The foundations of research
01 Jan 2010-
TL;DR: This book discusses the building blocks of research, the types and uses of theory in research, and academic standards, Plagiarism and Ethics in research.
Abstract: Introduction.- The Nature of Research.- The 'Nuts and Bolts' of Research.- Getting Started in Research.- The Building Blocks of Research.- Introducing the Key Research Paradigms.- The Types and Uses of Theory in Research.- Introducing Research Methods.- Academic Standards, Plagiarism and Ethics in Research.- Conclusion: Summary of Key Points.- Appendix 1: Stages of the Research Process.- Appendix 2: Glossary of Research Terms.- Bibliography.- Index.
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TL;DR: In this article, the philosophical underpinnings of three major educational research paradigms: scientific, interpretive, and critical are explored, and the interrelationships between each paradigm's ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods are discussed.
Abstract: This paper explores the philosophical underpinnings of three major educational research paradigms: scientific, interpretive, and critical. The aim was to outline and explore the interrelationships between each paradigm’s ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods. This paper reveals and then discusses some of the underlying assumptions of educational research. Consequently, this paper is relevant to every English language teacher who is a reader of research.
990 citations
Cites background from "The foundations of research"
...The world does not exist independently of our knowledge of it (Grix, 2004, p. 83)....
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...Researchers’ differing ontological and epistemological positions often lead to different research approaches towards the same phenomenon (Grix, 2004, p. 64)....
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01 Oct 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline the ontology, epistemology, ontology and paradigm and the origins, main tenets, and key thinkers of the three paradigms; positivist, interpetivist and critical.
Abstract: This article traces the underlying theoretical framework of educational research. It outlines the definitions of epistemology, ontology and paradigm and the origins, main tenets, and key thinkers of the 3 paradigms; positivist, interpetivist and critical. By closely analyzing each paradigm, the literature review focuses on the ontological and epistemological assumptions of each paradigm. Finally the author analyzes not only the paradigm’s weakness but also the author’s own construct of reality and knowledge which align with the critical paradigm. Key terms: Paradigm, Ontology, Epistemology, Positivism, Interpretivism The English Language Teaching (ELT) field has moved from an ad hoc field with amateurish research to a much more serious enterprise of professionalism. More teachers are conducting research to not only inform their teaching in the classroom but also to bridge the gap between the external researcher dictating policy and the teacher negotiating that policy with the practical demands of their classroom. I was a layperson, not an educational researcher. Determined to emancipate myself from my layperson identity, I began to analyze the different philosophical underpinnings of each paradigm, reading about the great thinkers’ theories and the evolution of social science research. Through this process I began to examine how I view the world, thus realizing my own construction of knowledge and social reality, which is actually quite loose and chaotic. Most importantly, I realized that I identify most with the critical paradigm assumptions and that my future desired role as an educational researcher is to affect change and challenge dominant social and political discourses in ELT. The following literature review is the product of my transformation from teacher to educational researcher. I will begin by defining the operational definitions of ontology, epistemology and paradigm. Then, I trace the origins, main tenets, and key thinkers of the 3 paradigms; positivist, interpetivist and critical, focusing on the ontological and epistemological assumptions of each paradigm. Through this analysis of different paradigms, I will expose not only each paradigm’s weakness but also my own construct of reality and knowledge. 1. ONTOLOGY, EPISTEMOLOGY AND PARADIGMS Simply put, one’s view of reality and being is called ontology and the view of how one acquires knowledge is termed epistemology. Ontology is the starting point which will likely lead to your own theoretical framework. For this paper, I employ Blaikie’s (as cited in Grix, 2004, p. 59) definition of ontology as the study of “claims and assumptions that are made about the nature of social reality, claims about what exists, what it looks like, what units make it up and how these units interact with each other.” In other words, if someone studies ontology they study what we mean when we say something exists. If ontologists study what we mean when we say something exists then an epistemologist studies what we mean when we say we know something. For this paper, I utilize Crotty’s definition of epistemology, defined as “the theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical perspective and thereby in the methodology” (1998, p. 3). Together, ontological and epistemological assumptions make up a paradigm. The term paradigm, first termed by Thomas Kuhn in his 1972 book, titled “The structure of Scientific Revolutions”, refers to an overall theoretical research framework. In this paper, I employ Bodgan & Biklen’s (as cited in Mackenzie and Knipe, 2001, p. 2) Polyglossia Volume 19, October 2010 6 definition of a paradigm as “a loose collection of logically related assumptions, concepts or propositions that orient thinking and research.” Why does one’s view of knowledge and social reality relate to educational research? One view is that the researcher’s intentions, goals and philosophical assumptions are inextricably linked with the research they do. Grix, (2004) warns that people who want to conduct clear, precise research and evaluate other’s research need to understand the philosophical underpinnings that inform their choice of research questions, methodology, methods and intentions (p. 57). Therefore, how one views the constructs of social reality and knowledge affects how they will go about uncovering knowledge of relationships among phenomena and social behavior and how they evaluate their own and other’s research. Crotty (1998) argues that researchers can choose which stage to begin at, ontological, epistemological, methods or methodology. Other authors stress that research is best conducted by identifying your ontological assumptions first. According to Grix (2004) research is best done by: setting out clearly the relationship between what a researcher thinks can be researched (her ontological position) linking it to what we can know about it (her epistemological position) and how to go about acquiring it (her methodological approach), you can begin to comprehend the impact your ontological position can have on what and how you decide to study (Grix, 2004, p. 68). Moreover your ontological assumptions inform your epistemological assumptions which inform your methodology and these all give rise to your methods employed to collect data. 2. THE POSITIVIST PARADIGM The positivist paradigm is also called the scientific paradigm. The purpose of research in this paradigm is to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Other characteristics of positivist research include an emphasis on the scientific method, statistical analysis, and generalizable findings. Furthermore, positivist research usually has a control and experimental group and a pre/test post method. The term positivism was first coined by the founder of positivism, Auguste Comte, the French philosopher who believed that reality can be observed. Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2007) claim that “Comte’s position was to lead to a general doctrine of positivism which held that all genuine knowledge is based on sense experience and can be advanced only by means of observation and experiment” (p. 9). Positivism maintains that the scientist is the observer of an objective reality. From this understanding of ontology, the methodology for observation in natural science was adopted for social science research. Main Thinkers Philosophy Aristotle Descartes Galileo Auguste Comte Vienna Circle Francis Bacon Karl Popper Deductive reasoning Realism Scientific method Positivism Logical positivism Inductive reasoning
387 citations
TL;DR: Stambulova et al. as mentioned in this paper compared elite French and Swedish athletes to study the financial and psychological impacts of their retirement from sport, and found that most athletes' time is dedicated to developing their sporting career, with very little time left to develop other aspects of their lives outside their sport.
Abstract: The requirements placed on Olympic and professional athletes in contemporary world sport are such that they need to dedicate themselves more and more to achieving excellence. This immediately implies that most athletes' time is dedicated to developing their sporting career, with very little time left to develop other aspects of their lives outside their sport. The reality facing many elite athletes is that few are sufficiently financially rewarded to allow them to make a living out of their sport, and even fewer can rely on measures in place in their own country to assist with the financial and psychological impacts of their retirement from sport [Stambulova, N., Stephan Y., and Japhag U. ‘Athletic Retirement: A Cross-National Comparison of Elite French and Swedish Athletes’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 8 (2007): 101–18.]. This places even more importance on the need for the athlete either to have a ‘dual career’ or to prepare for a post-athletic career while still participating in elite sport. The c...
210 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores the limitations of the previous approach to investigating barriers, looking at the research assumptions, definitional issues, conceptualizations, and methodological limitations and challenges present in some of these studies.
Abstract: A perennial question for management scholars, economists and policy makers alike is why businesses do or do not grow. One way of explaining why so many businesses do not grow is through the notion of `barriers'. In formerly planned European economies in transition, barriers have been used to account for why so few businesses grow and why the SME sector has not developed as widely or rapidly as expected; yet, studies in this context tell us very little about why, how or indeed, if, this is the case.This article explores the limitations of the previous approach to investigating barriers, looking at the research assumptions, definitional issues, conceptualizations, and methodological limitations and challenges present in some of these studies. It begins to develop and integrate the previous approach into a more rounded methodology, shifting the focus away from prediction to understanding, and away from quantifying what kinds of barriers affect growth to exploring how barriers may influence growth intentions and behaviours. It encourages researchers to unpack the meaning of barriers and to take into account the context in which they are perceived. It also aims to overcome some of the challenges encountered by researchers working in transition environments.
162 citations
TL;DR: A systematic review of engagement spanning a corpus of 351 articles and 102 definitions is presented, mapping the current state of engagement research, including the diverse interpretation, theory, and measurement of the concept.
Abstract: Engaging users is a priority for designers of products and services of every kind. The need to understand users’ experiences has motivated a focus on user engagement across computer science. However, to date, there has been limited review of how Human--Computer Interaction and computer science research interprets and employs the concept. Questions persist concerning its conception, abstraction, and measurement. This article presents a systematic review of engagement spanning a corpus of 351 articles and 102 definitions. We map the current state of engagement research, including the diverse interpretation, theory, and measurement of the concept. We describe the ecology of engagement and strategies for the design of engaging experiences, discuss the value of the concept and its relationship to other terms, and present a set of guidelines and opportunities for future research.
117 citations