ABSTRACT

In this section of the chapter I outline my philosophical standpoint on the grounds that credible research work does not take place in a vacuum, but it is guided by fundamental ontological and epistemological perspectives. Ontological debates in research are often centred on two main platforms: either on the probability of a single objective reality that can be verified through empirical methods or the inescapable subjective multiple realities that are constructed socially (Guba, 1990). I side with the ontological platform that there are multiple subjective realities that are socially constructed. My choice of such a standpoint is guided by the aims and objectives of the study out of which this book emerges, and which I outline below, with the aim of reminding the reader of what they are.