Discuss the four major research paradigms

The concept of research paradigm is one that many higher degree research students, and even early career researchers, find elusive to articulate, and challenging to apply in their research proposals. Adopting an ethnographic and hermeneutic methodology, the present paper draws upon our experiences as lecturers in Research Methods over many years, and upon pertinent literature to explain the meaning of research paradigm. The paper elucidates the key aspects of research paradigms that researchers should understand well to be able to address this concept adequately in their research proposals. It offers suggestions on how researchers can locate their research into a paradigm and the justification needed for paradigm choice. With the explicit purpose of helping higher degree research (HDR) students design effective research proposals, the paper also discusses the different research methodologies best suited to conduct research in each of the paradigms discussed.

2014

This paper addresses the role of the theoretical framework in conducting research and writing up a research report, especially in the context of postgraduate programmes. Research students are expected, as part of their academic training, to conduct data-based research and report their findings according to a set of established academic criteria. To do so, the research design, data collection and analysis need to be informed by a theoretical concept or framework that the researcher adopts. The paper presents a short discussion of the theoretical framework and provides an example of how this concept is used in the design of a study. Two practical activities are provided at the end of the paper for novice researchers to practise locating and developing their own theoretical framework.

JIMMA UNIVERSITY College Of Education and Behavioral Sciences Department of Educational Planning and Management, 2021

A research philosophy is what the researcher perceives to be truth, reality and knowledge. The research process involves generating a hypothesis, collecting data to test that hypothesis, then analyzing and interpretation of the results. It outlines the theory, beliefs and values that guide the design, the collection, and analysis of the research study. A research paradigm is a set of beliefs, values, theories, models, and techniques that are used by research workers to legitimize what they are doing or to give direction to their inquiries. Research is influenced by paradigms which are lenses that guide the types of questions that should be identified by a specific investigation, the methods that should be used in addressing the research questions, and how data should be interpreted (Aliyu, Bello, Kasim, & Martin, 2014; Bryman, 2012) cited in (Aberra, 2016). There are four major types of paradigms; the positivist (knowledge being empirical and objective), the interpretivist (knowledge being socially constructed and subjective), and the critical (knowledge based on many truths of societies and are influenced by their own perceptions and experiences,) as it discussed in (Ryan, G. , 2018). All these paradigms have their ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions. Ontology refers to the nature of reality whereas epistemology refers to acceptable knowledge, and methodological premises concerned with procedures for making knowledge and how the knower goes about obtaining the desired knowledge and understanding the valuable and worthwhile types of data are to be collected and organized. Therefore, understanding the research paradigms and their assumptions are very important to conduct any type of research. Accordingly, this paper contains an explanation of the basic philosophical major types of paradigms and its elements in research with their associated assumptions.

International journal of higher education, 2017

The concept of research paradigm is one that many higher degree research students, and even early career researchers, find elusive to articulate, and challenging to apply in their research proposals. Adopting an ethnographic and hermeneutic methodology, the present paper draws upon our experiences as lecturers in Research Methods over many years, and upon pertinent literature to explain the meaning of research paradigm. The paper elucidates the key aspects of research paradigms that researchers should understand well to be able to address this concept adequately in their research proposals. It offers suggestions on how researchers can locate their research into a paradigm and the justification needed for paradigm choice. With the explicit purpose of helping higher degree research (HDR) students design effective research proposals, the paper also discusses the different research methodologies best suited to conduct research in each of the paradigms discussed.

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of three major research paradigms (positivist, interpretivist and critical) and the philosophy underpinning them. It also present a simple explanation to some of the most used terms in educational research: epistemology, ontology, methodology, and methods. Understanding research paradigms is extremely crucial to any novice researchers who embark on the journey of researching for the first time and to any language teachers who are interested in reading research articles.

2017

The title of this book refers to both methods and paradigms in education research. Both are addressed, but this book is distinguished from others in that the research paradigm, rather than choice of research method, is placed front of stage. The related field of study is education. The study of education intertwines with a range of disciplines in the social sciences so the research issues arising have implications beyond the education context. The research paradigms addressed in this book include the traditional positivist and post-positivist—here labelled neo-positivist—paradigms. The interpretivist, transformative and pragmatic research paradigms, which have also been nominated in existing literature, are included. A novel supercomplexity paradigm has been added here in acknowledgement of the “supercomplex” environment (Barnett, 2000a) in which education research now operates. Following chapters explore issues relating to the design, implementation and critique of education resear...

Research Paradigms: Researchers’ Worldviews, Theoretical Frameworks and Study Designs Sayyed Rashid Shah Faculty of Engineering King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia Abdullah Al-Bargi English Language Institute King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia Abstract For novice researchers, in the fields of educational and social research, the choice of an appropriate research paradigm and relevant methodology is an uphill task. The vast amount of literature on this subject further exacerbates the confusion of early-career researchers. Hence, the current paper introduces them to the philosophical underpinnings of three major research paradigms in research. It delineates the positivistic, interpretive, and critical paradigms with an aim to seek a connexion among the ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods of each paradigm. In addition, it explores various underlying assumptions in educational research that have an impact on researchers’ world views, theoretical frameworks and study designs. Keywords: methods; methodology; research paradigms; study designs; worldviews

2011

This paper was written with the novice social science researcher in mind who is perhaps struggling with their understanding of the terms 'paradigm' and methodology' and what the implication each has for their research. A paradigm serves as an intellectual boundary that captures a researcher's ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions. As a human construction paradigms are not open to confirmation in any conventional sense and must, as stated by Guba and Lincoln (1998), be "accepted simply on faith" (p. 200) relying on the persuasive rhetoric of its champion. Methodology refers to the study or considerations of a research process or set of principles used by proponents of a discipline to accept or reject knowledge. It is not, as some mistakenly believe, simply a study of techniques and methods but rather, it is a study of a disciplines' principles. It is through methodology that a researcher can learn to accept or reject knowledge and as such provides the guiding strategy for research design and selection of research methods to be adopted in the course of a study.

This paper makes a conceptual clarification of some research elements-paradigm, methodology, design and method which have proved confusing to early career researchers, postgraduate supervisors and authors. This confusion has often been created and perpetuated by many research textbooks and journals over the years. By using a literature review and author's experience, this paper provides an exposition of the distinction and relationship between these concepts with a view to better the understanding and application of the concepts, for early career researchers, especially Master's and PhD students and postgraduate supervisors.