RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER THREE

Introduction

The purpose of methodology chapter is to present philosophical assumptions under which this research is founded, as well as to introduce the empirical techniques and research strategy employed. The chapter helps to define the scope and limits of the research design and assists in situating the research amongst existing research tradition in social sciences. The philosophical assumptions underlying this research emanate from the positivist tradition. The data collection technique used in this research study was participant’s observation, analysis of existing data, and semi-structured interviews.

The chapter is segmented into four sections. In the first, interpretivist and positivist research paradigms are examined. A research paradigm refers to the set of assumptions concerning the ways on which things work. The ensuing section is about the paradigm of this research study. It gives the justification of the paradigm selection with arguments in line with the aim and objectives of the study which is to evaluate the growth of microfinance and social safety nets in Bagaldesh. Section three distinguishes research method (case study) from the research methodology and describes a range of research method available in the literature which is relevant for this study. Finally, the fourth section looks at research design and looks at the reasons for selecting the three, data sources, research analysis, data collection, and analysis, and presents a brief summary of the expectations derived from the theoretical framework that has been adopted.

The Interpretivist and Positivist Research Paradigms

The interpretivism involves researchers making interpretation of the elements of the study, which means that the paradigm integrates the human interest into the research study (Snape and Spencer, 2003). Accordingly, the interpretive researchers make an assumption that access to the reality (socially constructed or given) is only through the social constructions such as instruments, shared meanings, language, and consciousness. Interpretivism is linked to the philosophical position of the idealism, and it helps to categorize together diverse approaches including hermeneutics and phenomenology, social constructionism, and the approaches which reject the objectivist view that meaning resid………………………………..