Epilogue

Research is above all a social activity in containing an array of ideas, concepts and instruments that can be applied in many different ways. The previous chapters have demonstrated the difficulty of constructing a sound research design given the array of possible choices. We have called this equifinality. Being novices to the research field we perfectly understand that many students find it difficult to make well-reasoned choices – to act upon their own basic and often only recently acquired (research) attitude and make methodological choices of which they cannot accurately appraise the implications. It should come as no surprise that stimulated by the preferences of a supervisor time and again the same methodological set is applied often driven by a justification based on replicability, robustness or reliability. The premise that a research project marks the end of a programme that has taught the student to develop and demonstrate his ability to do sound research is false. We believe that for many students it is only after the research project itself that students really come to understand what it is to engage in research, because they have discovered and experienced firsthand the methodological, theoretical and practical connotations.