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Research paradigms

Ayman Abu-Shomar
Ayman Abu-Shomar

This document discusses research paradigms and methodologies. It explains that a paradigm frames how a study is conceptualized and influences the research question, design, theory, and methods used. It discusses different philosophical perspectives including positivism, interpretivism, structuralism, and post-structuralism. These perspectives have differing beliefs about ontology, epistemology, methodology, and what constitutes valid and reliable knowledge. The document also raises important issues about power dynamics in research, whose knowledge and voices are privileged, and challenges of generalizability.

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Research Methods Dr. Ayman Abu-Shomar, Fall, 2015
A paradigm can be thought of as a framework or way of seeing the world. A paradigm frames a research study, and influences how we conceptualise methodology, the research question, the design, theory and methods.
1. Ontology a philosophical theory of the nature of knowledge, what is there to know? Epistemology - A philosophical theory of knowledge that provides an account of what counts as legitimate knowledge. How do we know?
2. Beliefs about methodology what to investigate, how to investigate, what to measure or assess, and how. 3. Validity, reliability and generalisability - what it means to claim that we know something, and how such claims can be supported. - how to evaluate someones claim to knowledge, and the applicability or generalisability to other events, phenomena, populations, contexts. What counts as truth.
Positivists believe that the world consists of two levels a continuously changing surface of events and appearances, and an unchanging order expressed as universal laws. e.g. Piagets ages and stages a universal theory of child development (or is it ?)
Interpretivism seeks to explain how people make sense of circumstances, events, phenomena, life experiences, and the social and cultural worlds of themselves and others. e.g. Bennett, Wood and Rogers, (1997)
Structuralists regard the world as a collection of systems of law-governed relationships. Post-structuralists and post-modernists see the world as incoherent and discontinuous. Everything and everyone shifts and changes. Focus on relationships between knowledge(s), meanings, power and identities.
Problems and challenges: Whose voices are heard? How do we understand silences? What are the power relations between researchers and their participants? Who holds power in contexts and relationships? How is power exercised? Whose meanings and knowledge are privileged? e.g Piagets normative theories of development create a deficit model for non-western children
Internal reliability and validity External credibility links with other research studies, theories, methodology, Less concern with generalisability.
Research question/s Research design Research methods Tools for use, tools and use
Using video as a form of generating data: What are the ethical and cultural issues? Who decides what to video? Who carries out the videotaping? Where? When? Who looks at the video? Who is involved in the analysis and interpretation? What other methods are used (e.g. stimulated recall, joint discussions) What use is made of the data? Whose voices are heard?

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Research paradigms

  • 1. Research Methods Dr. Ayman Abu-Shomar, Fall, 2015
  • 2. A paradigm can be thought of as a framework or way of seeing the world. A paradigm frames a research study, and influences how we conceptualise methodology, the research question, the design, theory and methods.
  • 3. 1. Ontology a philosophical theory of the nature of knowledge, what is there to know? Epistemology - A philosophical theory of knowledge that provides an account of what counts as legitimate knowledge. How do we know?
  • 4. 2. Beliefs about methodology what to investigate, how to investigate, what to measure or assess, and how. 3. Validity, reliability and generalisability - what it means to claim that we know something, and how such claims can be supported. - how to evaluate someones claim to knowledge, and the applicability or generalisability to other events, phenomena, populations, contexts. What counts as truth.
  • 5. Positivists believe that the world consists of two levels a continuously changing surface of events and appearances, and an unchanging order expressed as universal laws. e.g. Piagets ages and stages a universal theory of child development (or is it ?)
  • 6. Interpretivism seeks to explain how people make sense of circumstances, events, phenomena, life experiences, and the social and cultural worlds of themselves and others. e.g. Bennett, Wood and Rogers, (1997)
  • 7. Structuralists regard the world as a collection of systems of law-governed relationships. Post-structuralists and post-modernists see the world as incoherent and discontinuous. Everything and everyone shifts and changes. Focus on relationships between knowledge(s), meanings, power and identities.
  • 8. Problems and challenges: Whose voices are heard? How do we understand silences? What are the power relations between researchers and their participants? Who holds power in contexts and relationships? How is power exercised? Whose meanings and knowledge are privileged? e.g Piagets normative theories of development create a deficit model for non-western children
  • 9. Internal reliability and validity External credibility links with other research studies, theories, methodology, Less concern with generalisability.
  • 10. Research question/s Research design Research methods Tools for use, tools and use
  • 11. Using video as a form of generating data: What are the ethical and cultural issues? Who decides what to video? Who carries out the videotaping? Where? When? Who looks at the video? Who is involved in the analysis and interpretation? What other methods are used (e.g. stimulated recall, joint discussions) What use is made of the data? Whose voices are heard?