Does Educational Research Involve One Paradigm or Many?

Theresa (Terri) Thorkildsen

Professor of Education and Psychology University of Illinois at Chicago

Common Epistemological Stances Objectivist—Meaning and reality are independent of

consciousness. Researchers discover meaning that awaits them; truth and reality are to be discovered.

Constructionist—Meaning and reality are invented. Researchers construct meaning by fully engaging in subject-object relations; truth and meaning emerge from subject-object relations.

Subjectivist—Meaning is imposed on objects by a subject and comes from intangible sources such as dreams, spirituality, or the unconscious. Researchers explore meaning by considering ideas in relation to one another rather than in relation to a tangible “reality”.

Crotty, 1998

phi·los·o·phy noun, plural phi·los·o·phies. 1. the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being,

knowledge, or conduct. 2. any of the three branches, namely natural philosophy, moral

philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy, that are accepted as composing this study.

3. a system of philosophical doctrine: the philosophy of Spinoza. 4. the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular

branch of knowledge, especially with a view to improving or reconstituting them: the philosophy of science.

5. a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs. 6. a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the

presence of troubles or annoyances.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/philosophy

Utilitarianism—a vision of the good precedes any determination of what is right. Happiness often represents the good with respect to human functioning.

Rationalism—unaided reason can lead to the acquisition and justification of knowledge and is preferred over sensory experience.

Pragmatism—the meaning of ideas is assumed to be the same as the practical effects of adopting those ideas and putting them into practice.

Empiricism—all knowledge is tied directly to sensory contents of consciousness or to other expressed classes of experience.

Humanism—emphasis is placed on human dignity, welfare, and the ability to acquire understanding without help.

Common Philosophical Stances

Thorkildsen, 2005

Other Philosophical Stances

Positivism and Post-positivism Constructionism Phenomenology

Hermeneutics Critical philosophy

Bredo & Feinberg, 1982

As scholars, we ideally walk between stances when we enact the principle of passionate dispassion, but design research with one tradition in mind.

A paradigm is a unitary package of beliefs about

science and scientific knowledge.

Kuhn, 1972

Modernism and Post-Modernism Modernism is the name given to the social

change initiated by industrialization. Using the scientific method, reason can be used to discover absolute forms of knowledge.

Post-Modernism is the rejection of objective truth, clarity, wholeness, and certitude generated by modernists. They note that society thrives on ambiguity, relativity, fragmentation, particularity, and discontinuity.

Crotty, 1998

Are educational researchers in your field modernists or post-modernists?

Is it fair today to argue that society’s expectations for

schools and schooling remain firmly in the modern tradition?

Are the following paradigms or philosophies? • Positivism and post-positivism • Constructionism • Interpretivism as a debate about culture • Interpretivism as hermeneutics • Critical inquiry • Feminism

Are the following theories or philosophies? • Positivism and post-positivism • Constructionism • Interpretivism as a debate about culture • Interpretivism as hermeneutics • Critical inquiry • Feminism

Crotty calls these theoretical stances. Most other sources treat these as a mixture of philosophical (constructionism, modernism/postmodernism, positivism/post-positivism) and theoretical (critical, hermeneutic, interpretive analytic) stances.

Crotty, 1998

P-theory is the idea that multiple-paradigms exist and researchers are challenged by these authors to test and defend this proposition.

• Walker and Evers seem to purport that P-theory is false.

• Crotty seems to relegate the idea of paradigms to one small form of post-positivism (chapter 2 of his book).

Crotty, 1998; Walker & Evers, 1997

Many post-positivists, use the term paradigm to reflect our emerging model of stances. They privilege scientific inquiry over other forms of inquiry. They do not allow for other sorts of epistemological stances.

Kuhn, 1972

Epistemological stance

Ethical stance

Theoretical stance

Methodological stance

• A story of simple advancement, enacted by adding new data to those already on hand.

• A collection of objective, valid, unchangeable findings generated through a process of detachment and dedication.

Post-positivist science is NOT...

Kuhn, 1972

Post-positivist science IS...

• A reflection of radical shifts in how researchers define and understand reality.

• A collection of value-laden, interest-driven, fallible parameters that set boundaries for the systematic study of truth, reality, and meaning.

Kuhn, 1972

A dialogue between positivists and post-positivists remains today, even thought members of both discourse communities privilege scientific inquiry over other forms.

This does not mean we must adopt the objectivist epistemological stance if we believe that there is such a thing as “the world that is always there”.

We can ask whether we plan to study “the world”, “things in the world”, and/or “individual consciousness” and use the scientific method to explore such relations.

IF we agree that multiple paradigms exist with respect to educational research, we can ask about the relations between paradigms.

Given today’s understanding of paradigms, what is the relation between a paradigm and a philosophical stance?

If multiple paradigms exist, how do we reconcile evidence emerging from within and across these traditions? Should we embrace…

• oppositional diversity • complementary diversity • unity (or one best paradigm)

Thought Experiment

Walker & Evers, 1997

What is the meaning of construct validity across different stances?

Cherryholmes, 1988

Where do you stand today on the existence of paradigms?

Can you identify the qualities of the dominant epistemological, philosophical/theoretical, ethical, and possibly methodological assumptions operating in your discourse community?

Cherryholmes, C. H. (1988). Construct validity and the discourses of research. American Journal of Education, 96, 421-457.

Crotty, M. (1998). Foundations of social research: A conceptually oriented book. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The structure of scientific revolutions (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Originally published in 1962.]

Thorkildsen, T. A. (2005). The role of measurement in research. In T. A. Thorkildsen, Fundamentals of measurement in applied research (pp. 1-26). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Walker, J. C., & Evers, C. W., (1997). Research in education: Epistemological issues. In J. P. Keeves (Ed.), Educational research, methodology, and measurement: An international handbook (pp. 22-31). Oxford, UK: Pergamon.

References