Understanding and Applying Research Paradigms in Educational Contexts
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The concept of research paradigm is one that many higher degree research students, and even early career researchers, find elusive to articulate, and challenging to apply in their research proposals. Adopting an ethnographic and hermeneutic methodology, the present paper draws upon our experiences as lecturers in Research Methods over many years, and upon pertinent literature to explain the meaning of research paradigm. The paper elucidates the key aspects of research paradigms that researchers should understand well to be able to address this concept adequately in their research proposals. It offers suggestions on how researchers can locate their research into a paradigm and the justification needed for paradigm choice. With the explicit purpose of helping higher degree research (HDR) students design effective research proposals, the paper also discusses the different research methodologies best suited to conduct research in each of the paradigms discussed.
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“Building rapport with the participants is therefore key to eliminate the ontological assumptions and understanding the layers of deafness and hard of hearing (Kivunja and Kuyini 2017, 29, 38).”
Background
- Authors
- Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A. B.
- Affiliations
- University of New England (AU)
- United Arab Emirates University (AE)
- Venue
- International Journal of Higher Education
- Publisher
- Sciedu Press
- Published
- 2017-09-05
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 26
- ISSN
- 1927-6044 (ISSN-L)
- 1927-6052
- OpenAlex
- W2751074744
- Cited by
- 1,216
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 97 · 2025: 142 · 2024: 195 · 2023: 231 · 2022: 188 · 2021: 161 · 2020: 134 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 10
- FWCI
- 196.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Higher Education (publishedVersion)
- EPubDev Repository (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- RMIT Research Repository (RMIT University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RUNE (Research UNE) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Research and Methods
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Keywords
- research paradigms, research proposals, paradigm choice, higher degree research students, research methodology, research design, educational research, hermeneutic research, ethnography
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