Week 2 (Research paradigms)

Question 1

What is the research process:

Answer 1

1.Develop a research question
2.Conduct a literature review
3.The role of theory
4.Research design
A) Data collection method
B) Sampling technique
C) Data analysis strategy
5.Collect data
6.Analyze and interpret the data
7.Knowledge dissemination

Question 2

What are the three elements of research methodology:

Answer 2

1)Standpoint
A) Social position
B)Paradigm
B1)Ontological assumptions: the perception of reality, how we understand the world to exist
B2)Epistemological assumptions: ways of knowing or forms of knowledge
B3)Axiological assumptions: values that shape our research

2.Theoretical frame

3.Methods

Question 3

3 Common paradigms

Answer 3

Positivist (Objective reality)
Critical ( Social world is shaped by inequality and power struggles)
Interpretive (Reality is socially constructed)

Question 4

4 influences of paradigms on research:

Answer 4

-Help determine which concepts and concerns are important
-Shape the kinds of methods likely to be used
-Impact the sorts of facts researchers seek to discover
-Influence the conclusions drawn from the facts

Question 5

The role of Social Theory:
Paradigms
and Theory

Answer 5

Paradigms
General theoretical frameworks or “points from which to view”
They offer a way of looking

Theory
A set of interrelated propositions used for understanding observed realities
They aim at explaining what we see

Question 6

Elements of Theories:
-What are propositions
-What makes up theories

Answer 6

-Propositions (ideas): Statements expressing relationships between abstract concepts
-Theories are abstract (Because propositions and concepts are abstract)
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-The propositions (ideas) in a theory are interrelated
The ideas are connected or knit together
-Theories help us understand the real world

Question 7

Deductive approach:

Answer 7

A)Empirical Deduction: The logical process for transforming a theoretical proposition into a research hypothesis

B)Operationalization: The process of translating abstract concepts into variables that indicate the concepts

C)Observation

D) Develop a hypothesis and test it empirically
-Hypothesis: A theoretically informed expectation about empirical patterns expressed as a relationship between variables
-A hypothesis must be falsifiable