Examples Of Participatory Paradigm

Constructivism is the learning theory that focuses on observation by acquiring data and thereafter reexamining, altering, and updating information to be useful in the present time. Humans process experiences, knowledge, and conception of life based on their impressions of their past. As individuals experience an unfamiliar event, they will attempt to integrate it with their knowledge and past, therefore replacing old outdated or incorrect data with new more pertinent information (Kerka, 1997). This learning theory states that learning is an ongoing process and not about merely comprehending available data without questioning, processing, and updating previously learned information (Allen, 2005).

‘Employing a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a constructivist world view, has provided the means to generate rich, deep and contextualised understandings of the research issue, and an appreciation of the socially constructed and experienced realities of the participants.’ (Highfield 2012)

Participatory action research is defined as the approach in research which is mainly focused and empathizes on action. This approach towards research is fundamentally aligned with the understanding of the world by trying to change it. One of the key reasons due to which PAR is mainly viewed as being controversial is because it intends to confront the existing status quo and affair of things in which they have been operating for a long period of

I am going to discuss and focus on Lee Vygotsky and his theory of Constructivism. One of Lee Vygotsky main theories was in fact constructivism; it is interesting to read about Lee Vygotsky view on constructivism as it is about how people learn and is based on a scientific study. One of the main meanings behind constructivism is “Constructivism is people who construct their own understanding and

A participatory research methodology was implemented to address the research goal. This method was appropriate for this investigation, given that the

This proposed study utilize a qualitative approach. A qualitative approach is “research studies that aid us in understanding human systems, whether large-scale, as in cultural systems, or smaller-scale” (Savenye & Robinson, 2005).

Research methodology and methodological approaches that is, the structured process of conducting research and the overall concepts and theories which underpin research respectively (Bryman, 2008), occupy a central position in the research process as they are both shaped by and translate the researcher’s epistemological position. Epistemology then refers to a researcher’s philosophical stance about the nature, derivation and scope of knowledge (Gilbert, 2008). These positions are seldom ‘spelt out’ but rather understood in the matter of research methodology and approach (Sarantakos, 2005).

The method of qualitative research become key method in the human and social science and also in the education and health science. The definition of qualitative research is a research using methods such as participant observation or case studies which result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting or practice. Sociologists using these methods typically reject positivism and adopt a form of interpretive sociology (Parkinson & Drislane,2011). It involves the research using data that do not indicate ordinal values. Furthermore, qualitative research includes the different kinds of data collection, techniques of analysis and diversity of theoretical frameworks (Guest; Namey & Mitchell, 2013). According to Creswell(2013) ‘’the final written report or presentation includes the voices of participants, the reflexivity of the researcher, a complex description and interpretation of the problem, and its contribution to the literature or a call for change.

This is a research method that usually engages those who are least likely to manipulate the policies and actions that affect their own lives. The PAR enables researchers’ to serve the function of a resource to those being studied (Babbie, 2007, p. 301). Through this function, the disadvantaged groups are able to “take the lead

Anne Applebaum makes use of a Constructivist argument in her article “Erdogan, Putin, and the Strongmen ties that bind.” Postmodernism, Critical theory and Constructivism overlap and Applebaum tends to use both a postmodernist and critical theorist approach, but she predominately questions like a constructivist: what does abstract terms and definitions mean, why do human beings behave in certain ways, how do these constructed definitions contribute to why certain social phenomena occur, and do constructivists have a certain ethical standpoint or are they prone to be in conflict of the definition of ethics because it is a constructed term?

The approach of this study will take the epistemological position and a qualitative research design. Humphries (2008) asserts that qualitative research focusses on the subjective and recognises that the researcher will affect the data that is produced and therefore the outcome of the research. Denzin & Lincoln (2005:3) state that “Qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them”. Quantitative research on the other hand, claims to be objective, removing the researcher’s views and values from the study. While traditionally quantitative data has been deemed to produce more reliable or valid data, it does not suffice to capture the complexities of the human experience as it assumes a positivist epistemology.

A paradigm is essentially what guides the research conducted by a researcher. Qualitative and quantitative are the main two research paradigms that guide a researcher. These are basically beliefs about reality or ontology. This is called relativism and in this paradigm, the researcher believes that there are many qualitative perspectives of reality. Generally this type of research is subjective. Qualitative research analysis is generally inductive and focuses on experiences and perceptions of research participants. Research design methods for this paradigm include phenomenology (lived experience), ethnography (influence of culture) and grounded theory (social process) (NurseKillam, 2017).

Constructivism is a coherent theory of learning that emerged as a prevailing paradigm in the last part of the twentieth century. Constructivism is a theory which brings cogitation to pedagogy (Bruner, 1966). Constructivism capitalizes on the ways in which human beings create their own personal construct of reality by understanding and experiencing the world. The main underlying assumption of constructivism is that individuals are actively involved right from the birth in constructing personal meaning.

Social constructivism focuses principally on human awareness or consciousness and its place in the world affairs. In accordance with constructivism, the international system is

Constructivism is the theory that humans construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. This idea that people learn from experience and not just from hearing lectures was revolutionary and gave birth to the experimental learning approach that is more powerful than lectures and worksheets. By directing their own learning processes, students understand concepts better. In essence constructivism is the theory of how we learn.