Theoretical & Research Paradigms

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scientific realism

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View that our theories refer to, or accurately represent, the features of the world

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Constructivism

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Holds that knowledge of the world is not a simple reflection of "what is" but instead a socially constructed representation

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Epistemology

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Theory about the nature of knowledge, and how "what exists" might come to be known

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Ontology

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Theory about the nature of being, of reality and of what exists

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Post-structuralism

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Asserts that meaning is unstable and never fixed; "everything is a text" and all texts are interrelated

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Logical positivism

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Holds that knowledge is limited to what can be logically deduced from theory, operationally measured, and replicated; branch of positivism

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Postmodernism

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A paradigmatic lens that rejects objective truth and "grand narratives"; a rejection of modernism that emphasizes the local, the particular and the contextual

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Critical theory

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Social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, rather than just understanding or explaining it (i.e., traditional theory)

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Structuralism

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Focuses on analyzing social structures or narratives as if comprised of a series of complex, interrelated parts. Concerns about it being ahistorical and deterministic.

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Positivism

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In epistemology and philosophy of science, a perspective that holds the only true knowledge comes through sense experience and positive verification (e.g., empiricism)

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Analytic philosophy

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A philosophical tradition that emphasizes clarity in argument through formal logic through linguistic analysis and--often--the natural sciences.

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Foundationalism

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(Epistemology). Holds that beliefs are justified by way of appealing to a set of "basic beliefs," which are themselves both self-justifying and self-evident

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Essentialism

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(Philosophy). A view that certain properties possessed by a group are universal and not dependent on context. All things, then, can be precisely defined or described.

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Reductionism

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Philosophical position that complex systems are nothing more than the sum of their individual parts

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Romanticism

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Artistic, literary & intellectual movement that arose in part as a rejection of political/social norms of the Enlightenment, and against the scientific rationalization of nature. Emphasized emotion's ability to validate experience

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Modernism

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Cultural and intellectual movement that rejected "traditional forms" (art, literature, religion, etc), was suspicious of Enlightenment certainty, and disavowed belief in a compassionate Creator; focused on "self-consciousness"

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Postcolonialism

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Postmodern intellectual discourse that focuses on reacting to and analyzing the cultural legacy of colonialism

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Deconstruction

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(Derrida). An method which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, showing that they are unstable or impossible

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Philosophical naturalism

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A view that all phenomena or hypotheses commonly labeled as "supernatural", are either false or not inherently different from natural phenomena or hypotheses

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Methodological naturalism

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Holds that science is to be done without reference to supernatural causes, focuses on "objective reality" by trying to observe things as they "really are"

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Emotionalism (in research)

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Focuses on meaning, emotions and the self and tries to reveal "deeper and authentic truths about the self"; may use alternative writing techniques to uncover these truths