ARAŞTIRMA YÖNTEMLERİ - Deneme Sınavı - 15

Hypotheses are of two major types: statistical and research hypotheses. Statistical hypothesis (H0- neutral hypothesis, null hypothesis, absence hypothesis) denotes that there is either no relation or difference between the variables. Research hypothesis, on the contrary, (H1- difference hypothesis, alternative hypothesis) is the expression of the relation that a researcher hopes to confirm after relevant data collection and analysis (Altunışık, Coşkun, Bayraktaroğlu, and Yıldırım, 2005).

Repeated-Measurement design is preferred when the precise time for the emergence of independent variable’s effect is not certain and it is not clear when to conduct the most reliable pre-test.

In intervention analysis design, the dependent variable is subjected to pretest and post-test procedures prior to testing the independent variable experimentally.

Qualitative research is defined as a method
where perceptions and events can be pictured in
their natural environments with a holistic and
realistic perspective through use of qualitative data
collection techniques such as observation, interview,
and document analysis.

Qualitative research is defined as a method
where perceptions and events can be pictured in
their natural environments with a holistic and
realistic perspective through use of qualitative data
collection techniques such as observation, interview,
and document analysis. To further clarify, its basic
features can be listed as follows: (1) sensitivity to
natural environment, (2) participatory role of the
researcher, (3) holistic approach, (4) identifying
the perceptions, (5) flexibility in research design,
and (6) inductive analysis.

case study is the most
widely employed design in IR, and this is an
increasing tendency in the field. The efforts to
figure out complex social events or phenomena
can be taken as the reason for this inclination.
A simplified definition of case study could be
the attempt to seek answers to “how?” or “why?”
concerning a current case of interest

Because of the increase in research studies
employing ethnography design in 1980s, this
period is also known as “ethnographic transformation
of global policies” (Varsti, 2008). Stemming from
anthropology and sociology, ethnography is
a research design where a researcher analyzes
common behaviors, language, and action models of
an intact culture within their natural environment
during a long time-span.

Czarniawska (2004) diagnoses narrative inquiry
design as written documents and conversations
interpreted about an event or a course of events
that are chronologically related. Narrative inquiry
is based on sharing experiences about an event or a
chain of events with another or others through any
channel of communication.

Another qualitative research design that can
be employed in IR is phenomenology, which is
rooted in philosophy and psychology and where
participants’ experiences about a phenomenon
defined by them are described. As obvious by
definition, phenomenological research aims to
determine individuals’ own perceptions and
experiences through their own standpoint

The process of conducting a qualitative research includes identifying the research focus or problem, selecting participants, data collection techniques, data
analysis, and reporting.

As a qualitative data collection tool, interview
enables the researcher to gather data that observation
and questionnaire techniques cannot unravel and
to examine the participants’ feelings, opinions,
perceptions, and attitudes.

Employing documents as a
data collection technique in a qualitative research
may produce the following advantages:
• Variety in data collection
• Aid to other data collection techniques
• Quick access
• Direct focus onto the topic
• Low costs

For narrative research design, on the other
hand, Riessman’s (2005) classification is utilized
in general: thematic analysis, structural analysis,
interactive analysis, and performative analysis.

Ontology is a concept that means the study of being/existence and the nature of reality. Ontology asks questions such as “What is the essential substance of (or the underlying foundation of) existence?”, “What is the nature of reality?” and “Is it possible for us to perceive reality as is?”

Epistemology is a concept about how we come to know about these existing things (that ontology is interested in) and their reality. So, epistemology is interested in investigating the sources of our knowledge of reality. And, epistemology is also interested in investigating whether we are in a state to know reality as it exits independent of us (reality as is); and whether what we are able to know corresponds to a reality that exists independent of us (independent of us knowing it).

Ontology is a particular focus area within metaphysics, which focuses particularly on the study of “being” or “existence.” The term ontology also comes from the ancient Greek roots, from “ontos” which means “being”, “to be” or “to exist” and from “logos” which means “the study of.” Thus, ontology can be defined as the philosophy or the study of being or existence. Thus, ontology focuses on questions related to abstract concepts such as “what is it mean to exist?”, “What is the unchanging substance of the existing things?”, “Is there an objective, unchanging reality beyond human perception and conception?” and so on. These two areas of philosophy (epistemology and ontology) are not clearly separate fields, they overlap most of the time; that is, these are deeply interrelated areas of philosophical considerations

Rationalism is most often associated with Rene Descartes (1596-1690) in modern philosophy. However, the ancient philosopher Plato is also known as a radical rationalist. Rationalism defends the idea that knowledge that is obtained through the senses lack certainty, because senses often deceive us; for example, a stick put in water seems to us as if it is bend, even though in reality it is not bend.

A priori proposition/knowledge is a concept that refers to propositions or knowledge gained through rational means like thinking and reasoning. In other words, they don’t come from sense experience, or they are prior to the experience.

Empiricism argues that the only source of all human knowledge is the sense experience (observations and experiments).

A posteriori proposition/knowledge is a concept that refers to propositions or knowledge that comes from sense experience, or they are available after the experience.