Assumptions serve as the basic foundation of any proposed research

Assumptions serve as the basic foundation of any proposed research (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005) and constitute “what the researcher takes for granted. But taking things for granted may cause much misunderstanding. What researchers may tacitly assume, others may never have considered” (Leedy & Ormrod, p. 62). Moreover, assumptions can be viewed as something the researcher accepts as true without a concrete proof. Essentially, there is no research study without a basic set of assumptions (Berg, 1998). According to Williams and Colomb (2003), identifying the assumptions behind a given research proposal is one of the hardest issues to address, especially for novice researchers. Such difficulties emerge due to the fact that by nature “we all take our deepest beliefs for granted, rarely questioning them from someone else’s point of view” (Williams & Colomb, p. 200). It is important for novice researchers to learn how to explicitly document their assumptions in order to ensure that they are aware of those things taken as givens, rather than trying to hide or smear them from the reader. Explicitly documenting the research assumptions may help reduce misunderstanding and resistance to a proposed research as it demonstrates that the research proposal has been thoroughly considered (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005).