Methods of Research and Intervention:
Lecture 1: Introduction, methodological considerations
Three ways of learning:
1. Deduction: works from general towards something specific (p, 25)
- Use in logic and in the sciences: the starting point is what we already know
- Relies heavily on logic and argument → no new knowledge
2. Induction: going from specific to general (opposite of deduction)(p. 28)
We create new knowledge from gathering information in the world around us
- Empirical situation, we create knowledge from gathering information in the world
around us (p. 29)
- Every study that is empirical is in the first place inductive
3. Abduction: creating a hypothesis which can explain an empirical phenomenon
- Connection between P and Q (p. 26)
- Forming a conclusion from the information that is known
Example: when it rains the street gets wet (P= it rains and Q= the street gets wet)
4 options:
1. P is true, what about Q (Mode that confirms, modus ponens)
2. P is not true, what about Q (Denying the antecedent, fallacious argument)
3. Q is true, what about P (Affirming the consequent, fallacious argument)
4. Q is not true, what about P (Mode that denies, modus tollens)
4 answers:
1. Easy → When P then Q
2. Difficult → What can we say about Q? it is not per definition true
3. Difficult → What can we say about P? it is not per definition true
4. Easy → When Q is not true then P is not true
Lecture 2: Research design
1
, The wheel of science: (inductive and deductive research)(p. 74)
- Theories → hypotheses → observations → empirical generalisations
- Deduction: use existing theories and refine them, make them more complete
- Working on the right side of circle, starting with theories developing
hypotheses
- Induction: observations. Other side, observations important, hope to develop laws or
theories from empirical generalisations
- Abduction: formulate a hypothesis based on empirical generalisation
Deduction: from general to specific, starts with the beginning of the wheel
- Use of existing theories
- You will form a hypothesis
- You will start your research
Induction: from specific to general, starts at the end of the wheel
- You will start on something you don’t know anything about
Abduction: starts at the end of the wheel by the observations or empirical generalizations
- Creating a hypothesis which you want to test
- The hypothesis is not based on theory (that is deduction) but on empirical
generalizations
- The hypothesis should be as sharp as possible as if we can develop more than one
hypothesis, we should use Ockham's razor to choose the best option
Purpose of research: explore, describe and explain: explanation is more complex than
describing, which is in turn more complex than exploring
- Exploration: we want to find out what's going on in a situation
- The focus is on not knowing and wanting to know
- Description: by describing situations, processes and so on, we are able to formulate
new research questions
- Provides an accurate description of a particular phenomenon
- Descriptive studies answers questions with what, how, when, where
- A clear description shows:
1. The problems a merging organization has to face
2. Possible relationships going on in the environment and trigger for
merging
3. Interesting questions on which the answer can not be ‘yes’
- Explanation: by doing research we are able to understand the situation and explain it,
after which we can start to change or improve
- Research into the causes of a certain phenomenon
- Explanatory studies answer questions of why
- Having a good explanation of a phenomenon increases the chances for an
effective intervention
Explorative Descriptive Explanatory
2
Lecture 1: Introduction, methodological considerations
Three ways of learning:
1. Deduction: works from general towards something specific (p, 25)
- Use in logic and in the sciences: the starting point is what we already know
- Relies heavily on logic and argument → no new knowledge
2. Induction: going from specific to general (opposite of deduction)(p. 28)
We create new knowledge from gathering information in the world around us
- Empirical situation, we create knowledge from gathering information in the world
around us (p. 29)
- Every study that is empirical is in the first place inductive
3. Abduction: creating a hypothesis which can explain an empirical phenomenon
- Connection between P and Q (p. 26)
- Forming a conclusion from the information that is known
Example: when it rains the street gets wet (P= it rains and Q= the street gets wet)
4 options:
1. P is true, what about Q (Mode that confirms, modus ponens)
2. P is not true, what about Q (Denying the antecedent, fallacious argument)
3. Q is true, what about P (Affirming the consequent, fallacious argument)
4. Q is not true, what about P (Mode that denies, modus tollens)
4 answers:
1. Easy → When P then Q
2. Difficult → What can we say about Q? it is not per definition true
3. Difficult → What can we say about P? it is not per definition true
4. Easy → When Q is not true then P is not true
Lecture 2: Research design
1
, The wheel of science: (inductive and deductive research)(p. 74)
- Theories → hypotheses → observations → empirical generalisations
- Deduction: use existing theories and refine them, make them more complete
- Working on the right side of circle, starting with theories developing
hypotheses
- Induction: observations. Other side, observations important, hope to develop laws or
theories from empirical generalisations
- Abduction: formulate a hypothesis based on empirical generalisation
Deduction: from general to specific, starts with the beginning of the wheel
- Use of existing theories
- You will form a hypothesis
- You will start your research
Induction: from specific to general, starts at the end of the wheel
- You will start on something you don’t know anything about
Abduction: starts at the end of the wheel by the observations or empirical generalizations
- Creating a hypothesis which you want to test
- The hypothesis is not based on theory (that is deduction) but on empirical
generalizations
- The hypothesis should be as sharp as possible as if we can develop more than one
hypothesis, we should use Ockham's razor to choose the best option
Purpose of research: explore, describe and explain: explanation is more complex than
describing, which is in turn more complex than exploring
- Exploration: we want to find out what's going on in a situation
- The focus is on not knowing and wanting to know
- Description: by describing situations, processes and so on, we are able to formulate
new research questions
- Provides an accurate description of a particular phenomenon
- Descriptive studies answers questions with what, how, when, where
- A clear description shows:
1. The problems a merging organization has to face
2. Possible relationships going on in the environment and trigger for
merging
3. Interesting questions on which the answer can not be ‘yes’
- Explanation: by doing research we are able to understand the situation and explain it,
after which we can start to change or improve
- Research into the causes of a certain phenomenon
- Explanatory studies answer questions of why
- Having a good explanation of a phenomenon increases the chances for an
effective intervention
Explorative Descriptive Explanatory
2
