily constitute a problem - the problem lies in failing to declare them". They are particularly concerned that speakers in workplace sesions should declare their interests in what they are talking about and that researchers should make their interest, for example sponsorships, known. By not doing it, they run the risk of placing the credibility of their findings in question.
I wrote in my dissertation (p. 10): "Because of the qualitative methodological pluralism (Schurink, 2002b) which exists, a researcher must make her/his paradigm known, i.e. what constitutes her/his ontology (beliefs and perceptions about the nature of reality), her/his epistemology (where the researcher stands in relation to reality and in which way s/he will go about searching for truth) and her/his methodology (the methods and techniques that will be used to research reality; the how) to those with an interest in research (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998; Mason, 1996; Schurink, 2002b). Creswell (1994, 1998) as well as Denzin and Lincoln (2000b) add a fourth concept, i.e. the researcher’s axiology (i.e. ethics and values). This concept is particularly important since it differs from quantitative research endeavours, which claim to be value-free and unbiased, in that qualitative research is value-laden and biased."
References:
Groenewald, T. 2003. The contribution of co-operative education in the growing of talent. D Phil dissertation, Rand Afrikaans University (renamed University of Johannesburg after merger), Johannesburg. Available on the Internet at: http://ujdigispace.uj.ac.za:8080/dspace/handle/10210/106
Walsh, K. & Farrow, S. 2006. Competing interests and education in the workplace: time to grasp the nettle. Work Based Learning in Primary Care, 2006(4), 279-282.
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