2 Discussion Replies

Question

Instructions: In at least 150 words for each reply , building upon the information or offer a contrasting viewpoint. The reply must be substantive, must use two peer reviewed articles that are different from the ones listed below and are between 2018-2021, and must further the discussion.

Discussion 1 Information to be used below:
Research Paradigms and Christian Worldview

Try as one might to remain unbiased in social research, no one comes to a research project without life experiences which may affect the way in which one views the world (Robson & McCartan, 2016). There are four basic viewpoints from which a researcher might approach a project, these include a positivist approach, a post-positivist approach, a constructivist approach, and a pragmatist approach (Robson & McCartan, 2016). The four approaches can be defined as follows: positivism deals more with a quantitative approach or statistical and objective facts (Robson & McCartan, 2016); post-positivism realizes all evidence is imperfect and looks for a causal relationship (Robson & McCartan, 2016); constructivism espouses a view based on interactions with others or an interpretive approach (Robson & McCartan, 2016); and pragmatism which seeks a practical approach to an answer to a problem (Robson & McCartan, 2016).

Philosophical Worldview Most Closely Aligning With Author’s Perspective & Worldview

The author tends to question everything and to look for a solution to a problem, whether medical or business-focused (Uebel et al., 2020), regardless of the theory, which falls within a pragmatist approach to research. Having had geometry as a favorite subject in school, the author looks for the “if this, then that” approach to problems and solutions (Fan et al., 2017). Considering the research topic, the author is looking to address, is a proposed action by the Biden Administration, the current data set available for research is limited (de Siqueira et al., 2020), although economic research on the effects of taxation on corporations abounds (Elbra & Mikler, 2017).

How Philosophical Worldview & Pragmatic Methodology Assist Author’s Research

When conducting research in a field of innovation, like a global minimum tax on corporations, “a pragmatic and human-centered approach” (Auernhammer, 2020, p. 412) is recommended, especially when addressing highly uncertain conditions in a constantly changing environment (Auernhammer, 2020), such as the effect of changes in political parties every four years can have on international business entities. Kusevska (2019) demonstrated what is considered discourse markers in linguistics, such as “but”, “because”, “so”, or “then”, which can likewise be applied to research in looking at the effects of changing economic regulations and conditions on international organizations (Cnossen, 2018). To date, governments worldwide have lowered corporate taxes to seduce international corporations to do business within their national borders (Kolstad et al., 2021). A global minimum tax on corporations can have wide-reaching effects (Cnossen, 2018).

Compare/Contrast a Pragmatic Philosophical Worldview With a Christian Worldview

Because a pragmatic philosophical worldview looks for a practical solution for a specific problem (Robson & McCartan, 2016), it can augment a Christian worldview in that it looks for a solution that is most expedient, realistic, or opportune. Although Christians walk by faith, not by sight (New International Version, 1978/2011, 2 Corinthians 5:7), they are not precluded from looking for answers to questions by research. Yemelianenko & Shevchenko (2021) acknowledged how Nikolai Berdyaev, a former professor at Moscow University, received an Honorary Doctor in Theology from Cambridge University because of his reconsideration of the traditional role of Christianity in Western society.

Do Most Philosophical Worldviews Appear Congruent With a Christian Worldview?

Not every worldview is congruent with a Christian worldview. For example, a positivist approach to research looks for facts and statistics (Robson & McCartan, 2016) with little room for faith in the way individuals may react to a given situation. There are many in the research community who feel science has no room for religion (Lee & Hong, 2021) and should deal solely with science while others espouse having a more hands-on approach (Lee & Hong, 2021).











































References

Auernhammer, J. (2020). Design research in innovation management: A pragmatic and human‐centered approach. R & D Management, 50(3), 412-428. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12409

Cnossen, S. (2018). Corporation taxes in the European union: Slowly moving toward comprehensive business income taxation? International Tax and Public Finance, 25(3), 808-840. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-017-9471-2

de Siqueira, G. O., Canuto, S., Gonçalves, M. A., & Laender, A. H. F. (2020). A pragmatic approach to hierarchical categorization of research expertise in the presence of scarce information. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 21(1), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00799-018-0260-z

Elbra, A., & Mikler, J. (2017). Paying a ‘fair share’: Multinational corporations’ perspectives on taxation. Global Policy, 8(2), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12379

Fan, L., Qi, C., Liu, X., Wang, Y., & Lin, M. (2017). Does a transformation approach improve students' ability in constructing auxiliary lines for solving geometric problems? an intervention-based study with two Chinese classrooms. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 96(2), 229-248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-017-9772-5

Kolstad, I., Wiig, A., & Fjeldstad, O. (2021). Citizens’ preferences for taxation of internationally mobile corporations: Evidence from Tanzania. Review of Development Economics, 25, 548-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12745

Kusevska, M. (2019). Research of pragmatic markers: Domains and approaches. Journal of Contemporary Philology (Skopje.Online), 1(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.37834/JCP191007k

Lee, G., & Hong, H. (2021). John Amos Comenius as the prophet of modern ideas in science education: In the light of Pansophia. History of Education (Tavistock), 50(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2020.1836265

New International Version Bible. (2011). The NIV Bible. https://www.thenivbible.com (Original work published 1978)

Robson, C. & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research (4th ed.). West Sussex, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishers

Uebel, K., Pervaz Iqbal, M., & Adelstein, B. (2020). A pragmatic approach to promoting research skills in all medical students. Medical Education, 54(5), 445-446. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14097

Yemelianenko, H., & Shevchenko, S. (2021). Worldview and philosophical foundations of Berdyaev’s “existential Christianity”. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 20(58), 129-145. https://www.jsri.ro/

Discussion 2 information to be used below:
Different people have different unique experiences that shape how people view the world in general. The distinctive beliefs affect how people approach research in the field of business. The four major philosophical views are positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, and pragmatism.

The philosophical world view that most closely aligns with my perspective and how I view world problems is constructivism. Constructivism argues that a person determines reality, and the researcher will attempt to understand that view of reality. I follow this philosophy because it facilitates learners to construct their knowledge instead of passively taking in the information passed to them. The theory is clear that as people experience the world, they reflect on those experiences and develop their unique representation of the information they are continuously getting from their environment. When a person receives new information, they try to compare it from what they know, after which they construct what they consider to be their reality. The process of acquiring new knowledge and comparing it to what an individual knows is closely related to the process of assimilation and accommodation (Shusterman, 2016). Assimilation is the process of fitting new information into the existing schema, while accommodation is redeveloping the current schema using the newly acquired knowledge.

Understanding the connection between philosophical worldview and research methodology will assist my research approach. It will guide the type of research strategy that I will pick to collect data and analyze it. Collecting information in the field should always focus on understanding the individuals' views instead of narrowing it down to few categories. An individual should be left to explain phenomena on how they view them. That is the only way a researcher can get full information regarding phenomena. The question asked should be broad enough to give the respondent enough independence to explain their views of the phenomena under study - the more open the question will be, the better. On the other hand, the researcher should carefully observe the respondents' views as they respond to the questions independently.

Research philosophical world view and Christianity do not appear congruent because there are some problematic areas. Christianity dictates that one God exists who determines what happens on earth, while some world philosophies do not agree with that. For example, constructivism suggests that reality only exists in an individual. What a person believes to be real is real provided they give sufficient evidence of their reality (Shusterman, 2016). Non-Christians cannot challenge Christianity since it is based on faith without facts, and it cannot accommodate people who question their holy book, known as the bible. Christianity can be seen to be consistent with post-positivism, which says that there is a single objective reality that people seek to discover with the knowledge that they will never uncover it fully.

In conclusion, the experiences that people have heard in their life go a great way in determining how they view the world in general. The four philosophical world views describe how individual people view the world. Researcher designs their research methodology depending with their world philosophical view. Constructivism is the philosophical worldview that best aligns with my perspective. It says that individuals derive reality, and therefore each person has their reality. It affects research because questions should be open-ended to allow the respondent to express their phenomenon understanding.

References

Shusterman, R. (2016). Practicing Philosophy: Pragmatism and the philosophical life. Routledge.