Research paradigm

A paradigm is a way of doing and perceiving research. According to Clarke (1999) a research paradigm guides the process of inquiry and forms the basis for the practice of science, by directing the researcher towards appropriate research methods and methodologies, depending on the nature of the phenomenon being investigated. In the same vein, Terre Blanche and Durrheim (2006) affirm that “[p]aradigms are all-encompassing systems of interrelated practices and thinking that define for researchers the nature of their enquiry along three dimensions”: ontology, epistemology and methodology.

67 4.4.1 Ontology

Elaborating on the dimensions listed above, Christiansen (2010) maintains that ontology is subjective to reality. Corroborating this view, Durrheim (2006) agrees that ontology focuses on the nature of the reality under study, as well as what can be known about it. Basically, ontology focuses on the form and nature of the social world. Many social realities exist due to the vast variety of human experiences, which include people’s knowledge, views and interpretations, as well as events they lived through. Berger and Luckmann (1967) believe that reality as we know it is constructed inter-subjectively through meanings and understandings which are developed socially and experientially. According to Wand and Weber (1993, p. 220, cited in Durrheim, 2006), ontology refers to a branch of philosophy concerned with articulating the nature and structure of the world. It specifies the form and nature of reality and what can be known about it.

The fact that reality is socially constructed implies that there are many ways of seeing the world. Through the course of any study, perceptions may not stay the same, but will most likely change. This suggests that ontological positions can be seen to exist independently of an individual’s perceptions.

4.4.2 Epistemology

‘Epistemology’ centers on how what is assumed to exist can be known. As a result, knowledge can change as the researcher is influenced by interactions within different social contexts. According to Cantrell (2001, cited in Berger & Luckmann, 1967), the researcher and the researched are linked in an interactive process of talking and listening, reading and writing, about real-life experiences within natural settings. Durrheim (2006) asserts that epistemology arises where the values of the participants as well as the researcher become linked. Primarily, the theory of epistemology is that knowledge is socially constructed by those in the research process, and that it is the duty of the researcher to understand complex experiences from the point of view of the participants (Mertens, 1998). Naidoo (2012) contends that epistemology is concerned with the nature of the correlation between the researcher and that what can be known. The crux of this explanation is based on the nature of the relationship between the researcher, and human knowledge and understanding. It can stem from different types of inquiry and methods of exploration (Naidoo, 2012, citing Hirschheim, Klein & Lyytinen, 1995, p. 20).

68 4.4.3 Methodology

Arthur, Waring, Coe and Hedges (2012) maintain that methodology refers to the procedure or logic to be followed in the process of data collection, since methodological assumptions are a reflection of ontological and epistemological assumptions. Henning, Van Rensburg and Smit (2004) maintain that methodology delineates how the researcher comes to understand the phenomenon being studied, i.e., how the researcher practically investigates whatever s/he believes can be known.

Other researchers, like Bassey (1999) and Creswell and Clarke (2007), view a paradigm as a structure of logical information about the nature of the world and the position of researchers which, if adhered to by a group of researchers, influences the pattern of their thinking in a particular way and underpins their research actions. Drawing on these definitions, a paradigm can thus be understood as a way of seeing the world, interrogating what can be known about it, and exploring how we can come to know it. In conclusion, the researcher and the way s/he sees the world, can never be separated. Thus, the researcher’s view of the world influences the way s/he researches the world.

To recap: the research paradigm guides the research method, and three paradigms are discussed here, namely positivism, critical theory and interpretivism.

4.5 Positivism

Henning et al. (2004, p. 17) maintain that positivism is more concerned with exposing the truth and presenting it by using practical instances. According to Walsham (1995, cited in Arthur et al., 2012), in terms of the pragmatic approach, observation and experimentation are the best means of evaluating individual behaviour. True knowledge is thus based on experience. Researchers using this paradigm avoid being biased by not allowing their own values and beliefs to meddle with their research. Christiansen (2010, p. 20) asserts that positivism works with the scientific method used in both the social sciences and sciences. Researchers who follow a positivist approach believe that the world is stable, and that there are patterns and a sense of order that can be discovered. They believe that relationships between things can easily be measured. Neuman (1997, pp. 69–70) argues that positivists believe individuals share the “same meaning system and that we all experience the world in the same way”. Thus, when positivists do research, they go about it in a scientific way. This

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has been the dominant research approach for many centuries now, and remains the dominant method in the sciences, where observation, surveys, measurement and statistical analysis are prized.

4.5.1 Ontology

In positivism, ontology is based on knowledge of the way things are. It is conventionally summarised in the form of time and context-free generality. Berger and Luckmann (1967) assert that at an ontological level, positivists believe reality is objectively and impartially given and can be quantified using properties which are independent of the researcher and his/her instruments. While knowledge is objective and measurable, positivists regard human behaviour as passive, controlled and determined by the external environment.

4.5.2 Epistemology

For Keeney (1983, p.13, cited in Arthur et al., 2012), in positivism epistemology is referred to as the study of how people or systems come to know things, and how they think they know things. Thus, epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge, what constitutes suitable knowledge, what can be known and who a knower is. This means that knowledge is interpreted as something which is waiting to be revealed, and is not produced by human beings. For Arthur et al. (2012, p. 18), epistemology in positivism is concerned with the researcher; researched objects are seen to be independent entities or bodies, and enquiry takes place as if in a one-way mirror: the researcher does not influence or is not influenced by the object. In their view, replicable findings are true.

4.5.3 Methodology

This shared belief about methodology suggests that there is a reality that exists quite apart from anybody’s perception of it. This means that reality can be understood by following certain procedures (i.e., a specific methodology). Arthur et al. (2012, p. 18) note that certain questions (that which is being hypothesised) are mentioned in comparative manner and subjected to practical verification tests.