El realismo brechtiano: lucha y conocimiento

The goal of conducting scientific research emanates from human curiosity and the need to understand the world by solving problems, answering a query or gaining new knowledge. The quality of the research lies in the results reached by well-defined methodologies. The methodology is a systematic approach that organizes research and provides the researcher with practical guidelines leading the way to accurate and reliable answers (Neale and Liebert, 1973). Research methodology is about using the right techniques when collecting and analysing data to test research hypotheses and to obtain the best answers to the research questions (Redmen and Mory, 2009). If the researcher fails to clarify the methodology correctly their research could result in meaningless results and unsolved problems.

There are two types of research; pure research and applied research. While pure research provides a better understanding of the advancement of knowledge with no requirement to apply the results in a practical way, applied research is conducted to solve a particular, practical problem or to find answers to everyday questions (Blanche et al., 2006). If the objective of the research is to investigate people the term social research is used (Neuman 2005). On the other hand, applied research provides valuable information for the area under investigation and can be used by any researchers in a similar field.

Answering applied research questions can be done by either a qualitative or quantitative approach, or by a combination of both. The qualitative approach has broad research questions and the form of data is given more as explanations and analysis of general trends. Whereas the quantitative approach is a systemic approach which depends mostly on numbers and applies statistical data analysis to obtain the required results (Neuman, 2005). The variables using the qualitative approach cannot be controlled or manipulated; however, using the quantitative approach the variables are well-defined before addressing the research hypothesis and applying statistical calculations (Grinnell, 1997). Although these approaches differ in certain areas they share similar features in others, for example, both approaches reach conclusions by reasoning and evidence, both apply comparisons and both avoid errors and misleading results.

Assessing people’s thoughts and personal beliefs are central to psychological and educational research. As the field of investigation in this study is in both areas, several research methods and approaches could be used by the researcher (Myers and Avison, 2002). To reach the best answers, the research approach should be carefully selected following the requirements as determined by the research questions (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004).

The quantitative approach is one of three main paradigms related to research in education which also include the qualitative approach and the critical theory approach (Soltis, 1992). The quantitative approach provides explanations and predictions of events happening regularly as a base for human activities and the social world (Hussey and Hussey, 1997). This approach can also define the types of relationship between different components of events (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). For this reason, the quantitative approach is involved in testing hypotheses handled by theories capable of estimating the range of the phenomenon under the scope. In other words, this approach is appropriate for the phenomenon that regularly occurs and to examine any existence of relationships between the variables of the phenomenon by gathering the data and applying a large number of cases to represent the target population. It is also useful in formulating conclusions for the population based on the data to be taken from the sample.

The qualitative approach, on the other hand, was not justified for this study based on the differentiation between the research questions and objectives when attempting to answer and reach the focus of the approach. The qualitative approach is embedded in people’s experiences and used for exploring in-depth and for understanding; it also goes into greater detail with a smaller number of samples (Bryman, 1988). The quality of data collected and how it is analyzed and compared and good representatives of the outcomes in this approach relies on how good the questions are developed (Das, 1983). Crossley and Vulliamy (1997) claim that the qualitative approach collect data usually by observations and interviews. In research related to assessing people beliefs, as is mentioned earlier in chapter two, this types of data collecting has been criticized for its time consuming method, its small number of samples and the need for well- trained raters to obtain good outcomes

The research strategy adopted for this study was to collect data; Yin (1994) proposed five categories, these are: survey, experimental; case study; archival analysis; and historical. The survey refers to the procedure of gathering data about the characteristics, performance and attitudes of a large number of participants, called population (Pinsonneault and Kramer, 1993). The nature of the research problem determines which research strategy is best applied, so, based on the discussion in chapter two related to assessing epistemological beliefs, the needs and benefits of using questionnaires in this type of investigation were clarified especially since it was found in the relevant literature to be the most widely used research methodology (Jehng et al., 1993; Schraw et al., 1995; Kuhn et al., 2000; Qian and Alvermann, 1995; Hofer and Pintrich, 1997; Hofer 2000). Therefore the survey questionnaire was chosen as a collecting data tool in this study. To answer the research questions of this study and to examine the research hypotheses, the overall nature of this study is a case study focusing only on Kuwaiti university undergraduates using a quantitative method research in its data collection and analysis.