Answer

My topic of interest concerns the subject of dementia from the perspective of the caretakers. In relation to this, I intend to focus on the investigation of the care for dementia patients from the perspectives or views of caregivers or caretakers. My interest in this topic was inspired by the fact that caring for individuals with dementia is challenging and in many circumstances, caregivers often bear the burden of ensuring quality care, wellbeing, and safety of persons with dementia (Roberts & Struckmeyer, 2018). As such, insights on how to care for individuals with dementia can be obtained from caretakers.

Even though philosophical notions remain largely concealed in research or study, they continue to influence the research practice and need to be established (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). In relation to this, the philosophical orientation that mirrors my worldview is social constructivist. According to Taylor et al. (2015), social constructivists embrace the notion that people seek the comprehension of the world in which they reside and work. Taylor et al. (2015) assert that individuals establish subjective meanings associated with their experiences or meanings targeted at certain things or objects. These meanings are multiple and varied, thereby leading the investigator to seek the complexity of perceptions as opposed to narrowing implications or connotations into a limited ideas or categories. Therefore the researcher’s goal is to depend as much as possible on views of participants concerning the issue under investigation. In my study, I will focus on caretakers’ views to establish issues involved in caring for dementia patients.

The ontological assumptions of the socio constructivist philosophical assumption focus on reality’s nature and its characteristics. In relation to this, researchers embrace the notion of multiple realities. These multiple realities are then reported on by exploring various forms of proof from various individuals’ experiences and perspectives (Dinsmore, 2017). On the other hand, the epistemological assumptions of the socio constructivist philosophical inclination embrace the idea of researchers trying to get as near as possible to study participants. This undertaking is followed by assembling subjective evidence in relation to the individual perceptions from study executed in the field (Dinsmore, 2017). The ontological and epistemological assumptions lend themselves to qualitative research approaches such as grounded theory and narrative approaches. It is vital to note that qualitative researchers comprehend the significance of theories and beliefs that guide their work and often write about their in their studies (Taylor et al., 2015). When investigators undertake a qualitative research, they agree to its fundamental philosophical assumptions, while incorporating their own world understandings into the study, which in turn end up influencing the study’s direction.

Taylor et al. (2015) assert that the narrative approach intertwines a series of events from a single or more persons to establish a cohesive story. Thus, the ontological assumption lends itself to this research approach by providing a mechanism of gathering multiple realities from different individuals’ experiences, as well as perspectives. These perspectives and experiences are then woven together to establish a cohesive narrative about the issue under investigation. Grounded theory focuses on the provision of a theory or explanation for events (Taylor et al., 2015). Existing documents and interviews are primarily employed in building a theory or concept based on data gathered from participants. The epistemological assumption lends itself to grounded theory approach in that it focuses on gathering data from participants on the issue under study by means of interviews. Key themes from this data can then be identified and employed in developing a theory.