Research Toolkit

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METHODS IN CONTEXT 

PARADIGM- Set of beliefs/world view - inform research 

- A way of thinking about the world > informed by ontological epistological methodological assumptions 

- Sets of viewpoints and practices that scientists agree on 

NO WAY TO PROVE SUPERIORITY OF PARADIGM

ONTOLOGY- Beliefs about reality > identifying what really exists 

- What is existence/ What is the nature of existence (about what is true)

- How can we sort existing things 

- Refers to the researcher's beliefs about the nature of reality

- in philosophical terms, it refers to the study of our existence and the fundamental nature of reality or being. 

  • -What exists?
  • -What is true?
  • -How can we sort existing things 

- “a concept concerned with the existence of, and relationship between, different aspects of societ such as social actors, cultural norms and social structurees... Ontological issues are concerned with questions pertaining to the kinds of things that exist within society". 

NATURE OF THE WORLD EXISTENCE 

EPISTEMOLOGY -Concerned with the nature of knowledge itself

- Possibility/scope + general basis of knowledge 

- About the methods that figures out what is the relationship between knowledge + researcher > ontological beliefs inform this relationship.

- Is the assumptions we make about the kind or nature of knowledge or how it is possible to find out about the world... a way of looking at the world and making sense of it.

- Examines the relationship between knowledge and the researcer during discovery.

Researcher consider:

NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND HOW IT ACQUIRED 

METHODOLOGY- Ways we discover knowledge in a systematic way 

- More specific + practical > driven by ontological + epistemlogical beliefs 

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

- Address events/political phenomena observed in the world questions about what is 

NORMATIVE RESEARCH

- Address ideas/thoughts (abstract) questions about - what should or ought to be 

- Study of events vs study ideas (but both grounded in each other)

- Empirical = ideas + theories - normative = 'Empirical claims' about human character + not realities

- Seeks to clearly define the study population, outline the phenomena under research and appropriately interpret the results.

POSITIVISM

-Scientific knowledge of the social world= limited to what can be observed 

-explain + predict social phenomena > discovery empirical regualities 

- Facts and values are distinct 

- Knowledge is seen as hard, tangible and objective 

- The world is indepdent of and unaffected by the researcher 

- Social world is approahed through the explanation of human behaviour 

BEHAVIOURISM = application of positivism + empiricism to critical research > behaviour 

NATURAL POSITIVISM - Naturalism > idea there are no fundemental difference between natural + the social sciences 

- Empiricism > what we know of the world > limited to what we can observe 

- Predict social phenomena by means of law > induction = means of reasoning begins specific observe + measure 

HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH PROPOSAL 

THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL I 

1) The research question 

- The "Puzzle"

2) Why is it important?

3) What do

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