URBDP 591 A Lecture 1: Research Paradigms

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URBDP 591 A Lecture 1 Research Paradigms

• Objectives
• What is a paradigm and how it affects research
• Positivist vs. constructivist paradigms
• theoretical assumptions
• methodological procedures
• Quantitative vs. quantitative approaches
• How to integrate multiple approaches

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What is a paradigm

• Paradigms are operating rules about the
  appropriate relationships among theories,
  methods, and evidence that constitute the actual
  practice of the members of a particular
  scientific community.
• Examples
• - Copernican Astronomy
• - Newtonian dynamics
• - Wave optics

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Reality
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a
very persistent one. Einstein
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Paradigms of inquiry
Positivism Naturalist/Constructivist Post-Positi
vism Critical theory/Postmodernism

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Paradigms of inquiry
Positivism There is a real world out there,
whose characteristics can be observed, measured
and generalized in a way that come close to
truth. Naturalist/Constructivist The world is
socially constructed by language, and language is
constituted by cultural meanings negotiated by
people with identities shaped by their historical
experience and social location.

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Paradigms of inquiry
Post-positivism There imperfect reality and only
somewhat apprehensible. Rigorous procedures are
used to apprehend what is apprehensible. Critical
Theory/Postmodernism Reality is shaped by
social, political, cultural, economic, ethnic,
gender values the dialogue between investigator
and subjects is considered a dialogue to
transform ignorance into informed consciousness.

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How do paradigms define research

• Our theories or models of reality determine the
  questions we ask, the problems we perceive, the
  methods we select, the data we collect and
  analyze and the policies and actions we initiate
  (Holling 1976).
• Paradigms are way of thinking about reality and
  thus about conducting research. A paradigm
  determines the type of questions that are
  legitimate, how they will be answered, and in
  what context they will be interpreted.

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Advantages of paradigms

• First they preclude the need for each researcher
  to work in isolation and build anew from new
  principles, data, instrumentation etc.
• Secondly the paradigm guides researchers in the
  identification of the relevant facts for the
  discipline - there is no danger of being
  overwhelmed by a morass of data as often happens
  in the case of craft knowledge like that of
  medicine
• Finally paradigms also allow for long term
  esoteric commitments in research. Fact
  collection and theory articulation could become
  directed activities.

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Paradigm Shift in Urban Theory
HISTORICAL FACTORS Complex systems theory Chao
tic behavior Uncertainty/Surprise Conflicts/Grou
p Dynamics Negotiation
COMPLEXITY PARADIGM Urban systems are dynamic,
open, non-equilibrium Urban decision-makers
are very diversified actors who make a series
of decisions at multiple times. Decisions are
the outcome of dynamic interactions of many
actors who learn over time Feedback mechanisms
can amplify or regulate a given
effect Knowledge is incomplete and surprise is
inevitable
EQUILIBRIUM PARADIGM Urban systems operate
under steady-state, equilibrium
conditions Decisions are made by one single
decision -maker at one point in
time. Decision-makers make rational economic
choices Knowledge is complete and surprise
is controllable
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Deductive and Inductive Approaches

• In logic, we often refer to the two broad methods
  of reasoning as the deductive and inductive
  approaches

Inductive
Deductive
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Comparing paradigms

• Ontology the nature of the "reality? What
  is real?
• Epistemology validation of knowledge claims
  the relationship of the "knower" to what is
  "knowable." How do we know what we know
  about the world around us?
• Methodology how we know what we know what
  ways we think are legitimate for generating
  knowledge
• Causality the possibility of causal linkages,
  distinction
• between cause and effects
• Neutrality the role of value, degree of
  subjectivity

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Pragmatic-Strategic View

• A broad range of theoretical and methodological
  choices and their integration in a dialectic
  manner produces the riches results of inquiry.
• Alternative paradigms are useful to understand
  different aspects and objectives of research and
  accordingly select appropriate methodologies.
• Postmodern critique is an indispensable starting
  point for critical evaluation of our assumptions
  about the production of knowledge, but offer few
  clues about how to do work.
• The usefulness of a positivist epistemology lies
  in the pragmatic assumption that there is a world
  out there that can be observed and measured in a
  way that approximate the truth.

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Relating paradigms to types of research

• The choice of research format
  (exploration/formulative, description/descriptive,
  and explanation/experimental) depends upon three
  general factors
• 1) the type of research question proposed
• 2) the extent of control a researcher has/desires
  over the actual behavior or events under study,
  and
• 3) the degree of focus on contemporary as
• opposed to historical phenomenon.

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Relating paradigms to types of research

• Type Question(s) Control Time Focus Paradigm
• Descriptive Who, where, No Present
  Constructivism
• how much, and Critical Theory
• how many Positivism
• Exploratory What No Present Constructivism
• Positivism
• Explanatory Why Yes Present Positivism
• Past Post-Positivism
• Evaluation How well Yes Present Positivism
• Past Post-Positivism
• Historical/critical How, why No Past
  Critical theory
• Postmodernism
• Post-positivism

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Selecting a research approach

• Experiment, Quasi-Experiment, Cross-Section,
  Longitudinal, Case study
• Selecting a methods depends on
• the research question/purpose
• the operational definition of the construct of
  interest (difference/associational)
• the required protocols for reliability and
  validity

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Selecting an approach

• A. Measurement What category or type of object,
  event, or person(s) will be observed and how will
  observations be recorded?
• B. Sampling Out of the whole universe of this
  type of object, event, or person(s), which (and
  how many) will be selected for study?
• C. Design A series of choices specific to the
  methodology selected will the research be
  inductive or deductive? Interpretive or
  functional? Controlled or naturalistic? Conducted
  in the field or in an artificial setting? Will
  you be a participant in the social setting or an
  observer? Will it involve qualitative or
  quantitative data? Will it be cross-sectional or
  longitudinal?

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Selecting an approach

• D. Procedures What specific steps will you
  follow to complete the study? Over what period of
  time? If applicable, what specifically will
  happen to participants in the study?
• E. Data analysis Know in advance how you will
  evaluate each piece of data you gather to answer
  the research question or test the research
  hypothesis. Will analysis be qualitative or
  quantitative? What measures will be compared?
  Will you look for differences between groups or
  relationships between variables?

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Quantitative vs. qualitativeA false dichotomy

• Positive and constructive paradigms use
  predominantly
• one approach but do not imply specific types of
  data,
• methods, or analysis.
• Quantitative and qualitative research
• aims to different research objectives and
  questions
• use different methods and techniques
• have different assumptions
• allow different interpretation of findings
• have different implications restrictions

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Types of Validity

• Measurement is a tool of research, and validity
  is the attempt to
• determine whether a type of measurement measures
  what it is
• presumed to measure.
• A. Face validity. This type of validity relies
  basically upon the subjective judgment of the
  researcher.
• B. Content validity. Content validity is the
  accuracy with which an instrument measures the
  factors or situations under study i.e. the
  "content" being studied.
• C. Construct validity. Construct validation is
  interested in the degree to which the construct
  itself is actually measured. It makes use of the
  traits of convergence and discriminability.
• D. Internal validity. Internal validity is the
  freedom from bias in forming conclusions in view
  of the data. It seeks to ascertain that the
  changes in the dependent variable are the result
  of the influence of the independent variable.
• E. External validity. This type of validity is
  concerned with the generalizability of the
  conclusions reached through observation of a
  sample to the universe.

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Reliability

• Reliability the extent to which a measurement
• procedure yields the same answer however and
• whenever it is carried out.
• 1. Quixotic reliability Refers to the
  circumstances in which a single method of
  observation continually yields an unvarying
  answer.
• 2. Diachronic reliability Refers to the
  stability of an observation over time. This type
  of reliability is only appropriate when the
  phenomenon observed is not assumed to change over
  time.
• 3. Synchronic reliability Refers to the
  similarity of results from the use of multiple
  measures within the same time period.

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Mixed-Method

• Triangulation tests the consistency of findings
  obtained through different instruments.
• Complementarity clarifies and illustrates
  results from one method with the use of another
  method.
• Development results from one method shape
  subsequent methods or steps in the research
  process.
• Initiation stimulates new research questions or
  challenges results obtained through one method.
• Expansion provides richness and detail to the
  study exploring specific features of each method.