90 The post-positivism research paradigm allows the application of appropriate methods of data collection and analysis (Ryan 2006). Many scholars equate it with mixed methods (Ryan 2006; Henderson 2011; Creswell and Clark 2018). Although the current study had a quantitative slant thus falling within the positivist paradigm it was post-positivist in terms of its attempt to determine meaning constructed around electronic records and information culture. The post-positivist worldview is thus compatible with both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. It prioritises quantitative data and strengthens its findings with the help of qualitative data. Although qualitative methods can be used within this paradigm, quantitative methods tend to be predominant in post-positivist research. This paradigm employs experimental, quasi-experimental, correlation, causal-comparative and quantitative randomised control trial methods (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2007; Mertens 2010).
Post-positivism has been used in mixed methods research by other authors such as Lewellen (2015) whose study examined the impact of the perceived value of records in an electronic records keeping system. Lewellen’s (2015) study is similar to the current study in its use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Both studies employed mixed methods and a post-positivism paradigm. Furthermore, in terms of content, each study attempted to understand the values ascribed to records. However, the studies differ in terms of statistical methods employed, in that Lewellen’s (2015) study relied heavily on factor analysis whereas the current study relied on multiple hierarchical regression. The theoretical leaning of the two studies also differed. In the current study, the researcher used post-positivism because it had aspects of positivism leaning towards quantitative methods and the interpretive model which leant towards qualitative methods. The researcher sought quantification and desired to incorporate interpretive concerns, and post-positivism afforded him such an opportunity.
91 (Chilisa and Preece 2005). However, Howe (1988) and Morgan (2014) reject the incompatibility thesis.
According to Ngulube, Mokwatlo and Ndwandwe (2009:106), “The rise of mixed-method as a third research approach heralded the end of the artificial tensions induced by ontologists, epistemologists and methodologists and the fall of walls erected between the qualitative and quantitative approaches”. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge that the concern about identity associated with qualitative and quantitative standpoints is gradually disappearing with the coming of mixed methods. There is a fit between the approaches, method, and philosophical stand adopted in the current study. The mixed methods approach allows for mixing qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study. The philosophy employed in the current study, post-positivism, enabled the study to utilise both the numeric aspects of quantitative research and the narrative aspects of qualitative research.
Quantitative research is informed by objectivist epistemology and seeks to develop universal explanatory laws of social behaviours. Quantitative research statistically measures what it assumes to be a static reality (Berg and Lune 2009). On methodological differences, quantitative research adopts a nomothetic methodology (tendency to generalise), while qualitative research adopts an idiographic methodology (tendency to individualise).
Quantitative approaches tend to explain, that is, to verify if observed phenomena and their systematic relationship confirm the prediction made by a theory. They emphasise the measurement and analysis of causal relationships.
The current study recognised that quantitative methods better describe correlations and the social actors’
underlying behaviours. Therefore, the statistical data provided a quantitative means to detect human behaviour towards records. In contrast, qualitative research is based on a constructivist epistemology. It explores what it assumes to be a socially constructed dynamic reality through a value-laden, flexible, descriptive, holistic, and context-sensitive, that is, an in-depth description of the phenomenon, from the perspectives of the people involved (Berg and Lune 2009). Qualitative research attempts to understand how social experience is created and given meaning. Therefore, the current study, by using a qualitative approach, recognised that records are socially constructed and maintained entities. There is a need to understand the social and cultural factors, the standards and values, and the ideologies that infuse records creation.
Neuman (2014) posits that the quantitative approach endorses the view that psychological and social phenomena have an objective reality independent of the subjects being studied, that is, the knower or the researcher and the known or subjects are viewed as relatively separate and independent to eliminate the possibility of bias. From a qualitative perspective, reality or knowledge is socially and psychologically constructed. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research views the relationship between the knower and the known as being inextricably connected. For the researcher to learn about the multiple realities, the researcher and the participant co-construct knowledge; hence knowledge is not seen as static, objective truth. Thus, the qualitative approach is often viewed
92 as value-laden and biased (Berg and Lune 2009). A qualitative approach was appropriate in this study because there was a need to understand participants’ lived experiences or behaviours in their natural environment as they used/interacted with records. This would help the researcher make sense of the attitudes and behaviours of participants towards records. Qualitative studies usually use a small sample that is purposively chosen. The data collected using this approach is unstructured or semi-structured and is collected via in-depth interviews, group discussions and participant observation.
The quantitative approach falls within the positivist paradigm; therefore, the researcher aims for scientific independence and objectivity when they select the questions and participants for studies and carry out the data collection and analysis. The ontological assumption here is that phenomena can be measured and understood.
The main interest in this approach is to generalise from individual groups to a large population. The quantitative assumption is that there is a single reality that is independent of the perceptions of people. The quantitative approach aligns with the positivist philosophy, which holds that claims about the world are only meaningful when they can be verified through observation.
The research topic lent itself to a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches because it is multi-faceted, dealing with both the social and technical aspects of records. Combining the two approaches provided an array of data for the study that would offset the weaknesses of the two approaches. Combination offers the researcher a chance to collect data using more than one data collection instrument. According to Creswell (2013), it is argued that a quantitative approach is weak in understanding the context or settings in which people live as the voices of participants are not directly heard. A qualitative approach, it is argued, corrects this weakness. However, the qualitative approach is considered inadequate because of the emphasis placed on the researcher’s interpretation which can create bias. It is argued that the quantitative approach resolves this weakness.
In Chapter 3 it was observed that every organisation has an information culture but the type of information cultures that exist in organisations has been scantily explained. It follows then that comprehending a records and information culture involves looking at how information culture affects records management. Doing so requires an in-depth inquiry into the context in which records are used.
This study adopted a quantitative approach as the dominant approach. This approach was used to measure variables such as attitudes and behaviours that would not have been easy to measure using only a qualitative approach.
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