Research Design
Objectivism versus Constructivism Objectivism has been the main framework in many fields including education and HRM. Traditional approaches to learning and human relationships are based on behaviouristic and cognitive theories that hold philosophical assumptions of objectivism. The main assumptions of objectivism are the following. First, a real world exists which is made of entities with properties and relations; also, properties predict their categorisation (Jonassen, 1992). Second, the real world can be modelled due to its full structures (Clegg, 2017). Third, symbols can represent reality and can only have meaning in connection to their reality (Jonassen, 1992). Fourth, the human mind can digest abstract symbols similar to a computer which replicates nature (Green, 2012). Human thought refers to symbol-manipulation and is independent of humanity. Sixth, the meaning of the world has an objective existence that is separate from the human mind and external to the person (Jonassen, 1992; Lakoff, 1987). Objectivism will help direct the methods of the research as part of the scientific approach to the research process; however, it is not the most important due to the existence of human values and behaviours that can neither be fully determined nor empirically structured (Derrida, 1986). Furthermore, …show more content…
First, researchers are aware of the kind of data they are looking for (McCusker and Gunaydin, 2015). Second, every domain of the study is carefully prepared prior to data-collection (Lewis, 2015). Third, researchers use tools, namely questionnaires or equipment, to obtain numerical data. Fourth, data is mostly in numbers and statistics. Fifth, quantitative data is efficient in testing hypotheses, but could sanitise contextual detail (Hafford-Letchfield, 2015). Sixth, researchers aim for an objective or professional distance from the subject