Research paradigm: Critical Realism in Burrell and Morgan quadrants?

Laban Bagui 7th february 2011

Getting into researchLooking for meanings

Is love more important ?

What is this or what is this all about?

Picture extracted from ‘Planet of the Apes’Charlton Heston & Linda Harrison (1968)

Surprising realityIs this or he or she really doing that?

Some research approaches Scientific approaches to introspection

(nomothetic vs ideographic)

It is necessity to ground the research in a canvas in order to render it consistent

Research Paradigm“The identification of the underlying basis that is

used to construct a scientific investigation (Kraus, 2005);

“a loose collection of logically held together assumptions, concepts, and propositions that orientates thinking and research” (Bogdan & Biklan, 1982).

“basic belief system or world view that guides the investigation” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994: 105).

Paradigm componentsEpistemological debate (anti-positivism vs positivism)Ontological debate (Nominalism vs realism or

Constructivism vs Observation)Methodological debate (Nomothetic vs Ideographic)The human nature debate (volontarism vs

determinism)The nature of social science (holistic vs specific)The nature of information science (qualitative vs

quantitative)Various related assumptions (Basic accepted belief)Other stuff (Generalisability, validity, value... )

Paradigms in Social research Functionalist Paradigm (objective-regulation)

This has been the primary paradigm for organizational study. It assumes rational human action and believes one can understand organizational behavior through hypothesis testing.

Interpretive Paradigm (subjective-regulation)

This paradigm "seeks to explain the stability of behavior from the individual's viewpoint". Researchers in this paradigm try to observe "on-going processes" to better understand individual behavior and the "spiritual nature of the world".

Radical Humanist Paradigm (subjective-radical change)

Theorists in this paradigm are mainly concerned with releasing social constraints that limit human potential. They see the current dominant ideologies as separating people from their "true selves". They use this paradigm to justify desire for revolutionary change. It's largely anti-organization in scope.

Radical Structuralist Paradigm (objective-radical change)

Based on this paradigm, theorists see inherent structural conflicts within society that generate constant change through political and economic crises. This has been the fundamental paradigm of Marx, Engles, and Lenin.

Four paradigms for the analysis of social theory. (Burrell and Morgan, 1979:22)

SOCIOLOGY OF RADICAL CHANGE

SUBJECTIVE

Radical humanist Radical structuralist

OBJECTIVE

Interpretevist Funtionalist

SOCIOLOGY OF REGULATION

Critical RealismMeaning making researchQualitative and quantitative as

complementaryReality is a result of social conditioning and

can not be understood independently of the social actors involved in the knowledge derivation process

Some references Bhaskar, R.1978. A realist theory of science. Hassocks: Harvester Press. Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. 1982. Qualitative research for education: An

introduction to theory and methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. 1979. Sociological Paradigms and Organizational

Analysis. London: Heinemann, 1-37 Cronje JC.2006.Paradigms regained: toward integrating objectivism and

constructivism in instructional design and the learning sciences. ETR&D 54(4) 387-416

Guba, E.G and Lincoln, Y.S .1994. Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In Denzin N.K. And Lincoln Y.S (eds). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand oaks. CA: Sage. 105-117

Egbo, B. 2005. Emergent paradigm: Critical realism and transformative research in educational administration. McGill journal of education. 40(2). 267-284

Krauss, S. T. 2005. Research Paradigms and Meaning Making: A Primer. The Qualitative Report 10 (4) 758-770