Research Methodology

The two main ontological positions in the social sciences are ‘objectivism’ and ‘constructivism’. Whereas the first considers social phenomena to exist independent of people somehow, the second position considers them as a product of social interaction, in a constant state of revision. Answers (b) and (d) state the objectivist viewpoint and answer (a) gives the constructionist position. Both positions have merit when we come to a consideration of how concepts can be operationalized. In more recent times, researchers have come to question their own impact on the development of meaning in a social sense, to the point that research of any type can be argued to affect the nature of the research object, so that we can never research a social phenomenon without altering it. This kind of thinking has come to symbolise the ‘post-modernist’ approach.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 29

We expect all research to be carried out according to the highest quality standards, tested for validity and reliability and subjected to ethical considerations. Some research studies numbers of things, like their instances and frequencies of occurrence and the relationship of some things to others along these dimensions. We call these studies ‘quantitative’. ‘Qualitative’ studies, on the other hand, study the reasons people do the things they do, how they feel about that, their general likes and dislikes. The problem is that quantitative studies frequently are interested in how many people feel the same way about something and qualitative studies might want to show what percentage of respondents indicated particular feelings, for example. The real difference between them is more likely to be found in their underlying research orientations, with quantitative approaches being associated with positivism and objectivism and qualitative approaches linked to interpretivism and constructionism.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 32, 33