1. Conceptual and
Theoretical Frameworks
of Research
Data Analysis
Spring, 2013
Paul Ilsley

2. Questions that researchers ask…
Is practical relevance the best outcome?
How does one navigate the differences between
scientific and pragmatic terminology?
How do I know my research is scientific enough?
What is a good method? Does the method I’ve chosen
really capture what I want to know?
How do I justify the choices I have made as a
researcher? Will I be able to stand behind my choices?
Do I choose an ontological and an epistemological
stance? What happens if they don’t match?

3. …more questions…
 What is my role as an interviewer? What are my obligations towards my
informants? How much do the informants have to know about the
research I do?
 How to move from interpretation of experience to situating it in political,
cultural context?
 Where is the line between interpretation based on data and interpretation
based on theory?
 How do I fit all the concepts that I find interesting into my design? What
is the relationship between them?
 Can I mix two different approaches (e.g. sociological, cultural,
cognitive…)
 What is the quality of “expertise” produced in few-year doctorate
programs under heavy time pressure (2 articles per year)?

4. Some Challenges
 Lack of enthusiasm
 Lack of holistic vision of the research
 Lack of due consideration of literature
 Confusion of terms
 Ontological stances
 Epistemological beliefs
 Methodological choices
 Different audiences
 Different stakeholders
 Excessive doubting

5. Ontological stances
From Greek, o´ntos, “the science or study of being”
(OED…, 1989), describes the character of reality.
Deals with our conception of reality. What kind of
reality do we wish to obtain knowledge about?
Essentialism -Nihilism
Existentialism -Normativist
Materialism -Social idealist
Catholicism -Nationalist
Critical realism -Politicist
Many (millions?) of other ones

6. Epistemological beliefs
From Greek for knowledge, knowing or “the
theory or science of the method or grounds of
knowledge” (OED…, 1989)
Deals with the grounds and validity of knowledge
Rationalism
Empiricism
Theories of knowledge:
Relativism
Structuralism
Constructivism
Intentions to obtain knowledge:
Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Positivism

7.  Only when your a priori standpoints are dealt with in
accordance with implications on their own level (ontological
and epistemological) you can take clear responsibility for
what kind of knowledge you are producing through your
research (Åsberg 2001, 314).

8. Methodological choices
The science of method … Also, the study of the
direction and implications of empirical research, or
of the suitability of the techniques employed in
it...” (OED…, 1989).
Approaches adopted to obtain knowledge
Deductive, inductive, abductive, nomothetic, idiographic
Ways in which data are collected
interview, observation, written accounts, narratives,
questionnaire

9. Deduction
 The process of deducing or drawing a conclusion
from a principle already known or assumed; spec. in
Logic, inference by reasoning from generals to
particulars; opposed to induction.
 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §113 Deduction the process of
deriving facts from laws, and effects from their causes.
 a1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 291 By deduction we descend
from the abstract to the concrete.

10. Induction
 The process of inferring a general law or principle
from the observation of particular instances (opposed
to deduction, q.v.).
 1876 Fowler Induct. Logic (ed. 3) Pref., Induction..may or may
not employ hypothesis, but what is essential to it is the
inference from the particular to the general, from the known to
the unknown.

11. Abduction
…mental activity by which the hypothesis is formed
… our knowledge is not derived from experience
alone (Peirce, 1877)
…the process of suggesting a hypothesis which can
serve as an explanation of what has appeared as
puzzling (Polkinghorne, 1983)

12. A Researcher’s Agenda
 Be able to define one’s ontology, epistemology, and
methodology knowing they may change over time.
 Find the congruity. What terms define one’s ontology,
epistemology and methodology and are they consistent?
 Know the role of the literature review.
 Create a plan (or an agenda) for data collection and data
analysis.
 Be prepared to defend statements.