Ontology

Ontological assumptions are concerned with what we believe constitute reality. They allow the researcher to state whether the social reality that he or she is describing should be understood from the outside or by means of the words, thoughts and arguments that the researcher creates in his or her own individual mind (Maree, 2008:31). These two positions are referred to as the “realistic” position (which claims to be objective in nature), and the “nominalist” position which claims to be able to

create significant truths from the use of words and arguments alone. The ontological assumptions on which the study is based include the following:

• Life-world is constituted moment-to-moment and accordingly, the image of nursing among student nurses changes over the period of training.

• A positive core of experiences exists among student nurses to co-construct the image of nursing.

• Learning produces attitudinal changes.

• Change in organisations is a social reality and that reality is co-constructed. • Change in a system begins at any level; because the system starts with

individuals, a change in individuals affect the whole system.

1.7.3.2 Epistemology

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge concerned with the question of what counts as valid knowledge (Holloway & Wheeler 2010:21). De Vos (2001:242) states that the accuracy and success of quantitative researchers depend on being able to achieve a total disengagement or epistemological distance from the subjects of their research so that the data that they collect from them will be truly objective. The opposite is, however, true of qualitative researchers who need to engage with the subjective worldviews and life situations of the participants in a study by means of the kind of intense personal interactions that produce the necessary information that will become the source of the data that constitutes the raw material for analysis, interpretation and conclusions. The qualitative researcher will thus construct texts or narratives about the world of her or his participants, categorise, analyse and interpret all the information contained in these narratives before coming to any conclusions about the meaning and significance embedded in the personal experiences of these participants. This approach to the experience and situations of other individuals is interpretive, “softer”, transcendental and anti-positivist in nature (Flick 2006:85). The study was based on the following epistemological assumptions:

• Qualitative research yields information, when abstracted sufficiently, that meets the requirement of rigorous science and scientific knowledge.

• The envisioned developmental process implied by appreciative inquiry can sufficiently be abstracted from narrative accounts to allow for the crystallisation of a model of such development.

• The participants are autonomous people who will share information willingly and will give honest responses to the questions during interviews.

1.7.3.3 Methodology

Methodological assumptions refer to the way researchers obtain knowledge. The study was based on the following methodological assumptions:

• AI would elicit the data sought to answer the current research question.

• Participants will collaborate to create a shared vision regarding the image of nursing via appreciative inquiry.

1.7.3.4 Axiology

Axiology is the study of value or goodness (Hardman 2002). ); it involves both the ethical and the aesthetical. Axiological assumptions are about the role of values in research and that each research paradigm has an embedded set of values (Hardman 2002). Positivism values the lack of bias and assumes that science is value free while the interpretivist assumes that knowledge is value laden and that there will always be bias brought about by the various actors in the research process. The study was based on axiological assumptions that:

• some aspects of the image of nursing are experienced negatively by the student nurses;

• student nurses who have positive professional images will be willing to combat negative images of nursing;

• a pre-reflective axiological self-understanding exists (Frankl 1984:170); and • an appreciative image of nursing related to both the aesthetics and the ethics

1.7.3.5 Rhetoric

Rhetorical assumptions refer to the language of research (Hardman 2002). The positivist approach uses formal, impersonal, defined language and places much emphasis on quantification and statistical analysis while the interpretivist paradigm focuses on rich description and the language of comparison and distinctiveness. The study was based on the rhetorical assumption that existential philosophy and the qualitative research paradigms independently provide specific terminology that pertinently illuminates phenomena studied within the realm of these constructs.

1.8 RESEARCH DESIGN

After conducting a review of the literature on research designs and methods, mixed methods research (MMR) was found to be the more appropriate design for addressing the study objectives and for answering the research questions. Conducting MMR involves incorporating components of quantitative and qualitative paradigms in a single study or a series of studies to achieve a comprehensive understanding of evidence together with human experience (Creswell & Plano Clark 2007:5; Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, & Turner 2007). Mixed methods research designs use strategies of inquiry that involve collecting data concurrently, sequentially or by means of transformational techniques (Holloway & Wheeler 2010a:271; Leech & Onwuegbuzie 2009; Ngulube, Mokwatlo & Ndwandwe 2009:107).

A sequentially embedded MMR design was conducted through AI thus making the study applied research. However, it can also be argued, depending on the point of emphasis that it is a contextual explorative - descriptive and quasi-experimental MMR design. Dominance was given to the qualitative data collection and analysis. In this study, the sequential data collection and analysis was conceptualized as having five stages as illustrated in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Sequentially embedded mixed methods research design

(Adapted from Ivankova et al 2006:16)