Researcher
should
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Focus on facts
|
Focus on meanings
|
Look for causality and fundamental laws
|
Try to understand what is happening
|
Reduce phenomenon to
simplest elements
|
Look at the totality of each
Situation
|
Formulate hypotheses and then test them
|
Develop ideas through induction from data
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Preferred methods
Include
|
Operationalising concepts so that they can be measured
|
Using multiple methods to establish different views of phenomena
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Taking large samples
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Small samples investigated in depth or over time
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Source: Easterby-Smith, et al., (1991)
According to Saunders et al., (2000: 2007) Positivism approach was influenced by the scientific discoveries made during the 18th and 19th centuries, it was clear during that time that a body of knowledge existed independently of whether people know it or not and the scientific task was to discover this body of knowledge. It was widely assumed that social behaviour is as a result of external pressure acting on relatively passive people and there were such things as absolute truth and that it could be used to create a better society. This approach leads to the development of methods that concentrate on producing objective data usually in the form of statistics.
Phenomenologist deny what positivists assert that humans can be studied using the same philosophical base as used in studying physical objects or other animals. Phenomenologist are of the opinion that there is a difference between the subject matter of sociology and natural science and humans are active, conscious beings and capable of making choices (ibid)
In summary, research philosophy is said to be positivism when “knowledge or the world is thought to exist independent of people’s perceptions of it and that science uses objective techniques to discover what exist in the world” (Sullivan, 2001). It is phenomenological where “reality of the world is thought to arise out of the creation and exchange of social meaning during the process of social interactions” (Sullivan, 2001).
Considering the research problem and objectives, this study is more phenomenological than positivism as the focus is on understanding the internet marketing strategies being pursued by hotels and present the totality of the situation.
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