Research Paradigms in Social Sciences: A presentation by Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

1. Research paradigms in
social sciences
By Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan,
Department of Education,
Hazara University, Mansehra
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

2. My personal observation as a research
supervisor is that many research students
often think of research solely as the
process of:
data collection,
analysis
and presentation of findings and
conclusions
in numerical ordering.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

3. That, ideally, should not be the case.
This presentation is to respond to this
personal concern and to invite research
students to reflect on the process of
research with a more intellectual,
philosophical stance.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

4. Researchusually does not begin with data
collection or data analysis.
It does not usually begin with the ‘how’ question or
the ‘what’ question.
It often begins with the ‘why’ question.
In other words research in social sciences is a
response to our reflections on the ‘why’ of social
phenomena.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

5. Our ‘why’ often reflects the way we
look at things, the way we perceive
things, phenomena, ‘reality’.
How we perceive things is often
reflective of our ‘worldview’.
This world worldview is also called our
‘philosophy’ or paradigm in more
philosophical, technical terms.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

6. What is a paradigm?
A paradigm is a reflection of our
‘ontological’, ‘epistemological’,
‘axiological’ and ‘methodological’
positioning and preferences.
Ontology is the study of the nature of
‘reality’.
The question: What is ‘reality’?
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

7. Epistemology is the study of valid
knowledge of reality.
Axiological considerations assist us in exploring
and using ethical ways towards the attainment of
knowledge.
Our ‘methodological’ considerations are often a
reflection of our ontological, epistemological and
axiological positioning.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

8. Three main paradigms have
been identified in research social
sciences:
Positivism,
interpretivism
and pragmatism
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

9. Positivism is based on the philosophy
that reality is:
objective, independent of our perception of
it.
And
knowledge is impersonal, universal and not
based on our individual perceptions or
subjectivity.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

10. Interpretivism is based on the
philosophy that reality is
subjective, dependent on our
perception of it and knowledge
of reality is personal and
contextual.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

11. Pragmatism:
is based on the philosophy that
reality may have elements of both
objectivity and subjectivity and that
we can get knowledge using a
multitude of ways and means.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

12. An example:
Beauty is in the scene (Reflective of
positivism)
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
(Reflective of interpretivism)
Beauty is both in the scene and in the
eyes of the beholder (Reflective of
pragmatism)
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan

13. Conclusion:
Our paradigmatic positioning has
implications for our methodological
choices in research.
That is something I’ll discuss in a future
post.
Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan