UNIT 1: NATURE OF INQUIRY
D. Research Paradigms
One of the main considerations in research is to take into account the philosophical worldview underpinning it entailing post positivism, constructivism, transformative and pragmatism. Prior to the emergence of these research paradigms, the academia is surrounded by two major research paradigms which seem outdated, namely positivism and subjectivism (Interpretism). The conventional type of research has been characterized by postpositivist assumptions, and these assumptions hold true more for quantitative research than for qualitative research. This viewpoint is also known as the scientific method or doing scientific study.
Positivist/postpositivist research, empirical science, and post positivism are other names for it. Postpositivists believe in determinism, which holds those causes (probably) influence effects or outcomes. As a result, the challenges examined by postpositivists reflect the necessity to identify and evaluate the reasons that impact outcomes, such as those discovered in experiments.
Constructivism or social constructivism (sometimes coupled with interpretivism), on the other hand, is commonly regarded as a method for doing qualitative research. Individuals, according to social constructivists, seek comprehension of the world in which they live and work. Individuals form subjective meanings from their experiences, meanings that are oriented
Research Methods in ELT ∼ 3 toward certain objects or things. These meanings are diverse and many, prompting the researcher to explore for the complexities of perspectives rather than limiting meanings into a few categories or concepts.
A transformational worldview argues that in order to challenge social injustice at any level, scholarly inquiry must be linked with politics and a political reform agenda. As a result, the study includes a reform action agenda that has the potential to transform the lives of the participants, the institutions in which they work or live, and the researcher's life. Furthermore, particular themes that relate to major societal issues of the day, such as empowerment, inequality, oppression, dominance, repression, and alienation, must be addressed.
Rather than prior circumstances, pragmatism as a worldview emerges through acts, situations, and outcomes (as in postpositivism). There is a worry about applications—what works—and problem-solving solutions. Instead of focusing on techniques, researchers highlight the research problem and employ all possible ways to solve it.
Figure 1: Research Paradigms1
One of the approaches to help researcher think holistically abut their research methodologies and to make methodological decisions as their going from outer to the deeper layers of the onion. Research onion was
1 J.W. Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (Pearson, 2015),
https://books.google.co.id/books?id=5pYEngEACAAJ.
4 ~ Kasyfur Rahman, Soni Ariawan, Ribahan
first popularized by Saunders et al2 which offers layers of research methodologies from philosophical decisions up to the technical and practical decisions. The research onion advises that an acceptable research be chosen once the right technique has been chosen. The deductive technique begins with the formulation of a specific hypothesis based on the literature review that has been noticed by the researcher, and then attempts to test this hypothesis and see if it holds in certain circumstances. The inductive technique, on the other hand, begins with observations that the researcher utilizes to develop a new hypothesis.
Following that, the researcher is supposed to develop the study's approach. According to the research onion, techniques might include action research, experimental research, interviews, surveys, case study research, or a comprehensive literature review. The approach is determined depending on the data needed for the research and the study's aim. The research onion suggests mono-method, mixed method and multi-method as possible choices for conducting research. The mono- method comprises only one method for the study. The mixed method is based on the use of two or more methods of research and commonly refers to the use of qualitative and quantitative methodology. Finally, the multi-method uses a wider selection of methods. The term "time horizon" refers to the research's time period. Observations may be classified into two categories based on their temporal horizons: cross- sectional and longitudinal. When all observations are for a single moment in time, such as in most surveys, cross-sectional data is utilized.
Longitudinal data, on the other hand, refers to observations for a certain variable that span multiple years, quarters, months, or days. This is the final layer of the research onion and consists of the techniques and procedures used. It is used to clearly explain the ways and purposes of the research conducted. At this stage, the student is expected to choose between the primary and secondary data and between qualitative and quantitative data collected from different sources. Data is considered the central piece in the research onion framework.
2 Mark Saunders, PHILIP Lewis, and ADRIAN Thornhill, “Research Methods,” Business Students 4th edition Pearson Education Limited, England (2007).
Research Methods in ELT ∼ 5 Figure 2 The Research Onion3
The collection of principles governing the worldview or attitude from which the study is done is referred to as philosophy. Ontology and epistemology are commonly used to study it. In this context, ontology relates to the authenticity of the information and how one perceives its existence, whereas epistemology refers to the legitimate information needed for the investigation and how to get it. Philosophical perspectives utilized in academic research are frequently split into positivism and interpretivism, with positivism assuming that knowledge is independent of the subject under study and interpretivism claiming that each observer has their vision and interpretation of reality. As a result, positivist investigations are frequently more scientific and produce testing phenomena, whereas interpretive research is frequently qualitative in terms of characteristics.