Pagos de la Fase de Intermediación Laboral 17

Philosophical beliefs are an important part of any research. Creswell (2009) suggested that before doing any research, the researcher should clearly understand the research method to be used. The research design should also be considered before carrying out the research. The philosophical beliefs of the researcher usually influence how research is undertaken (Merriam, 2001). For example, they may reflect in terms like ‘philosophical worldviews, as suggested by Creswell, or ‘research framework’ (Denzin & Lincoln 2005), ‘research methodologies’ (Neuman 1994), or ‘research paradigm’ (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). These philosophical approaches affect the basic view of the world and the nature of the research undertaken.

The three fundamental ways to view and define research paradigms are based on the researcher ontology, research epistemology and research methodology (Guba & Lincoln, 1994), which will be explained later in this chapter.

4.2.1 Research paradigm

The aim of this research is to evaluate the use of tourism critically, as a tool in poverty alleviation and to investigate how local people in Bulon Island perceive tourism enhancing their livelihoods. Therefore, given the nature of this research, an interpretive paradigm is adopted, using qualitative techniques, as the most suitable methodology. The section below explains why the interpretive paradigm is suitable for this research. A paradigm is defined as:

85 The basic belief system or worldview that guides the investigation, not only in choices of method but in ontologically and epistemologically fundamental ways (Guba & Lincoln, 1997: 105).

Denzin and Lincoln (2005) view the interpretive approach as understanding and investigating the social world, which is based upon a philosophy that individuals routinely interpret and use to make sense of their worlds; hence, social science research must seek to relate these interpretations to the everyday situations in which people live (Burns, 1997; Wiersma, 1995). An interpretive paradigm is the antithesis of the positivist paradigm; Jennings (2011) defined the positivist paradigm as that which seeks to understand the world as guided by scientific rules and explain the behaviour or the phenomena through causal relationships. Riley and Love (2000) mention that a positivist paradigm is based on the assumption that the social world can be isolated and repeatable procedures can be used to produce the same results. This paradigm has been used in tourism research to classify tourism behaviour into a range of categories for the purpose of typologies and to predict future trends subsequently (Riley & Love, 2000). Nevertheless, Phillimore and Goodson (2004) indicate a positive paradigm fails to capture the complexities of the social world and interconnected relationships between people and their environment.

According to Jennings (2011), interpretive paradigms are multiple explanations of relativity that interpret a phenomenon, instead of a causal relationship or single theory; furthermore, Jennings writes the research process should be subjective rather than objective; it should use a qualitative methodology rather than quantitative; and be based on empirical materials rather than data collected under experimental conditions.

4.2.2 Assumptions of the Interpretive Paradigm

In order to justify the use of an interpretive paradigm, the following section defines how each assumption is reflected in the research study.

1. Ontological Assumptions

Ontological assumptions focus on the nature of reality. Positivists believe social reality is objective and external to the researcher, subsequently accepting only one reality. Meanwhile, the ontological assumption of interpretive paradigms is that

86 social reality is more complicated, as it is socially constructed; however, different people can inhabit multiple realities because each person has his or her own sense of reality. Interpretive ontology sees the world as subjective, since its characteristics reflect the observer's interpretation of the world and every interpretation is subject to the influences and perspectives of different observers.

Poverty is a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary concept, defined and measured in multiple ways. As this research is concerned with determining how people in a local community think tourism can be used to improve their livelihoods, the researcher constructs knowledge through the lived experiences of local people in Bulon Island. The ontological issues in understanding tourism and poverty include understanding the interpretation, participation of local people, empowerment, barriers to local people participating in tourism, local culture and, finally, social and economic factors.

2. Epistemological Assumptions

Epistemological assumptions are focused on the research as valid knowledge, which normally involves seeking the relationship between what is being researched and the researcher. Positivists believe valid knowledge are phenomena that are observable and measurable and trying to maintain an independent and objective stance. On the other hand, interpretive positivists attempt to minimize distance between the researcher and what is being researched; moreover, they may be involved in different forms of participative enquiry. Smith (2010) captured this polarity between the two approaches and argues that “[i]n quantitative research, facts act to constrain our beliefs; while beliefs in interpretive research determine what should count as facts” (p. 95).

The term ‘Verstehen’ was suggested by Blumer (1962 cited in Jennings, 2011), meaning when the researcher enters the social setting and becomes one of the social actors in their environment. The purpose of Verstehen mentioned by Abercrombie et al. (1994) is to place oneself in the position of other people to see what meanings they give to their action.

The researcher plans to use semi-structured interviews, as this method allows the researcher to interact with local people, enabling better and deeper perspectives via

87 participant observation. The researcher also gains knowledge by participating in the lived experience of participants. Both semi-structured interviews and participant observation are examined in section 4.3.2

3. Methodological Assumptions

In order to study how poverty is conceptualized and to understand barriers to local people participating in tourism, an interpretive paradigm, which is informed by the use of qualitative methodology, is considered the best approach for this research. Methodology is the study of the procedures and methods used to obtain knowledge (involving specifying how evidence is collected and why it is gathered). By asking the questions ‘why?’ and ‘how?’, the relationship between the methods used to collect evidence and its explanation, interpretation or understanding of what is being examined, is considered. Method is defined as ‘the tools or instruments employed by researchers to gather empirical evidence and to analyse data’ (Sarantakos, 1998: 32). In qualitative research, the collection of such rich data provides ‘a sense of authoritativeness on specific research issues’ (Bryman, 2004).

As stated, this research utilises a qualitative methodological approach because this allows the researcher to understand the meanings of poverty, the barriers to Bulon’s residents getting involved in tourism and to address the research objective. Thus, a qualitative methodology is required, as it is interested in searching for the meanings of local people being studied from their point of view.