![]() ![]() In the main, these inquirers felt that the constructivist stance did not go far enough in advocating for an action agenda to help marginalized peoples.It came from individuals who felt postpositivist assumptions imposed structural laws and theories that did not fit marginalized individuals.This position arose during the 1980´s and 1990´s.Rather than starting with a theory (as in postpositivism), inquirers inductively develop a theory.The researcher’s intent is to make sense of (or interpret) the meanings others have about the world.The goal of the research is to rely as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation being studied.These meanings are varied and multiple, leading the researcher to look for the complexity of views rather than narrowing meanings into a few categories or ideas.Social constructivists believe that individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work, developing subjective meanings of their experiences.The Social Construction of Reality and Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry. Based on the ideas of Mannheim and from works such as Berger and Luekmann’s (1967).The knowledge that develops through a postpositivist lens is based on empirical observation and measurement of the objective reality that exists “out there” in the world.It is reductionistic in that the intent is to reduce the ideas into a small, discrete set to test, such as the variables that comprise hypotheses and research questions.Postpositivists hold a deterministic philosophy in which causes (probably) determine effects or outcomes. ![]() Called post-positivism since it represents the thinking after positivism, challenging the traditional notion of the absolute truth of knowledge (Phillips & Burbules, 2000).It represents the traditional form of research (scientific method).This tradition comes from 19th-century (Comte, Mill, Durkheim, Newton, and Locke).The main Worldviews (Creswell, 2013) are: In the case of researchers following a transformative worldview, qualitative methods deeply grounded in critical theories, are the most common ones. Post-positivism calls for interventionist quantitative studies, while constructivism prefers qualitative hermeneutical studies, and pragmatists matches methods to specific questions and purposes of research by using mixed methods. These ontological and epistemological assumptions have a direct impact in the methodology used in a given study. Finally, a transformative worldview acknowledges that since there is an interactive link between researcher and participants, and knowledge is socially and historically situated, there is a clear need to address issues of power and trust. Pragmatism on its side, understands that relationships in research are determined by what the researcher deems as appropriate to a particular given study. Constructivists on the contrary, believe that there should be an interactive link between researcher and participants, and that since knowledge is socially and historically situated, it needs to address issues of power and trust. Finally, those following a transformative worldview reject cultural relativism and recognize that various versions of reality are based on social positioning.įrom an epistemological point of view, post-positivists believe that objectivity is key and than the researcher manipulates and observes in a dispassionate objective manner. Pragmatism asserts that there is a single reality and that all individuals have their own unique interpretation of reality. Your ontological assumptions inform your epistemological assumptions which inform your methodology and these all give rise to your methods employed to collect data.įrom an ontological point of view, post-positivism understands that there is one reality which is knowable within a specific level of probability, while constructivism understands that the nature of reality is multiple and socially constructed. 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. Guba (1990) describes a paradigm or worldview as "a basic set of beliefs that guide action.” That basic set of beliefs of the researcher is based on his ontological (What is the nature of reality?) and epistemological assumptions (What is the nature of knowledge and the relationship between the knower and the would-be known?). ![]() The worldview of the researcher as well as his/her adscription to a particular Interpretive Community (if so) is going to have a deep impact in the decisions and inquiry procedures he/she will put in practice. Researchers bring to their studies their particular way of understanding how things work in our world, and the way knowledge is constructed. ![]()
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