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Paradigms

The document discusses various research paradigms, including positivism, interpretivism, critical realism, and critical theory, along with their ontological, epistemological, and methodological concerns. It outlines the hypothetico-deductive method and inductive reasoning as key scientific research methods, and defines important concepts such as ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Additionally, it highlights the significance of paradigm shifts in science and provides insights into modernist theory and protocol analysis.

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7 views

Paradigms

The document discusses various research paradigms, including positivism, interpretivism, critical realism, and critical theory, along with their ontological, epistemological, and methodological concerns. It outlines the hypothetico-deductive method and inductive reasoning as key scientific research methods, and defines important concepts such as ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Additionally, it highlights the significance of paradigm shifts in science and provides insights into modernist theory and protocol analysis.

Uploaded by

Tavishi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Scientific methods & Paradigms

Q. What is a research paradigm?


A. It is a set of commonly held beliefs and assumptions within a research community about
ontological, epistemological and methodological concerns.
2 established research paradigm: positivism and interpretivism
2 alternative research paradigm: critical realism and critical theory

Q. What are 4 research paradigms?


A. Positivism, post-positivism, critical theory and constructivism .

Q. What are 3 types of paradigm?


A. Positivism, constructivism/interpretivism and pragmatism; can be further categorised by
examining their ontology (nature of knowing), epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and
methodology (a system of method)

Basic concepts in scientific research method:

The hypothetico-deductive research: also called H-D method or H-D, procedure for the
construction of a scientific theory that will account for results obtained through direct observation
and experimentation and that will, through inference, predict further effects that can then be
verified or disproved by empirical evidence.

Inductive reasoning: is a type of reasoning that involves drawing a general conclusion from a set
of specific observations. Some people think of inductive reasoning as “bottom-up” logic, because
it involves widening specific premises out into broader generalisations.
Paradigms: it is a standard, perspective or set of ideas. In science and philosophy, a paradigm is
a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates
and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field.
Ontology: is the branch of philosophy that studies concepts such as existence, being, becoming,
and reality. It includes the questions of how entities are grouped into basic categories and which
of these entities exist on the most fundamental level.

Epistemology: is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemologists study the
nature, origin, and scope of knowledge, epistemic justification, the rationality of belief, and various
related issues.

Methodology: a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline: a particular


procedure or set of procedures or a way of doing something based on particular principles and
methods.

Analogy: a comparison between two things that shows a way in which they are similar

Positivist paradigm: Scientific research in a positivist paradigm focuses on explanation and


prediction. The hypothetico-deductive model of science is used to facilitate the research process,
taking a theory-verification approach. Theories of nature depend on empirical data, with larger
samples used to make generalisations.

Post-positivist paradigm: is also known as methodological pluralism (Morris, McNaughton,


Mullins & Osmond 2009). The post-positivist paradigm evolved from the positivist paradigm. It is
concerned with the subjectivity of reality and moves away from the purely objective stance
adopted by the logical positivists (Ryan, 2006).

Critical theory: focuses on reflective assessment and critique of society and culture in order to
reveal and challenge power structures.

Constructivism: Honebein (1996) describes it as an approach that asserts that people construct
their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting
on those experiences.

Paradigm shifts: occurs when science face anomalies that they cannot fix (Kuhn, 2012).
Old psychology faces flawed explanations and two serious anomalies that they cannot fix. Old
psychology cannot provide genuine natural science explanations because it is limited to
functional theories that lack mechanism information.

Modernist theory: rejects the ideology of realism and makes use of the work of past by the
employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody. Also rejects
certainty of enlightenment thinking and religious beliefs.

Protocol analysis: is a psychological research method that elicits verbal reports from research
participants. It is used to study thinking in cognitive psychology (Crutcher, 1994), cognitive
science (Simon & Kaplan, 1989), and behaviour analysis (Austin and Delaney, 1998).

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