Discourses and discursive practices
Dr. Muhammad Kaleem
The term discourse has several definitions. In the study of language, it often
refers to the speech patterns and usage of language, dialects, and acceptable
statements, within a community. It is a subject of study in peoples who live in
secluded areas and share similar speech conventions. Sociologists and
philosophers tend to use the term discourse to describe the conversations and the
meaning behind them by a group of people who hold certain ideas in common.
Such is the definitions by philosopher Michel Foucault, who holds it to be the
acceptable statements made by a certain type of discourse community. This
explanation will primarily consider the definition pertaining to sociology.
Studies of discourse have roots in a range of theoretical traditions that
investigate the relations between language, structure and agency. The notion of
'discourse' is the subject of heated debate. It has become one of the key critical
terms in the vocabulary of the humanities and the social sciences, so it is not
surprising that it is contentious. Discourse encompasses the use of spoken,
written and signed language and multimodal/multimedia forms of
communication, and is not restricted to 'non-fictional' (eg. stylistics) nor verbal
(eg. gesture and visual) materials. Although early linguistic approaches judged
the unit of discourse to be larger than the sentence, phenomena of interest can
range from silence, to a single utterance (such as "ok"), to a novel, a set of
newspaper articles or a conversation
Emergence of Theory in Grounded Theory Research
Dr. Shakir Ullah
The selection of a particular research methodology is influenced by a number
factors including the researcher’s background and experience, one important
factor that steers the choice of a particular methodology is the nature of the
research question (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). “Some areas of study naturally
lend themselves more to the qualitative type of research” because they are
intended to “uncover and understand what lies behind any phenomena about
which little is yet known” (Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p. 19). Given that
Grounded Theory (GT) is a research methodology where the researcher goes to
the field with no research framework in hand (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), it
comes out as the best suitable methodology for research in areas with little
availability of literature which could otherwise be used to develop a research
framework. Sometimes a researcher cannot find a enough studies addressing the
research problem under consideration. Given this scenario, it is hard to set up a
hypothesis for testing. It is also worth mentioning that after doing some initial
analysis the first few interviews, the researcher realizes to extend the theoretical
sampling (Strauss and Corbin, 1998, Strauss and Corbin, 1990, Glaser and
Strauss, 1967) to respondents who are more suitable sources of information for
that particular research. Thus asking the same questions from different sets of
respondents, having completely different views and understanding of the same
issue, would have not made any sense. However, the actual grounded theory
research is quite difficult and technical. If conducted properly, GT research will
always come up with a new theory that could be further tested by other
researchers through qualitative or quantitative research. Keeping in view the
above introductory background of grounded theory methodology, we have setup the following objectives to be achieved through this workshop. By
understanding a new rigorous research methodology, Pakistani researchers will
be able to introduce a new paradigm into their existing research methodologies.
This will help them produce new research in new innovating ways and probably
introduce new theories in social science. Eventually, this workshop will help
Pakistani researchers to increase their research volume that will contribute
towards the international ranking of Pakistani universities.
What is Truth and the impact of particular understanding of truth on the
mindset of the researchers
Mr. Alamgir Khan
The interpretation of truth varies among individual that has a profound impact
on the research paradigm that a researcher adopts in understanding and
explaining a particular phenomenon. Further, it has implications on the research
methodology. My presentation will look at various dimensions of the truth and
the possible interpretations that an individual makes about truth. It will look at
the possibilities of choosing a quantitative or a qualitative research method and
will give useful insights into various research paradigms. Also, I will discuss in
details various philosophical understandings regarding various research methods
that a researcher wishes to adopt to explore a particular phenomenon.
Pragmatic approaches to qualitative research
Muhammad Islam
The research in the domains of social sciences has broadly been presented in two
distinctive paradigms; positivist and interpretivist, which provide the ideological
basis for the quantitative and qualitative method of inquiry respectively.
Recently, many researchers have highlighted the inherent weaknesses of the
claims of strict qualitative – quantitative demarcation (e.g. Morgan, 2007,
Dörnyei, 2007, Cresswell, 2009) which also led to the introduction of new
philosophical views in the domain of research methodology for research in
social science; e.g. pragmatism.
This offers a great promise for the researchers as it advocates a strong
‘connection between epistemological concerns about the nature of the
knowledge that we produce and technical concerns about the methods that we
use to generate that knowledge’ (Morgan, 2007, p. 73). My presentation will
thud discuss the pragmatic approach in social science research that seeks to use
various suitable methods to investigate research problems in detail.
Interviews
Dr. Zeeshan Zaib Khattak
Qualitative research allows the subject being studied to give a richer and more
detailed answer to the questions put to them by the researcher (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2000). Denzin and Lincoln (2000) further argue that the strength of
qualitative research lies in its ability to provide complex textual descriptions of
how people experience a given research issue. It provides information about the
human side of an issue – that is, the often contradictory behaviors, beliefs,
opinions, emotions, and relationships of individuals. This is why, interviews
work well in qualitative research. The semi-structured interview works with a
defined topic, and some defined questions and defined ‘prompts’. These may or
may not be used, depending on the situation and whether the participant has
already addressed the material but it still allows a conversational approach’.
Wengraf (2001) further furnishes the idea by describing that knowledge of social
world requires detailed understanding of the world through the eyes of social
actors themselves. Kvale (1995) further suggests that the qualitative research
interview seeks to describe the meanings of central themes in the life world of
the subjects. Oakley (1881; p. 41) describes that ‘ Interviewing is rather like a
marriage, everybody knows what it is, an awful lot of people do it, and yet
behind each closed doors there is a world of secrets which can be known and
understood by developing a rapport with the interview respondents'. My
presentation will focus on designing and conducting interviews for qualitative
research.
Case Study Research
Dr. Imad Shah
Case study research is one of the widely used methods in qualitative research.
This talk will offer both theoretical and practical view on how case study
research is designed and then conducted. Also, it is important for the researchers
to understand where the case studies lie in the divide of quantitative and
qualitative research and how and when they can be conducted. The short
comings of case studies and the pro-quantitative researchers’ concerns regarding
case studies will also be addressed and discussed. Throughout the talk, I will be
discussing and drawing examples from my research to demonstrate to the
audience how case study research is designed and then conducted in the field.
Mixed Method Research
Dr. Syed Zulfiqar Ali
A general conception toward the use of mixed methods n Management research
is that they should be employed only according to the need and nature of the
research question being asked. Nevertheless, there is an increasing trend in
entrepreneurship studies positing that the use of mixed method will ensure
complementarily of either of the pure qualitative or quantitative methodology.
Alternatively, a strong qualitative method can also be mixed by adopting
quantitative method as a follow-up approach to inform theory and make sensible
meaning of the data.Integration of both methods would thus help in the process
of creativity and innovation, eventually leading toward theory building (Zahra
2007). The presenter will shed light on the use and application of mixed methods
in different scenarios. Existing literature accumulates four different forms for
being called a ‘mixed research’ that includes method, methodology, paradigm
and practice (Creswell and Tashakkori 2007). Following the intricacies involved
in the method perspective in the form of data collection and subsequent analysis,
the researcher will present a discussion on the validity and usefulness of a
triangulated approach in general and in the context of cross-cultural research
based on his doctoral experience. An attempt to resolve the issues of ‘why’ and
‘how’ will be made through mixed method approach.
Observation and taking field notes
Ms. Shahla Tabassum
Observation is a fundamental way of knowing the world. As individuals we pick
up detailed information from our environment through our senses as part of our
daily lives and, therefore, we are already trained for observation. However, in
research, this observation has to be systematic and selective as we are
continuously bombarded with plenty of sensory information that has to be
filtered. Observation can provide rich qualitative data, sometimes described as
'thick description' (Geertz, 1973). It gives first-hand knowledge of the
phenomenon and helps the researcher to understand the culture and the
subcultures of the settings and allows the researcher to interpret the world in the
same way as the participants (Nugent and Abolafia, 2007). The lecture will
focus on observation method that is used in ethnographic research where a
researcher is oriented towards understanding the reasoning behind people’s
action in their everyday social lives. In qualitative research, observation is often
unstructured whereas structured observation lies in the tradition of positivist
research. My presentation will give a flavor of different types of observation and
will concentrate mainly on unstructured observation, mainly participant, in
qualitative research. Participant observation is the process of immersing yourself
in the study of people. If it's a group one already know a lot about, one need to
step back and take the perspective as if one is from some other planet.
If it's a group you know nothing about, you need to become a "convert" and
really get committed and involved. The more secretive the group, the more you
need participation. The more localized the group, the more you need
observation. The key point behind all of them is that the researcher must operate
on two levels: becoming an insider while remaining an outsider. They must
avoid becoming over-socialized, or "going native", Going native is sometimes
described as giving up research and joining the group for life. Generally, it takes
time to carry out participant-observation, several weeks or months or sometimes
years. I will show how data is collected through observation and how it helps to
gain an indepth understanding of the phenomenon that may previously be not
known. The lecture will not only focus on oral presentation, but it will also carry
group exercise as practical work and followed a case study observation exercise
as an individual for the participants.