Research design and methodology

Abstract

According to Bryman and Bell (2007), the continuum of ontological positions ranges from objectivism on one end to constructionism on the other, while epistemological positions can range from positivism to interpretivism, whereas Easterby-Smith et al. (2012) distinguish between realist, internal realist, relativist and nominalist ontologies and positivist and social constructionist epistemologies. If the term “constructionism” is used to denote an epistemology opposite of positivism, it expresses both the relation to the social world and the knowledge of this world (Bryman and Bell 2007).