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Research Design Paradigms & Models: Understanding Fundamental Assumptions

Explore methodological design, emergence of methodological textbooks, and shifts in research methods from the 1920s to the present. Understand the causes of writing about methods, problems faced, and two main paradigms in research design.

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Research Design Paradigms & Models: Understanding Fundamental Assumptions

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  1. Paradigms & Models in Research Design Jan Marontate CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research School of Communication. Simon Fraser University Fall 2008

  2. Today’s Class Session • Discussion of Readings • Discussion of aspects Methodological Design in 1st Exercise • “Special Topic Assignment” (Handouts 2 & 3) • Research Interests & Methodological Backgrounds • Choosing Topics and Scheduling Presentations • If time: Film-- Quiet Rage

  3. The Research ProcessBabbie (1995) Social Science Research, p. 101

  4. Methods & Fundamental Assumptions • “Savoir, pouvoir, prévoir”(Auguste Comte) • To know, to be able (to have power), to predict the future and plan for it  • Knowledge as power (to acquire skills for social action, change, forecasting) • “décrire, comprendre, expliquer”(Gilles Gaston Granger) • describe, understand and explain • Knowledge as understanding

  5. Writing about Methods Platt, Jennifer. “Writing on Method” and “Theory and practice” in A history of sociological research methods in America, 1920-1960. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press 1996, pp. 1-67, 106-142. • Emergence of methodological textbooks (social sciences) in N. America (c. 1920s) • writing on methods--often followed practices • Not necessarily derived from theory, influenced by commercial uses and social work • Shifts over time • 1920s-1940s --conflicts between qualitative & quantitative • 1940s-1960s-- little work on qualitative methods (more on notions like scaling, sampling, logic, design, practicalities of interviewing) • 1960s re-emergence of qualitative methods

  6. Causes of writing about methods? • Rise of university programs, need for teaching resources • Professionalization & differentiation • Increasing orientation toward empirical research • Motivations often unstated (especially in ‘self-defence’-driven work

  7. Problems • Relating methods to their uses and practices • Questions about relationship of specific methods to theories • Mode of transmissions • Methodological choices • Practical influences • Constraints (positive & negative) • Accidental • Notion of ‘bricolage’ • Untidiness of life in process

  8. Two Paradigms • Bruhn-Jensen Reading

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