Imagine you have finally settled on your dissertation topic. You know what you want to investigate. You may even have your research questions written down.<\/p>\n
Then your supervisor asks:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is your research philosophy?\u201d<\/p>\n
You know you want to conduct interviews and send a questionnaire. But suddenly you are being asked about ontology, epistemology, research approach, methodology, research design, strategy, sampling, and time horizons. This is where students feel that their research design has disappeared beneath a pile of terminology.<\/p>\n
The research onion is designed to make that decision-making process easier.<\/p>\n
Associated with Saunders, Lewis, <\/strong>and Thornhill,<\/strong> this framework presents research design as a sequence of connected decisions and helps in making practical choices about collecting and analysing data.<\/p>\n The framework is based on six layers, and each layer will help you identify the right question for your research paper.<\/p>\n This guide will explore all six layers and questions in detail, along with a real-world case study to apply the framework to a research question, and a checklist that you must go through before submitting your methodology.<\/p>\n