Pat Norman (Director). (2019, September 17). _What even is a research paradigm?_ [Video recording]. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0oQ3a9ATbM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0oQ3a9ATbM) # Rhetorical Précis Pat Norman, PhD student in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, lectured on research paradigms and their applications in ontology, epistemology, and axiology. The paradigms discussed include positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, critical theories, and post-structuralism. The philosophical foundations of each paradigm are discussed as well as examples from popular culture that best align with each. # Notes [[6C - quantitative data is based on numbers]] [[6D - qualitative data is based on language]] [[6F - ontology is the study of the nature of reality]] [[6F1 - positivism assumes absolute objective truth]] [[6F1A - post-positivism accepts that we can't measure everything]] [[6G - epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge]] [[6H - axiology is the study of values and value judgments]] positivism vs interpretivism absolute truths vs context-dependent/social constructivism constructivist = socially constructed critical = reality is a power relation; based in Marxian traditions; tensions between social groups post modernism/interpretivism/poststructuralism = reality is fundamentally meaningless but meaning is created by humans Lacan, psychoanalyst, extended Freud and Marx triad real imaginary symbolic constructivist= knowledge is constructed together; psychoanalysis, education critical=knowledge is political. we know through lens of values and cultural positionality; somesociology, politics poststructural=knowledge is contextual and unstable; we only know what is represented in society. literary analysis, gender studies (labeling theory, see [[5B3B2B1 - labels limit recovery]], [[5B3B2B - too many labels can be a problem]], [[5B3B2 - labels can be helpful for some]]) constructivist = rationality, human, contextual; Yoda, more to us than material reality critical = critique, social justice, transformative; Princess Leia; Marx; Frankfurt School; MLK; Black Power movements; Feminism; Queer Liberation Movement poststructural = deconstruction, discursive, narrative; meta, breaking the 4th wall; reflexive polyvocal texts should be alignment between ontology, epistemology, and axiology truncated ontology is an abbreviation of reality; removing the parts of reality that you're not interetested in researching or studying; framing the research the University of Sydney has a School of Education and Social Work that offers Ph.D. degrees.