This document discusses different research paradigms and methodologies. It begins by outlining the nature of inquiry, including problem identification, various research approaches, and conceptions of social reality. It then summarizes positivism and different qualitative paradigms like phenomenology, ethnomethodology, and symbolic interactionism. Critical theory and feminist research are also briefly introduced. Key differences between research and evaluation are highlighted. The relationships between research, politics, and policy-making are noted. Finally, methods are defined as tools for research while methodology guides research practices and principles.

1. THE NATURE OF
INQUIRY

2. Problem
Asking for information
To find solution

3. Research
• Scientific & Positivistic methodology
• Naturalistic & Interpretive methodology
• Methodologist from Critical Theory

4. Research is concerned with :
• Understanding the world
• How we view our world
• What we take understanding to be
• What we see as the purpose of understanding

5. The Search for Truth
( Mouly 1978 )
1. Experience
2. Reasoning
3. Research

6. 1. Experience
Scientist Laypeople
Construct their theories systematically No attempt when trying to explain an
occurence
Concerns with such relationship are :
Serious
Systematic
Use technique and procedures
Concerns with such relationship are :
Loose
Unsystematic
Uncontrolled

7. 2. Reasoning
• Deductive
• Inductive
• Combined inductive – deductive

8. 3. Research
Research has 3 characteristics :
• Experience
Research is systematic and controlled
• Empirical
based on reality
• Self-correcting
combination of both experience and reasoning

9. 2 conceptions of Social Reality
ONTOLOGICAL EPISTEMOLOGICAL
Concern with : social phenomena Concern with : communication
“is it reality?”
“is it created by one’s own mind?”
“is it possible to communicate the nature of
knowledge?”

10. Positivism
That all genuine knowledge is based on sense of experience
,and can only be advanced by
Observation and experiment
( Auguste Comte )

11. Giddens (1975)
• Scientist as an observer of social reality
• Their analysis must be expressed in Laws

12. THE ASSUMPTIONS AND
THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
The assumption of determinism
The assumption of empiricism
The assumption of the principle of parsimony
The assumption of generality

13. TWO BROAD VIEWS OF
SCIENCE
Statistic
Dynamic

14. THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE
 Concepts
 Hypothesis

15. THE SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
 A scientific approach necessarily involves standards and procedures

16. CRITICISMS OF POSITIVISM
AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The positivist paradigm has been allowed to exert on areas
of our intellectual life.
Positivism’s concern for control and
Its appeal to the passivity of behaviourism
and for instrumental reason.

17. Phenomenology,
Ethnomethodology and
Symbolic Interactionism
 The Explanation of Phenomenology
 The Explanation of
Ethnomethodology
 The Explanation of Symbolic
Interactionism

18. The Explanation of
Phenomenology
Phenomenology is a theoretical
point of view that advocates the
study of direct experience taken
at face value

19. The Explanation of
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is concerned
with the world of everyday life
and how people make sense of
their everyday world.

20. The Explanation of Symbolic
Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism a Symbol of
interacting which is produced and
represented by people in the external
world.

21. CRITICAL THEORY AND CRITICAL
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
F A Y, 1 9 8 7 A N D M O R R I S O N , 1 9 9 5
CRITICAL THEORY:
P R E S C R I P T I V E
N O R M A T I V E
E N T A I L I N G A V I E W O F W H A T B E H A V I O U R I N A
S O C I A L D E M O C R A C Y S H O U L D E N T A I L

22. THE INTENTION
To realize a society that is based on equality and
democracy for all its members.

23. THE PURPOSE
To change the situation and phenomena

24. IN PARTICULAR IT SEEKS:
To emancipate the disempowered
To redress inequality
To promote individual freedoms within a
democratic society

25. SUBSTANSIVE AGENDA
Examining and interogating:
The relationship between school and society
Perpetuate or reduce inequality
The social construction and curricula
How power is produced and reproduced through
education

26. CRITICISMS OF APPROACH FROM CRITICAL
THEORY
A critique of this approach is the view that critical
theory has a deliberate political agenda
The task of the researcher is not to be an
ideologue or to have an agenda, but to be
dispassionate, disinterested and objective.
(Morrison, 1995a)

27. CRITICAL THEORY AND CURRICULUM RESEARCH
The curriculum is a selection of what is deemed to
be worthwhile knowledge.
Curriculum is an ideological selection from a
range of possible knowledge.

28. A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR CRITICAL THEORIST IS
How the curriculum perpetuates the societal
status quo
how can it (and should it) promote equality in
society

29. A SUMMARY OF THE THREE PARADIGMS11
Feminist Research

30. Feminist research challenges the
legitimacy of research that does not
empower oppressed and otherwise
invisible groups—women.

31. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
 The Definition of Research and Evaluation
 The Differences between Evaluation and Research from Several
Commentators
 Similarities and Differences in Research and Evaluation


32. THE DEFINITION OF RESEARCH AND
EVALUATION
 Research
A systematic controlled, empirical, and critical way to
search the truth of natural phenomena in our
environment.
 Evaluation
A systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and
significance, using criteria governed by a set of
standards.

33. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EVALUATION AND
RESEARCH FROM SEVERAL COMMENTATORS
Smith and Glass (1987) offer eight main differences:
1. The intents and purposes of the investigation
2. The scope of the investigation evaluation
3. Values in the investigation Research
4. The origins of the study Research
5. The uses of the study
6. The timeliness of the study Evaluation
7. Criteria for judging the study Evaluation
8. The agendas of the study

34. NORRIS (1990) REPORTS
AN EARLIER PIECE OF WORK BY GLASS AND WORTHEN
 The motivation of the enquirer Research
 The objectives of the search Research
 Laws versus description Research
 The role of explanation Proper and useful evaluation
 The autonomy of the inquiry Evaluation
 Properties of the phenomena that are assessed
Evaluation
 University of the phenomena studied Research
 Salience of the value question in Evaluation
 Investigative techniques
 Criteria for assessing the activity
 Disciplinary base

35. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
IN RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
Evaluation Research
Area of Application Application of the examination
as wide as possible
Application of the examination
as wide as possible
Narrow application of findings
focused in the project
Application of findings as wide
as possible
Aim of providing concrete
feedback
Aim of increasing the body of
scientific knowledge
Theory Field-dependent: theory used
to enlarge the understanding
of findings
Theory-dependent derived from
of aspiring to theory
Methodology Evaluation setting and data
collection methods derived
from the field.
Research setting and data
collection methods derived and
theory.
The evaluator is reactive The researcher is activate
Generalization Attempt to understand what is
happening in a specific project
Attempt formulate a general law,
external validity is important
Relevance Useful for the project Increase of scientific knowledge
Causality Stresses internal validity; that
which is an artefact in
research is seen as an internal
Internal validity is important;
stress is on a small number of
causal variables in isolation from

36. EVALUATIVE RESEARCH OR APPLIED
RESEARCH
 Evaluative Research:
Evaluative Research seeks to assess or judge in
some way, providing useful information about
something other than might be gleaned in mere
observation or investigation of relationships.
 Applied research:
A form of systematic inquiry involving the
practical application of science.

37. RESEARCH, POLITICS AND POLICY-MAKING
 Research and politics intertwine, the relationships
between educational research, politics and policy-
making are complex.
 A significant tension between research and policy-
makers.
 The issue of the connection between research and
politics.

38. METHODS AND METHODOLOGY
The Definition of Methods
The Definition of Methodology
The Aim of Methodology

39. THE DEFINITION OF METHODS
 Methods are the tools, techniques or processes
that we use in our research. These might be, for
example, surveys, interviews, Photo voice, or
participant observation. Methods and how they are
used are shaped by methodology.

40. THE DEFINITION OF METHODOLOGY
 Methodology is the study of how research is done,
how we find out about things, and how knowledge is
gained. In other words, methodology is about the
principles that guide our research practices.
Methodology therefore explains why we’re using
certain methods or tools in our research.

41. THE AIM OF METHODOLOGY
 The aim is to help us to understand, in the
broadest possible terms, not the products of
scientific inquiry but the process itself.

42. NORMATIVE INTERPRETIVE CRITICAL
Quantitative
Generalizing
(Based on reality)
Use numeric data
Corcern to : behavior
Society
Qualitative
Interpreting
(based on reality, without
numerical data)
Actions rather than
causes
Individual
(personal involvement of
the researcher)
Critiquing
(based on problem)
To improve the
condition to make it
better
Action and interest
Political