I was hoping to get more work done in this last pre-session week but ended up with more on my non-uni plate than I anticipated.
So far I have read the first two chapters of the textbook and taken the Quiz Zone quizzes for them. I blame my one mistake on a misreading, probably due to reading on the computer (though to be honest, I have been mis-reading and mis-hearing things all over the place this week… perhaps more sleep is needed!) In any event, your answer is sure to suffer when you read “quantitative” and the question is actually referring to “qualitative” research theory and methodology. I do feel this validates my decision to read the main textbook in print rather than digital format (Simon, 2018).
As I read through the various epistemological and ontological considerations and positions and the implications for research strategies and methods, I found the following quote from Keith Punch to be inspiring:
But we can proceed to do research, and to train researchers, mindful of those debates yet not engulfed by them, and without necessarily yet being able to see their resolution. In other words, we can acknowledge the connections of methods to these deeper issues, and discuss them from time to time as they arise , without making them the major focus of this book , or of our research. (Punch, 2009, p. 20)
References
Punch, K. (2009). Theory and method in education research. In Introduction to research methods in education (p. 20). London: Sage Publications.
Simon, M. (2018, June 29). Favored format: sifting through textbook options [Blog post]. Retrieved July 7, 2018 from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/mrssimonsays/2018/06/29/favored-format-sifting-through-textbook-options/.