Social Research Paradigms

Question 1

What is a Paradigm?

Answer 1

Beliefs about reality and how we know what we know; your worldview

Question 2

What are the three paradigms?

Answer 2

Positivism
Interpretivism
Critical

Question 3

What is positivism?

Answer 3

• Belief in objective, knowable reality (observed, counted, statistically analyzed)
• Concepts can be proven or disproven
• Casual laws= predict general patterns of human behavior and believe that humans react in similar ways like nature

Goal: Prediction, explanation, control ( sodium goes up so does blood pressure)

Quantitative data

Question 4

What is interpretative?

Answer 4

Belief in multiple, subjective realities

Desire to understand the web of meanings in which humans act (variety of responses stories, no captain T Truth= explore diversity)

Trying to see/understand the world through another eyes (walk a mile in their shoes)

Goal: Understanding

Qualitative data

Question 5

What is the critical paradigm?

Answer 5

Critical Reflection (ideological bias or power bias) ASSUMPTION OF POWER

Goal: emancipatory social change

RARE: hard to have opportunity to change things

When new data is collected it is primarily qualitative

Action Research