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Research methodology: Positivism, Interpretivism & Scepticism in relation to research methods

According to Babbie and Mouton (2001:7), the word ‘epistemic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘episteme’ fundamentally meaning “truthful knowledge”. Therefore to put it commonly, epistemology is the pursuit of what is known and how we know what is known. However a fundamental problem arises out of the notion of epistemology and that is researchers often disagree on the various approaches available in the pursuit of truthful knowledge. A variety of paradigms exist today that allow us to have access to various insights in how to obtain credible knowledge, however the purpose of this essay will aim at discussing the epistemic foundations of both positivism and interpretivism, in relation to scepticism and the justification of knowledge. Each approach will be defined, with regards to the various techniques of gathering knowledge and information and each approach’s strengths, weaknesses and similarities will be further examined.

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Preview of the essay: Research methodology: Positivism, Interpretivism & Scepticism in relation to research methods

According to Babbie and Mouton (2001:7), the word ‘epistemic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘episteme’ fundamentally meaning “truthful knowledge”. Therefore to put it commonly, epistemology is the pursuit of what is known and how we know what is known. However a fundamental problem arises out of the notion of epistemology and that is researchers often disagree on the various approaches available in the pursuit of truthful knowledge. A variety of paradigms exist today that allow us to have access to various insights in how to obtain credible knowledge, however the purpose of this essay will aim at discussing the epistemic foundations of both positivism and interpretivism, in relation to scepticism and the justification of knowledge. Each approach will ...





... within another society or culture. Interpretivists are the least objective between the three approaches and are often subject to subjectivism (Neuman, 2000:77).
In conclusion one may denote the weaknesses and strengths of each scientific paradigm discussed, however it is interesting to notice that Scepticism and its weaknesses lead to the creation of positivism and positivism lead to the creation of Interpretivism, with each paradigm accounting for the others faults to a certain degree. Which ever paradigm one chooses to make use of however one would first need to decide what information one wishes to elicit, thereby influencing which approach to adopt.
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