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An Overview of Research Paradigm of Three Research Approaches By: Tri Edy Kesumo R. (0704793) Introduction This paper presents an overview of research paradigm of three research approaches taken mainly from a handbook of ‘study guide’ of Issues and Methods in Research and some other research books as well as websites to support the theories stated within the guidance book. The purpose of this paper is to get in-depth understanding of research paradigm of three research approaches and to know some theories of research to be able to conduct it well as a part main project in post graduate school. The aspects covert in this paper are the theory of research paradigm and two major research approaches to organizational research and three main approaches of the frame work around which the unit is organized group research methodologies, they are; the empiricist approach, the interpretative approach, and the critical approach. The group research methodologies will be discussed more to obtain a detail description deal with some theories related to the research methodologies. Research Paradigm A paradigm is a basic set of beliefs that guide action. It is deal with the first principles, or ultimate. They are human construction. They define the worldview of the researcher as interpretive bricoleur (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). These beliefs can never be established in term of their ultimate trutfulness. Two terms often used to describe the major research approaches to management or organizational research are quantitative and qualitative. Within management and organizational studies the quantitative approach is seen as objectives, that is relating to 1 phenomenon or conditions independent of individual thought and perceptible to all observers, and relying on statistics. On the other hand the qualitative approach is seen as subjective, relating to experience or knowledge as conditioned by personal mental characteristics or states, and preferring language and description. As (Eric Williams, 1998) states that this approach involves the examination of perceptions in order to gain an understanding of social and human activities There are three main approaches of the frame work around which the unit is organized group research methodologies, they are; the empiricist approach, the interpretative approach, and the critical approach. The Empiricist Approach The empiricist approach emphasizes careful and controlled observation as the basis of knowledge. The observer is dispassionate and independent of the object of observation. Knowledge is objective, generalisable and can be used to predict and control future events. 1. The Empiricist Approach in Context Empiricism is a broad term which can be taken to mean the position that knowledge is in some way based upon experience. It can best be taught as a continuum with positivism occupying its most tough-mind end. Empiricist is not about methods of inquiry; it is about the logical justification of knowledge claims. In supporting his/her justification the empiricist researchers were concerned to find out as much as possible about media audiences, in much the same terms as advertisers today, they seek information from, number of people, age, sex, social status, occupation, leisure and so on. By taking information from the sources, they tended to be used to support studies into the effectiveness of communication, rules for increasing effective campaigns and so on, http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/empism.html 2 There is a bias assumption, particularly in psychology, that empiricism is the same as normative. Empiricist research methods are still the most widely-taught to students in the human sciences. The empiricist approach is the least self-reflective or self critical. Empiricism: major defining features Modern empiricist thought is characterized by a spectrum of positions. Firstly in ontological terms it takes a ‘realist’ rather than ‘relativist’ approach to the nature of reality, it asserts that in some form reality exists independently of our knowledge of it. Secondly in epistemological terms, the empiricist view asserts that knowledge is impersonal and objective and can be transmitted independently of personal experience. In contrast, an interpretive view would be that knowledge is personal and subjective and must be experienced in order to be understood (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Thirdly the view of human action in the world embraced by an empiricist view is one derived from the natural sciences where events have causes. It is characterized by philosophical determinism, where human behavior is viewed as the lawful outcome of antecedent environmental events (Reber, 1995). There are varying approaches taken to the nature of theory. Some influential empiricist writers hold the view that ‘the basic aim of science is theory’. Theory is complex construction, consisting of sets of related propositions held together by associations, hypothesized causal relationships and supporting assumptions. 2. Getting Down to Measurement Levels of research There are three levels of research, they are; (1) Exploratory research (It is represents in the understanding of a phenomenon of interest to the researcher, develops an introductory conceptual framework, clarifies the boundaries of phenomenon), (2) Descriptive research (It focuses upon ‘how thing are’), and (3) Explanatory research ( It aims to answer ‘Why’ question, to uncover the causal framework underlying a pattern of events. 3 Independent and dependent variables To assess variable(s) in research, we have to be able to identify each variable that we are going to investigate. The variables can be classified as dependent and independent variable. The independent variable is the major variable that we are going to investigate which we believe will affect the other variables. The independent variables are those that are deliberately manipulated to invoke a change in the dependent variables. It is variable which is selected, manipulated, and measured by the researcher (Hatch and Farhady, 1982). On the other hand, the dependent variable is the variable which we observe and measure to determine the effect of the independent variable. Furthermore, The dependent variables are those that are observed to change in response to the independent variables (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_and_independent_variables). The distinction between dependent and independent variables is crucial in research design. We should be able to link back to the statement of the hypothesis discussed. The hypothesis will state the relationship between the variables under study in term of which is independent variable and which is the dependent variable. Evaluating measurement: reliability and validity Two keys criteria of the confidence which can be placed in measurement are reliability and validity. Reliability can be defined as the extent to which a test produced consistent results when administered under similar condition (Hatch & Farhady, 1982). In line with Hatch and Farhady, (Mcmillan & Schumacher, 2001) reliability refers to the consistency of measurement, the extent to which the scores are similar over different forms of the same instrument or occasion of data collection. There are two theories of reliability, they are classical and generalizability which deal with similar concepts but in different ways. And the validity refers to the extent to which the results of the procedures serve the uses for which they were intended. As Mcmillan & Schumacher, It refers to the results of the test not to the test itself. Validity is a judgement of the appropriateness of a measure for specific inference, decision, consequences, that result from the score that are generated. 4 There are three basic types of validity, they are content validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity. Ethical consideration in research Ethics deal with beliefs about what is right or wrong, proper or improper, good or bad. There is some degree of disagreement about how to define what is ethically correct in research. For all types of research, there are important ethical considerations pertaining to the reporting of findings to your research colleagues, the treatment of the subjects and general social; and political consideration. Ethical considerations are generic-informed consent and protecting participants’ anonymity as well as situation specific (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). In many other kinds of social science research, ethical issues are much more to the fore. Moreover when you are studying peoples’ behavior or asking them questions, not only the value of the researcher but also the researchers’ responsibilities to those studied have to be faced. 3. Choosing a Research Design: Options for Data Collection Research design There are some research designs of the most common in the human science field; a. Survey research, which involves of collecting information from a sample about a population, generally by using a structured or semi-structured questionnaire or Well-designed interviews with clinicians, patients, and family caregivers can provide illuminating data. b. Case study research, it involves an in-depth study of a single or restricted number of cases, using a variety of data gathering method. It is a case study of what you called a case, in a case, you don not have anything else to call it (Nunan cited in Jaeger, 1988). 5 Like any other observational study, the aim was to gather first-hand information about social processes in a naturally occurring context. There are three types of case study (Silverman cited in Stake, 2000), they are; 1. the intrinsic case study, no attempt is made to generalize beyond the single case or even to build theory. 2. the instrumental case study, in which a case is examined mainly to provide insight into an issue or to revise a generalization. Although the case selected is studied in depth, the main focus is something else. 3. the collective case study, where a number of cases are studied in order to investigate some general phenomenon. c. Experimental and quasi-experimental research, which involves the control and manipulation of an independent variable. The experimental research is the best approach for determining causal effect of an isolated, single variable or something (McMillan & Schumacher, 2001). This is because of the potential for a high degree of control of variables and the power of manipulation of variables. Furthermore (McMillan & Schumacher) defines some steps in defining a research problem, they are; 1. search the literature and state clear hypothesis. It is essential research be guided by research hypothesis that that state the expected result. 2. select subject from a defined population and depend on the specific design used. A sample experimental study involve two groups, one called experimental or treatment group and the other referred to a control or comparison group. d. Ex post facto research, refers to the study which investigate possible cause and effect relationship by observing an existing condition or state of affairs and searching back in time for plausible casual factors. Moreover, (Cohen & Manion (1994) cited in Kerlibger (1970)) has defined ex post facto research as that in which the independent 6 variables have already occurred and in which the researcher starts with the observation of dependent variable(s). It investigates the antecedents of an event which has already happened. It is used to study potential causal relationships after a presumed cause has occurred. In ex post research subjects are selected on the basis of the group they were in at one time; there is probably no random assignment of subjects to different group, and there is no active manipulation of the independent variable. In judging the adequacy of the ex post facto research it will be helpful to keep the following questions in mind. The questions are organized to focus your attention on the most important criteria in designing and evaluating this type of research. 1. Was the primary purpose of the study to investigate cause-and-effect relationship? 2. Have the presumed cause-and-effect conditions already occurred? 3. Was there manipulation of the independent variable? 4. Were group being compared already different with respect to the independent variable? 5. Were potential extraneous variables recognized and considered as plausible rival hypotheses? 6. Were causal statements regarding he results made tenuously? 7. Were treats to external validity addressed in the conclusions? e. Analysis of data bases and records, which uses information collected by organizations which can land itself to a variety of descriptive and explanatory research strategies. It is a process of bringing order, structure, and interpretation to a mass of collected data is messy, ambiguous, time-consuming, creative, and fascinating. It does not proceed in a linear fashion (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). This section of the research proposal should describe initial decision about data analysis and should convince the reader that the researcher’s knowledge of qualitative analysis 7 encompasses data organization, theme development and interpretation, and report writing. Data gathering technique There are three techniques in gathering data; 1. Questionnaire, it is used to learn about the distribution of characteristics, attitude, or beliefs. In deciding to survey a group of people, researchers make one critical assumption that the characteristic or belief can be described or measured accurately through selfreporting. In using questionnaire, the researchers rely totally on the honesty and accuracy of participants’ responses. The structure of questionnaire is most often associated with empiricist survey research and it is the most common data-gathering techniques in human science. 2. Interview, Closed item interviews usually can be analyzed using quantitative techniques. Semi-structured, open ended and the instrument cognitive testing technique requires qualitative techniques. Semi-structured interviews ask questions which suggest short answers, but the instrument does not provide a set of choices of answers. Sometimes semi-structured interviews can be pre-coded and entered into quantitative databases. If not, content analysis is the preferred technique for understanding your data. Winters, 1997 is an example of research using semi-structured interviews. Open-ended interviews invite long answers. Pre-coding loses the rich detail in the data. Open-ended interviews always require qualitative analysis techniques. (For a summary table of data analysis techniques click here). Any recent edition of Social Research Update is always a good source of interview techniques The important aspects of good interviews are: To sample the correct population; To ask questions that give you the specific data you need; 8 To ask questions which the respondents understand as having the same meaning as you (the researcher) understand in these questions; To have well-trained and appropriate interviewers; and To conduct the interviews at a time and place where both the interviewer and the respondent can concentrate. 3. Observation, in gathering information the observational method relies on a researcher’s seeing and sharing things and recording these observations, rather than relying on subjects’ self-report responses to questions or statements. The primary advantages of using observational methods are that the researcher does not need to worry about the limitations of self report bias, social desirability, or response set, and the information is not limited to what can be recalled accurately by the subjects. Observational research is expensive and difficult to conduct reliability for complex behavior. And the first step in developing and observational study is to define in precise terms what will be observed. There are five types in defining the behavior to be observed, they are; 1. Duration recording 2. Frequency-count recording 3. Interval recording 4. Continuous observation 5. Time sampling 4. Data Presentation and Analysis The outcome of quantitative analysis is numbers. Data is presented in term of figure. Once data have been presented descriptively the further option remains of data analysis by statistical methods. These are discussed in term of the major ’families’ of statistical 9 analysis, the kinds of data to which they can be applied and the kinds of questions they can answer. Data analysis is an ongoing cyclical process integrated into all phases of qualitative research. Qualitative analysis is a relatively systematic process of selecting, categorizing, comparing, synthesizing, and interpreting to provide explanations of the single phenomenon of interest. Qualitative data analyses very widely because of the different research foci, purpose, data collection strategies, and mode of qualitative inquiry. The Interpretive Approach The interpretative approach emphasizes on social interaction as the basis for knowledge. The researcher uses her/his skills as a social actor to understand the objective world of others, especially the meaning which exist for them and the beliefs which they hold. Knowledge is subjective, constructed by mutual negotiation and specific to the situation under investigation. Humans act intentionally. It is held that there is a crucial difference in describing human behavior and in understanding human action. Furthermore, if human behaviors are to be effectively understood they must be recognized as international and thus what the people believe themselves to be doing must be a part of researching what is happening. According to (Mary Jeanne, 2004), there are nine purposes approach to interpretive planning, they are; 1. Identify strategic objectives for area of interest . 2. Perform an interpretive resource inventory. 3. Formulate interpretive objectives . 4. Define interpretive framework including significance statements, themes, subthemes, story lines, and sense of place 5. Define visitor profiles . 6. Later determine planned visitor experiences 10 7. Choose sites or venues to lay out the interpretive strategy . 8. Define interpretive programming 9. Define operational elements of planning . 1. The Nature of the Interpretive Approach In human science the interpretive approach places a priority on searching for, uncovering, interpreting and illuminating the meaning of what is happening, being done, being understood or being interpreted by the participants in the social activities being studied. Qualitative research has the following characteristics (Burgess, 1985); the researcher works in a natural setting, studies may be designed and redesigned, the research is concerned with social processes and with meaning, data collection and data analysis occur simultaneously. 2. Data Definition and Gathering Phenomenology The phenomenology seeks to define the basic nature of the sign we interpret (Joniak cited in Lindolf, 1995). And it focuses on the way that humans interact with the world of phenomena, empirical objects and events to which they give meaning. Phenomenology is then the study of the meaning of these phenomena to those people being studied. Culture is immersed in affect the context in which an agent creates meaning about the sign. The creation of meaning by the agent is a mental activity which depends on a ‘primitive phenomenology’ (Denzin, 1994) Ethnomethodology The field of ethnomethodology grew out the seeds of phenomenology (Denzin, 1995). Both ethnomethodology and phenomenology are built on the principles of eidetic science. 11 Ethnomethodology focuses on the ‘rules’ that the people sharing a culture use in running their social interaction. It has a purpose to increase the understanding of taken for grated or implicit practices in a society (Field and Morse, 1985). Symbolic interactionism This interpretative research focuses on the ways that people interact through using symbols to carry their meaning, interpret others’ and try to control the patterns of the interactions. Symbolic interactionism eamines the creation of meaning through interaction with symbols. Semiotics takes that examination to the level of science. It provides a se of assumptions and concept that permit systematic analysis of symbolic system (Denzin, 1994). Like symbolic interactionism and the qualitative paradigm, semiotics embrances the view that meaning is not inherent in any sign or text. 3.Data Analysis Qualitative data analysis is primarily an inductive process of organizing the data into categories and identifying pattern among the categories. As McMillan &Schumacher (2001) states that most categories and pattern emerge from the data, rather than being imposed on the data prior to data collection. The following are keys ideas and practices relating to two position on interpreting data analysis; categorization and codification and portrayal/narrative. Categorization and codification Very analytic Purpose to help in generation of hypotheses, theories and explanations Reports in form of coded analytic grounded theories 12 Categorization is important that the categorizing of data is not only based on decisions about their meaning but also that these meanings shall be given them by the participants. Portrayal or narrative. Very descriptive Propose to provoke vicarious experience Report in form of contextualized stories The portrayal of interpretive information gained prominence in the context of evaluation research. The essential differences between the coded analysis of the interpretive data And a descriptive portrayal is in the primacy given to the intentions and audiences of interpretive research. 4.Conclusions, Ethics and ‘The Real Thing’ Conclusions There are twelve ‘tactics for generating meaning’ from field work data Miles and Huberman (1984). 1. Counting 2. Noting pattern, themes 3. Seeing plausibility 4. Clustering 5. Making metaphors 6. Splitting variables 7. Subsuming particulars into the general 8. Factoring 9. Noting relations between variables 10. Finding intervening variables 11. Building a logical chain of evidence 12. Making conceptual/theoretical coherence 13 And also there are twelve ‘tactics for testing or confirming findings’. 1. Checking for representative ness 2. Checking for research effects 3. Triangulating 4. Weighting the evidence 5. Making contrast/comparisons 6. Checking the meaning of ‘outliers’ 7. Using extreme cases 8. Ruling out spurious relations 9. Replicating a finding 10. Checking out rival explanations 11. Looking for negative evidence 12. Getting feedback from informants Ethics Ethics are considered to deal with beliefs about what is right or wrong, proper or improper, good or bad. There is some degree of agreement about how to define what is ethically correct in research. The conclusion and implications to be drawn from a study are largely grounded in the moral and political beliefs of the researcher (Silverman, 2005). In many other kinds of social science research, ethical issues are much more to the fore. There are three ways of formulating research problem (Silverman, 2005). 1. Decide what is the purpose of research. 2. Examine which individuals or groups might be interested by the research topic. 3. Consider what are the implications for these parties of framing research. 14 The Critical Approach The critical approach shares the assumptions of interpretive approach but adds a further element. Knowledge is problematic and capable of systematic distortion. It can never be value-free but always represents the interest of some group in the society and has the potential to be either oppressive or emencipatory. Critical Theory has a narrow and a broad meaning in philosophy and in the history of the social sciences. A “critical” theory may be distinguished from a “traditional” theory according to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human emancipation, “to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them” (Horkheimer in James Bohman, 2005). Because such theories aim to explain and transform all the circumstances that enslave human beings, many “critical theories” in the broader sense have been developed. They have emerged in connection with the many social movements that identify varied dimensions of the domination of human beings in modern societies. In qualitative research, Critical approach employ probing and data gathering techniques developed over the course of having facilitated thousands of discussion sessions. Their broad experience and well-honed moderating skills allow us to flesh out the details and provide clients with answers to their most challenging business questions and problems. According to Mary Ellen & Fitz Gerald (2008), Critical approach encompasses both traditional, as well as more innovative, non-traditional methodologies in the area of qualitative research, including: Traditional Focus Groups Non traditional data gathering In-depth interviewing 15 1. The Evaluation of Research as Praxis Neither of the conventional research paradigms is sufficiently critical nor appropriately directed ideologically to ameliorate or to liberate. The social and political function of the critical research approach is emancipatory. Critical research is designed to involve and inform people about the strategic actions necessary to promote their emancipation from forms of life which perpetuate irrationality, social justice and exploitation in all its forms. Unlike its more conventional contemporaries, the critical research approach is openly ideological, socially critical, overtly political, and emancipatory in orientation. It provides the means by which practitioners can participate in explaining and challenging sources of domination and exploitation that are institutionalized and legitimated by policy. 2. Contesting the Foundations of Research- as- praxis The concept of research as emancipatory praxis is not uncontested. It is a critical theory foundation of emancipatory praxis, raising as it has quite penetrating critique of positivist and interpretive research methodologies, is not itself beyond criticism. It is the rejection of positivism, or the ‘positivist restriction of the idea of science’, that has been prominent in the theoretical foundations of critical social science since its foundation in the 1920s. It is the dominance of positivist thought which is prominently critiqued in the critical literature. Lakomski provides a challenging critique of this apparent superiority of critical social science which focuses on the ground at which the notion of cognitive interests is based. It is a serious questioning of the validity of the epistemological basis of critical theory and weather there is a second rationale for making an epistemological distinction between paradigms of specific inquiry. 16 3. Designs and Methods of Critical Research Key features of a critical praxis research methodology are participatory, critical reflective on self understandings and politically emancipatory. A prerequisite to emancipatory praxis research is for democratic structure and relationships to be in place in a particular organization, institutions or social collective. Some appropriate strategic action in promoting democratic structure are mobilization, motivation, politicization. Facilitated praxis is introduced by Comstock as a form of democratic and critical research. It promotes a view of democracy in research which is at variance with that of emancipatory praxis. It describes a critical research design which requires the ‘guidance’ of an expert researcher to enlighten her/his ‘subject’ as to the irrationally and injustice of their social situations. 4. A Feminist Approach to Critical Research Feminism involves an active desire to change women’s position in society and is a social movement which works towards these changes. The logical extension of this is that feminist research can never be conducted by men, because they are bereft of a feminist consciousness. This prevents them from viewing reality in the way women do. There are four orientations to feminist research. 1. Radical feminism, which hold the gender exploitation is the original and the most profound form of exploitation and is the archetype of all operation. 2. Socialist feminism, which views gender, racial and class operation as varying but related manifestations of capitalist economic exploitation. 3. Liberal feminism, maintains that barriers to women liberation can be eliminated without changing the capitalist structure and those change can occur within ‘the system’ through reform and education. 17 4. Cultural feminism, which is separatist position that maintains that women cannot achieve liberation in a patriarchial culture; liberation can occur only within a matrifocal culture. Conclusion From the above explanation, it is clear that there are some approaches that can be used to do research. The approach that we are going to used will depend on the topic issue which we plan to study, the objective of our study, and the suitableness of the approach with our study, whether it is accord with the empiricist, the interpretive or the critical approach. The empiricist is about the logical justification of knowledge claims. It can be seen from its characterization (realist, impersonal and objective, and natural science). Some empiricist writers hold the view that the basic aim of science is theory. The interpretivists emphasize research on social interaction as the basis for knowledge. Knowledge is subjective, constructed by mutual negotiation and specific to the situation under investigation. The criticalists believe that knowledge is problematic and capable of systematic distortion. Critical approach encompasses both traditional, as well as more innovative, non-traditional methodologies in the area of qualitative research, Bibliography Burrell, Gibson and Morgan, Gereth (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Element of the Sociology of Corporate Life. London: Heinemann. Cohen, L. & Manion, L., (1994). Research Method in Education. Great Britain: Biddle Ltd. Denzin, N.K., (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oak:oxford University Press Field and Morse, (1985). Nursing Research: The Application of Qualitative Approaches. 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