This document outlines several social science paradigms used in research, including positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, critical theory, and feminism. It also discusses deductive and inductive theory construction. Positivism views reality as objective and values empirical observation, while constructivism sees reality as subjective and values interpretation. Deductive research reasons from existing theories to hypotheses, while inductive research uses observation to discover patterns and develop theories.

1. Paradigms, Theory,
And Research
Dr Ayaz Muhammad Khan
Associate Professor

2. Chapter Outline
 Some Social Science Paradigms
 Elements of Social Theory
 Two Logical Systems Revisited
 Deductive Theory Construction
 Inductive Theory Construction
 The Links Between Theory and Research

3. Paradigms
 Frames of reference we use to organize our
observations and reasoning.
 Often implicit, assumed, taken for granted.
 We can see new ways of seeing and
explaining things when we step outside our
paradigm.

4.  Bertrand Russell
 Aristotle maintained that women have fewer
teeth than males although he married twice, it
never occurred to him to verify statement by
examining his wives mouth

5. Methodology
• “The theory of how research should be
undertaken, including the theoretical and
philosophical assumptions upon which
research is based and the implications of
these for the method or methods
adopted.”

6. Social Science Paradigms:
Macrotheory and Microtheory
 Macrotheory deals with large, aggregate
entities of society or even whole societies.
– Struggle between economic classes, international
relations, interrelations among major institutions
 Microtheory deals with issues of social life at
the level of individuals and small groups.
– Students’ behavior, jury deliberations, student
faculty interactions

7. Positivism
•Concerned with experience and empirical knowledge
•Personal knowledge backed up by scientific verification
- objective.
•Named by in the 19th Century by Auguste Comte
(French Mathematician and Philosopher) - though its
origins date back to the Enlightenment.
Think of an
idea
Test Report
result

8. Social Science Paradigms:
Positivism
 Auguste Comte’s view that science would
replace religion and metaphysics by basing
knowledge on observations.
 All social research descends from Comte’s
view that society could be studied scientifically.
 Coined the term positivism, in contrast to what
he regarded as negative elements in the
Enlightenment.

9. Positivism
 Positivism is a rejection of superstition. It is
the practice of empirical science. The goal of
knowledge is to describe the phenomena
experienced – observe and measure. The
universe is deterministic.
 Governed by cause and effect.
 Understood through a methodology of careful observation and
experiments that are repeatable.
 We learn through the Scientific Method – Deductive – postulate
theories that we can test EMPIRICALLY

10.  Primary Method(s): Experimentation. The
methodology can be manipulation, hypothesis
testing, data gathering, etc. Positivism is
mostly quantitative, but qualitative methods
can be used to generate hypothesis.

12. Positivism
• •Concerned with experience and empirical knowledge
• •Personal knowledge backed up by scientific verification
- objective.
• •Named by in the 19th Century by Auguste Comte
(French Mathematician and Philosopher) - though its
origins date back to the Enlightenment.
Think of an
idea
Test Report
result

13.  Ontology: Naïve realism – ‘Real’ reality can be
understood – there are universal laws. A thing
can be true regardless of context such as time
or place. The researcher attempts to be value-
free, the research is pure and for it’s own
value, facts and values are kept separate.
However, the results can be used to promote
change.

14.  Epistemology: Dualist/objectivist – The
researcher is separate from the research,
when reality is broken down into parts the
whole = sum of parts. Truth can be known.

15. Underlying Assumption
 The underlying assumptions of positivism
include the belief that the social world can be
studied in the same way as the natural world,
that there is a method for studying social world
that is value free and the explanation of the
causal nature can be provided.

16. Post Positivism
 They hold beliefs about the objectivity and
generalizability but they suggest that
researcher modify their claims to
understanding of truth based on probability
rather than certainty. Truth is plausible rather
certain and absolute

17.  Post-positivism rejects the central tenets of
positivism. Scientific reasoning and common sense
reasoning are essentially the same process,
the difference between science and common sense is
small.
Primary Method(s):Modified experiment/manipulation.
The researcher attempts to falsify his or her hypothesis
(not prove, proof is always elusive), mostly quantitative,
but qualitative research can be used to generate
hypothesis and guide new quantitative measures.

18.  Ontology: Critical realism – all observation is fallible and has error
and all theory can be revised. ‘Real’ reality but not perfect or
probabilistically understood. Quantum physics has shown us
evidence of researcher contamination — The observer effects the
observed. Research can (and should) be made closer to value
free (more true). The research can be used to promote change,
be careful of value contaminating research.

Epistemology: Modified dualist/objectivist – Effort is made to
reduce the researcher contamination. Truth can be studied and
gotten closer to.

19. The Constructive Paradigm
 This paradigm grew out of the philosophy of
Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology and
Wilhelm Dilthey’s and other German
philosophers study of interpretive
understanding called Hermeneutics
(Eichelberger, 1989)

20. Continue
 The basic assumptions guiding the
constructivist paradigm are that knowledge is
socially constructed by the people active in the
research process and the Researchers should
attempt to understand the complex world of
lived experience from the point of view of those
who live it (Schwandt)
 The constructivist paradigm emphasizes that
research is a product of the values of the
researcher and can not be independent of

21.  Many post-positivists are constructivists who believe that we each
construct our view of the world based on our perceptions of it.
Because perception and observation are fallible, our constructions
must be imperfect.
Primary Method(s): Hermeneutical (interpretive) and dialectical
(discourse)– can be qualitative methods alone.
Ontology: Relativism – no universal laws or absolute truths, reality
is constructed. Because research is bound by the context all
people’s values are important to the process because this informs
the research.
Epistemology: Transactional/subjective/value-laden – The goal is
to understand multiple realities: created findings

22. Critical theory

23. The Philosophical Position….
Positivism Phenomenology
Ontology: what is the
nature of reality?
Epistemology:
What is valid
knowledge?
Axiology:
Role of values
RESEARCH
STRATEGY
Reality is objective and
singular, apart from the
researcher
Researcher is independent
from that being researched
Value free and un-biased
• Cross-sectional studies
• Experimental studies
• Longitudinal studies
• Surveys
• Etc...
Reality is subjective
and multiple as seen
by the participants
Researcher interacts
with that being researched
Value-laden and biased
• Action Research
• Case Studies
• Ethnography
• Grounded Theory
• Hermeneutics, etc...

24. Features of research paradigms
Positivistic paradigm Phenomenological paradigm
Tends to produce quantitative data Tends to produce qualitative data
Uses large samples Uses small samples
Concerned with hypothesis testing Concerned with generating theories
Data is highly specific and precise Data is rich and subjective
The location is artificial The location is natural
Reliability is high Reliability is low
Validity is low Validity is high
Generalises from sample to
population
Generalises from one setting to
another

25. The ‘scientific’ method
• A generally accepted set of procedures for
developing and testing theories
• An idealised model to arrive at “the truth” through:
– Objective observation
– Measurement
– Careful and accurate analysis of data
– Minimising pre-conceptions about how the world
works
• What paradigm are we in here?
Maylor and Blackmon (2005)

26. The Positivistic approach
Adapted from Maylor and Blackmon (2005)
Define your research topic
Define your research question(s)
i.e. hypothesis
Literature review
Collect data
Analyse data
Interpret results
Report your findings
Design data collection
Design data analysis
Pilot study
Deductive

27. The Phenomenological approach
• A generally accepted set of procedures for collecting
information about the world
• An idealised model to arrive at “the data” through:
– Subjective observation
– Being led by the data (ie. induction)
– Trying to overcome biases about the situation
– Avoiding conceptual frameworks or instruments that
might influence what is observed
Maylor and Blackmon (2005)

28. The Phenomenological approach
Adapted from Maylor and Blackmon (2005)
Define your research topic
Define your research question(s)
Literature review
Collect data
Literature reviewAnalyse data
Interpret data
Report your findings
Research question answered?
Design data collection
Inductive

29. Comparing approaches
Adapted from Maylor and Blackmon (2005)
Characteristic Positivism Phenomenology
Questions that can be answered
What?
How much?
Why?
How?
Associated methods
Survey,
Experiment
Direct observation,
Interviews,
Participant observation
Data type Predominantly numbers Predominantly words
Finding Measure Meaning

30. Why does the approach matter?
Whether you take a scientific (positivistic) or
phenomenological approach will influence:
• What research questions you ask
• What methods you use to collect your data
• What type of data you collect
• What techniques you use to analyse your data
Maylor and Blackmon (2005)

31. Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2006
The research ‘onion’

32. Social Science Paradigms: Social
Darwinism
 Scholars began to apply Darwin’s ideas to
changes in the structure of human society.
 The evolution from hunting-and gathering
tribes to large, industrial civilizations was seen
as the evolution of progressively “fitter” forms
of society.

33. Social Science Paradigms: Conflict
 Karl Marx suggested social behavior could be
seen as the process of conflict: the attempt to
dominate and avoid being dominated.
 Marx focused on the struggle among economic
classes.
 Georg Simmel was interested in small-scale
conflict, rather than class struggles.

34. Social Science Paradigms:
Symbolic Interactionism
 Interactions revolve around the process of
individuals reaching understanding through
language and other such systems.
 Can lend insights into the nature of interactions
in ordinary social life, and help understand
unusual forms of interaction.

35. Social Science Paradigms:
Ethnomethodology
 “Methodology of the people.”
 People are continuously trying to make sense
of the life they experience.
 One technique used by ethnomethodologists is
to break the rules and violate people’s
expectations.

36. Social Science Paradigms:
Structural Functionalism
 A social entity, such as an organization or a
whole society, can be viewed as an organism.
 A social system is made up of parts, each of
which contributes to the functioning of the
whole.
 This view looks for the “functions” served by
the various components of society.

37. Social Science Paradigms:
Feminism
 Focuses on gender differences and how they
relate to the rest of social organization.
 Draws attention to the oppression of women in
many societies, and sheds light on all kinds of
oppression.

38. Women’s Ways of Knowing
1. Silence: some women feel isolated from
knowledge, their lives are largely determined
by external authorities.
2. Received knowledge: taking in knowledge
originating with external authorities.

39. Women’s Ways of Knowing
3. Subjective knowledge: personal, subjective
knowledge, including intuition.
4. Procedural knowledge: feeling learned in
the ways of gaining knowledge objectively.
5. Constructed knowledge: view that
knowledge is contextual and we are all
creators of knowledge.

40. Traditional Model of Science
 Three main elements: theory,
operationalization, and observation.
– Develop a Theory.
– Develop operational definitions that specify the
operations involved in measuring a variable.
– Observe and measure of what is seen.

41. Deductive Theory Construction
1. Pick a topic.
2. Specify a range: Will your theory apply to all
of human social life?
3. Identify major concerns and variables.
4. Find out what is known about the
relationships among the variables.
5. Reason from those propositions to the topic
you are interested in.

42. Constructing an Inductive Theory
1. Observe aspects of social life.
2. Discover patterns that point to universal
principles.