3.2. Research Approach
3.2.2. The Pragmatic Paradigm
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is gathered quantitatively while the qualitative data is collected to back up the quantitative data.
Following from this, it was decided by the researcher to use this design because the main research question that tackles the major part of the research problem (the first research question) was answered quantitatively while the second research question was answered qualitatively to give additional information to the results of the quantitative data. That is to say, as illustrated in Figure (3), the researcher of this study started the implementation stage by collecting and analyzing the quantitative data to answer the first research question, and then he collected, analyzed and used the qualitative data to support the results of the quantitative data.
Figure 3: The Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Research Design
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defining what is meant with a research paradigm before justifying why he decided to embrace the pragmatic paradigm from the related literature.
Research paradigms are defined by Creswell and Creswell (2019) as philosophical assumptions espoused by researchers to inform their beliefs towards the world and to guide them through their investigation. They are further defined by Guba and Lincoln (1994) and Hall (2013) as the perspectives, thoughts and beliefs of researchers about the world they live in or want to live in. For them, a research paradigm constitutes the principles that govern the way a researcher sees the world and the way he/she acts and interprets the surrounding world.
By way of explanation, research paradigms are the lenses that help scholars and researches look at the world and the different types of research methodologies to choose the most suitable one in view of the posed research questions and the set research goals and that help inform how research data in a particular domain is collected and analyzed. Research paradigms are, thus, important for scholars and researchers in different domains and disciplines because they inform their beliefs towards what is critical to be studied, how it is studied and how the data of a certain study is collected and interpreted, or, as Guba and Lincoln (1994) clarify, they influence every decision made by researchers throughout the research process, including the choice of research approach and research methods. Consequently, they are critical to understand the nature of research problems and to make meanings of the gathered data, and consequently, they can help answer research questions and contribute to finding solutions to research problems.
According to Guba and Lincoln (1994), as illustrated in Figure (4), a research paradigm consists of three essential elements; ontology, epistemology and methodology, and all together constitute the beliefs, assumptions, values and norms that each research paradigm holds. As for
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ontology, it is defined by Crotty (2015) as the study of being, and it is concerned with what forms reality. It asks questions like: what is the nature of reality? And how do things really work?
Epistemology in Greek means knowledge, or as Cooksey and McDonald (2019) describe, it is anything counted as knowledge in the surrounding world. In considering research epistemology, Guba and Lincoln (1994) argue that researchers may ask questions like: what is the nature of knowledge? Is it something that can possibly be acquired or personally be experienced? And what is the relationship between knowers and the would-be known?
Methodology refers to the research approach embraced and the research methods used in a research to collect data and gain knowledge about the research problem (Keeves 1997). To reach a decision about the most suitable methodology for a research, Crotty (2015) indicates that researchers have to ask themselves questions like: what, when, why, from where and how the desired data is collected and analyzed? Thus, giving suitable answers to these questions, Crotty (2015) maintains that researchers will be able to obtain the knowledge substantial to answer the posed research questions.
Figure 4: The Three Elements of a Research Paradigm Ontology
(nature of reality)
Epistemology (nature of knowledge) Methodology
(type of research approach)
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With regard to the prominent research paradigms espoused in educational research, literature identifies four dominant research paradigms; the interpretivist/ constructivist paradigm, the post- positivist paradigm, the participatory paradigm and the pragmatic paradigm. According to Creswell and Plano Clark (2018), what identifies the most appropriate paradigm for any scholarly paper is the ability of researchers to answer the questions accompanied with the three essential elements of a research paradigm; (1) what is the nature of reality?, (2) what is the nature of knowledge?, and (3) what is the type of research methodologies adopted to obtain knowledge?
Answering those three questions to identify the most appropriate paradigm for the present research, the researcher sees reality as a flexible matter, views knowledge as the interactive relationship between the inquirer and the inquired, and thinks that the mixed- methods research approach is the most suitable to address the two research questions. According to many scholars and researchers, these answers represent the characteristics of the pragmatic research paradigm (e.g., Biesta 2010; Creswell & Creswell 2019; Creswell & Plano Clark 2018;
Hall 2013; Tashakkori & Teddlie 2003). Based on this, it is quire perspicuous that the current research strictly adheres to the pragmatic research paradigm, and therefore, it was embraced by the researcher of this study to constitute his views, beliefs and assumptions towards the surrounding world.
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