Research Philosophy :: Ontology, Epistemology

Research philosophy, refers to the development of knowledge adopted by the researchers in their research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In other words, it is the theory that used to direct the researcher for conducting the procedure of research design, research strategy, questionnaire design and sampling (Malhotra, 2009). It is very important to have a clear understanding of the research philosophy so that we could examine the assumptions about the way we view the world, which are contained in the research philosophy we choose, knowing that whether they are appropriate or not (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), three major ways of thinking about research philosophy are examined: ontology, epistemology and axiology. Each of them carries significant differences which will have an impact on the way we consider the research procedures. Ontology, â€Å"is concerned with nature of reality†, while epistemology â€Å" concerns what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study and axiology â€Å"studies judgements about value† (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p110, p112, p116). This study is intent on creating some â€Å"facts† from objective evaluations which are made by the subjects. Therefore, epistemology will be chosen for this study as the way of thinking about the research philosophy. More specifically, epistemology also contains three philosophical positions: positivism, realism and interpretivism (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Positivism stance usually supports investigating or studying an observable social reality and the final production could be â€Å"law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists† (Remenyi et al. cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p113). It is effective to generate a research strategy to collect the creditable data which comes from observable reality therefore contributing to developing hypotheses (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In this study, we aim at exploring the creditable and measurable results from individuals in order to understand the influence of surprise on viral marketing via social media in perspectives of message characteristics. Thus, the philosophy of positivism will be adopted in this study for collecting creditable data from the subjects to prod uce some â€Å"law-like generalisations†. However, it is always difficult to decide whether interpretivism should be applied to conduct a deeper analysis relating to subjects’ attitude for the sake of enhancing the precision. More complicated, such a dilemma would often lead to the reflection of realism, which is divided into direct realism and critical realism (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).