CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.2 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is the belief where the data about the phenomenon are gathered, analysed and utilized (Dougherty, Slevc and Grand, 2019). Before identifying the research philosophy to use, one has to be aware of the various philosophies and be able to formulate one’s own beliefs and assumptions (Edson, Henning and Sankaran, 2016). One has to define one’s research strategy by use of a ‘research onion’. According to the research onion, the
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outermost layer is the one to be occupied by the identification of the research philosophy. This means that the first step in a research methodology should be to identify the research philosophy to be used. Assumptions about the nature and source of knowledge define each phase of the research process. The key assumptions of the researcher are reflected in the research philosophy (Webster, 2017). The strategy for the research is based on the researcher’s assumptions. The type of research philosophy depends on the scope and purpose of the research (Webster, 2017).
Figure 4.1: Research onion Source: (Sahay, 2016)
Lewis (2015) expressed that examination rationality encourages the researcher to obtain some data identified with the chosen enquiry about the theme and space being contemplated. It additionally adds different measurements for the directed research to think about. Matthews and Ross (2014) intimated that the determination of appropriate logic ensures that the speculations and ideas are accessible to a specialist to use the productivity of this particular research. The theory enables the specialist to lead the examination in a legitimate way. It deals with sources
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and nature as well as the development of the knowledge. Most people will tend to think that the aspect of knowledge creation is so deep that it can rarely be achieved. This is however not the case. The process of creating and completing the thesis actually leads to the acquisition of new knowledge. During the research, the researcher is involved in collecting both primary and secondary data, and technical analysis of the collected data in order to obtain answers to the formulated research questions and come up with conclusive answers (Kogut et al., 2020). By obtaining the answers, the research gains new knowledge.
McCusker and Gunaydin (2015) argued that a research philosophy addresses and involves awareness as well as formulating the beliefs along with assumptions. There are four types of research philosophy: positivism, interpretivism and realism. Positivism is highly structured, using larger samples along with the measurement of the collected data and information. Interpretivism uses smaller samples, which provide an in-depth analysis of the research study (Neuman and Robson, 2014). It investigates collected data. Realism is the method that is chosen to fit with the subject.
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Table 4. 1: Showing the structures of different research philosophies (Source: Jeeragal, 2018)
Practical implications determine the research philosophy to be used. There is a big difference in terms of philosophies for studies that are based on numbers and facts and those that are based on quality; for example, the analysis of how organisational approaches influence employees’ behaviours in combating cyber-crimes. For a long time, many people have debated the choice between interpretivist and positivist research philosophies or the qualitative and quantitative approaches. However, in the last decade, a lot of interest has been shifted to realism and pragmatism research philosophies (Jeeragal, 2018).
Pragmatism Interpretivism Realism Positivism
Common methods for collecting data
Multiple data collection methods.
Both
quantitative and qualitative.
Deep analysis is done to small samples. It involves
investigations and is qualitative in nature.
The data
collection method should exactly fit the research topic. It can be both qualitative and quantitative.
It is highly structured. Large samples are analysed through quantitative methods and measurement.
However, in some cases qualitative analysis can be done.
118 Justification for the chosen research philosophy
In this particular study, positivism is used as the research philosophy. Positivism is a belief that is based on objective reality and is described from an objective viewpoint (Ryan, 2018). According to Ryan (2018), positivism philosophy believes that experiments, observations and mathematical proofs can be used to verify whatever exists. As this study was observing the behaviours of participants accessing the organisation’s network through multiple answers to specific questions and there were no wrong or right answers, positivism was the best fit. Positivism categorises the statements or beliefs as either true, false or meaningless.
Meaningless beliefs are ones which are neither true nor false. It is not possible to use positivistic means to test such statements. Positivism contends that phenomena which are isolated in addition to the observations are repeatable. It involves manipulation of reality with the variations into a single independent variable for identifying the regularities that form relationships between constituent elements of the social world. Panneerselvam (2014) stated that positivism has a rich historical tradition.
In this thesis, the various organisational policies, strategies and beliefs were tested through the positivism philosophy to identify the influence of the employees’ behaviour on cybersecurity (Žukauskas et al., 2018). The philosophy was also used to test whether the relationship between peer employees can influence their reaction towards responding to information security countermeasures.