Research paradigms, graduate PhD students can’t get away from them!
Let me walk you through positivism, interpretivism and critical realism with a helpful example. In this video, we're tackling one of the most head-scratching concepts in research: paradigms.
You know, those elusive frameworks that dictate how we approach our studies?
If you've ever found yourself lost in a sea of academic jargon, wondering what on earth your paradigm is, you're not alone.
In fact, paradigms have been the subject of confusion for graduate students and academics alike for as long as I can remember.
In this video, I'm here to demystify paradigms and help you uncover which one might be guiding your research without you even realising it.
Over my two decades of supporting graduate students, I've seen firsthand how paradigms can boggle the brains of even the most seasoned researchers.
But fear not, we're going to break it down together.
Think of paradigms as research cultures, each with its own way of thinking, values, and beliefs about how research should be conducted.
To put it in high school terms, paradigms are like different cliques, each with its own unique culture. You've got the science geeks (positivists) who love hard facts and quantifiable data, the artsy creative kids (interpretivists) who focus on subjective experiences, and the social justice warriors (critical realists) who dig beneath the surface to uncover deeper structures. In this video, I'll introduce you to these three prominent paradigms: positivism, interpretivism, and critical realism. But I won't leave you hanging with abstract concepts.
Oh no, we're going to dive into examples of how researchers from each paradigm might approach the same study: high school students' use of artificial intelligence (AI) in assignments. By the end of this video, you'll have a clearer understanding of what paradigms are and how they shape research.
Chapters
0:00 - 0:42 Introduction and overview
0:43 - 3:07 What is a paradigm?
3:08 - 3:33 Positivism
3:34 - 4:09 Interpretivism
4:10 - 4:57 Critical Realism
4:58 - 14:35 Example study from a positivist, interpretivist and critical realist perspectives
14:36 - 15:26 Recap and conclusion
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