*2.1. Philosophical Underpinnings*

The fields of science and philosophy consider ontology and epistemology in terms of What is the nature of reality? and How is human knowledge constructed? The ascendant ideologies of positivism and interpretivism can be applied in support of these philosophical di fferences [34–37]. Hirschheim [38] puts forward the aim of positivism to, "seek to explain and predict what happens in the social world by searching for irregularities and causal relationships between its constituent elements". In contrast to this stance, Schwandt [39] suggests the aim of interpretivism is to gain understanding. Interpretive research seeks to develop a richer understanding of the complex world of lived experience from the point of view of those who live in it. "*This goal is variously spoken of as an abiding concern for the life world, for the emic point of view, for understanding meaning, for grasping the actor's definition of a situation, for verstehen"* [39] (p.118).

The intent of this qualitative study was to understand how various situations impact on learning from incidents in the aircraft maintenance and continuing airworthiness managemen<sup>t</sup> domain by interacting with the participants on a social plane. Thus, in order to gain an empathetic understanding of the participants and their actions, the pursuit of "verstehen" considers adopting an interpretive paragon as an approach. This approach is not initiated with the aid of a hypothesis intended for testing but rather using a lodestar that guides the researcher to a point of discovery supported with an inductive modus operandi. The study is unwavering in its support for the view that (individual and combined) qualitative and quantitative approaches possess equal value in terms of their investigative potential in this area of focus. In summary, the project employs a qualitative research methodology in an e ffort to generate "rich" findings in support of gaining a good understanding of the learning environment in the featured domain. According to Maykut and Morehouse [26], the purpose of qualitative research is to discover the inner world of perceptions and meaning-making in order to gain an understanding to describe and explain certain social phenomenon from participants' perspectives. In order to accomplish this, focus group activity was managed concurrently with the literature review. These activities cumulatively generated five themes which were used as the basis for a semi-structured interview template. The project employed a qualitative research methodology in an e ffort to generate "rich" findings in support of gaining a good understanding of the learning environment in the featured domain. The outcome of a qualitative research initiative was contextual findings as opposed to broad generalizations.
