If the Shoe Fits...

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind introduction to the predominant cultures of inquiry including positivism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, quantitative & behavioural, comparative -historical, ethnography, action research, theoretical and critical social theory/science. Each culture of inquiry presents a unique approach to research based on its underlying epistemology, which is reflected in the relationship between the the researcher and the subject being researched. They have different concerns and goals that they are primarily focused on achieving while at the same time contributing to the creation and validation of knowledge.

Currently, my brain is going through the process of sorting these cultures of inquiry based on my personal affinity towards them. Important questions such as "which one is the best fit for me", "what level of relationship interaction am I most comfortable with", and "which one am I most drawn to" are all part of this sorting process. In trying to answer these questions, I keep coming back to a strong feeling that the best fit for me would be one that shares my personal epistemology. With that in mind, I attempted to sort the different cultures of inquiry based on what I perceived to be their position on a continuum between an objective or subjective philosophical stance on the nature of knowledge.

It's interesting to note that if I changed the continuum from the philosophical stance to that of the level of interaction between the researcher and the subject being researched, my relative positions of the cultures of inquiry remain the same. Does this imply a commonality between the two? Do all cultures of inquiry that are grounded in a subjective epistemology have a similar proportionate level of interaction with the subject being researched?

I stated in my previous post that my personal epistemology is strongly based in constructivism, with a bend towards the social end. This epistemology is firmly rooted in the subjective philosophy. If I were to choose a culture of inquiry that would best match my epistemology, I would have lots to choose from! I feel I have a natural affinity towards action research and hermeneutics... but the majority of the cultures of inquiries studied all share my personal epistemology and I would equally be grounded in all of them.  There is an old saying, "If the shoe fits... buy it in every colour".