ABSTRACT

Taken together, ontology, epistemology, methodology and ideology provide the parameters of an academic world view and the means through which to conceptually frame how one approaches and undertakes a piece of research and how one interprets and makes sense of the research findings. They shape the kinds of questions one might legitimately ask, how those questions are operationalized and how data are gathered, analysed and interpreted. In addition, they frame positions and debates about issues such as research ethics, positionality, validity and the politics of research. Unfortunately, when discussing the conceptual bases, practices and practicalities of conducting research this wider philosophical framing often gets reduced to the level of methodology and, in particular, to the kind of data that is generated and analysed. Indeed, it is not uncommon to hear some researchers describe themselves as either performing quantitative or qualitative research, or even being a quantitative or qualitative geographer (see DeLyser et al., 2010; Fotheringham et al., 2000). In other words, they define themselves

by the methodology they use, rather than by the focus of their research (e.g. a political, economic, cultural geographer) or by their wider theoretical viewpoint (e.g. a positivist, feminist, Marxist, poststructuralist geographer). This division between quantitative and qualitative research maps onto the notion that quantitative methods seek explanation (where quantitative data analysis explains causal relationships between variables) and qualitative methods create understanding (where qualitative data analysis produces insight and reveals meaning).