T S Kuhn, paradigms and research assumptions

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T S Kuhn, paradigms and research assumptions
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Scientific revolutions

• Kuhn was a philosopher of science
• He popularized the term paradigm in his 1970
  book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• Kuhn apparently used the term 37 different ways

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Paradigms

• There are two main uses of the word (these terms
  are from Stenhouse)
• A Public Demonstration Paradigm (PDP) is an
  example of a particularly important piece of
  scientific work
• A Common Assumptions Paradigm (CAP) is a
  framework of connected ideas, beliefs and
  assumptions

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Paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions

• In Kuhns terms, a scientific revolution occurs
  when scientists shift to a new paradigm (CAP)
• The meanings of particular scientific findings,
  and the methods of science, change under a new
  paradigm

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Paradigm Wars

• The positivist/quantitative paradigm was dominant
  in educational research until at least the 1970s,
  and continued to dominate into the 1980s
• During the 1980s there was a conflict between the
  quantitative and qualitative paradigms, referred
  to as the Paradigm Wars

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Branches of Philosophy

• Ontology - theory of reality
• Epistemology - theory of knowledge
• Axiology - theory of ethics/the good

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Assumptions of the Positivist/Quantitative
Paradigm

• Ontology - realist
• Epistemology - positivist, reductionist

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Assumptions of the Post-positivist/Qualitative
Paradigm

• Ontology - instrumentalist
• Epistemology - postpositivist, holistic,
  complexity science

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Paradigm Ceasefire

• Its safe to say that there has not been a
  scientific revolution (in Kuhns sense) in
  educational research - no paradigm has emerged as
  the winner
• Instead, different people tend to work within the
  paradigms
• Alternatively, the same people can work across
  paradigms

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Philosophical differences

• Its important to remember that the differences
  between qualitative and quantitative research are
  not merely methodological, they are philosophical
• Basic assumptions are different
• Its inappropriate to judge research conducted
  under one paradigm by the standards of another