6
2 The Research Concept
2.2
The Research Philosophy
The four research paradigms defined by Burrell and Morgan (Burrell et al. 2019)
aim at categorizing the philosophy of a research and offering some foundations
for its design. For Burrell and Morgan, the four research paradigms are mutually
exclusive. However, mutual exclusivity is difficult to achieve in practice and multiparadigmatic research design can be indicated and even required (Taylor, Taylor,
and Luitel, 2012).
Therefore, the research work refers to the interpretive paradigm and to the
functionalist paradigm. The interpretive paradigm is characterized by a need to
understand a phenomenon occurring in the complex but orderly social world
created by human beings. In this paradigm, the researcher is usually part of the
research framework and is not an objective observer of the phenomenon being
investigated.
The first part of the research investigates the status of renewable energy policy
instruments. In this context, it is important to understand how the renewable
energy policy instruments impact the renewable energy developers when bidding
for an auction and how this leads to the horizontal integration of renewable hydrogen. By developing this line of thought, the researcher guides the research process
which is a trait of an interpretive research. Investigating the phenomenon described above also requires interacting with experts in the domain which will infer
some new perceptions in the research process.
Interpretive research is well suited for multifaceted social processes such as the
consequences of shifting from one policy instrument to another. It is also appropriate for studying context specific and unique processes which can be further
developed in exploratory research (A. Bhattacherjee 2012).
The functionalist paradigm, or positivism, is also relevant in scope of the
proposed research. Data is required to assess the potential of an organisation
to decarbonise its activities by replacing fossil-based hydrogen by renewable
hydrogen. The use of economic and technical data does not fit with the interpretive research paradigm. For this aspect of the research work, the researcher
is independent and impartial from the economic and logistics rationales of the
hydrogen.
2 The Research Concept
2.2
The Research Philosophy
The four research paradigms defined by Burrell and Morgan (Burrell et al. 2019)
aim at categorizing the philosophy of a research and offering some foundations
for its design. For Burrell and Morgan, the four research paradigms are mutually
exclusive. However, mutual exclusivity is difficult to achieve in practice and multiparadigmatic research design can be indicated and even required (Taylor, Taylor,
and Luitel, 2012).
Therefore, the research work refers to the interpretive paradigm and to the
functionalist paradigm. The interpretive paradigm is characterized by a need to
understand a phenomenon occurring in the complex but orderly social world
created by human beings. In this paradigm, the researcher is usually part of the
research framework and is not an objective observer of the phenomenon being
investigated.
The first part of the research investigates the status of renewable energy policy
instruments. In this context, it is important to understand how the renewable
energy policy instruments impact the renewable energy developers when bidding
for an auction and how this leads to the horizontal integration of renewable hydrogen. By developing this line of thought, the researcher guides the research process
which is a trait of an interpretive research. Investigating the phenomenon described above also requires interacting with experts in the domain which will infer
some new perceptions in the research process.
Interpretive research is well suited for multifaceted social processes such as the
consequences of shifting from one policy instrument to another. It is also appropriate for studying context specific and unique processes which can be further
developed in exploratory research (A. Bhattacherjee 2012).
The functionalist paradigm, or positivism, is also relevant in scope of the
proposed research. Data is required to assess the potential of an organisation
to decarbonise its activities by replacing fossil-based hydrogen by renewable
hydrogen. The use of economic and technical data does not fit with the interpretive research paradigm. For this aspect of the research work, the researcher
is independent and impartial from the economic and logistics rationales of the
hydrogen.