Lead 901 Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Philosophical Assumptions and

Interpretive Frameworks

Key Questions

• Where do philosophy and interpretive frameworks (theory) fit into the overall process of research?

• Why is it important to understand the philosophical assumptions?

• What four philosophical assumptions exist when you choose qualitative research?

• How are these philosophical assumptions used and written into a qualitative study?

2Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design 4e.

SAGE Publishing, 2018.

Key Questions (continued)

• What types of interpretive frameworks are

used in qualitative research?

• How are interpretive frameworks written

into a qualitative study?

• How are philosophical assumptions and

interpretive frameworks linked in a

qualitative study?



Philosophy and Interpretive Frameworks

Within the Research Process

• Philosophy is an important element of the

research process

• Abstract ideas and beliefs inform research

• Philosophy and interpretive frameworks

enter the entire process



Situating Philosophy

and Interpretive

Frameworks Within

the Research

Process



Source: Adapted from Denzin and Lincoln (2011, p. 12).

Used with permission, SAGE.

Why Philosophy is Important

• It affects how we develop and address our

research questions

• Our training and scholarly community

shape our philosophical assumption

• Reviewers make philosophical

assumptions when evaluating studies



Philosophical Assumptions

• The nature of reality (ontology)

• How knowledge is known (epistemology)

• The acknowledgement of values in

research (axiology)

• The procedures of qualitative research

(methodology)



Philosophical Assumption:

Ontological

• Question: What is the nature of reality?

• Characteristics: Reality is multiple as seen through many different views

• Implications for Practice: Researcher reports different perspectives as themes develop in the findings




Epistemological• Questions: What counts as knowledge? How are knowledge

claims justified? What is the relationship between the

researcher and that being researched?

• Characteristics: Researchers attempt to lessen distance

between themselves and that what is being researched,

subjective evidence

• Implications for Practice: Researchers collaborate and spend

time in field with participants, to become an “insider” and rely

on quotes from participants as evidence




Axiological

• Question: What is the role of values?

• Characteristics: Researchers acknowledge that

research is value-laden and that biases are present

• Implications for Practice: Researchers openly

discusses values that shape the narrative and

includes own interpretation in conjunction with the

interpretation of participants




Methodological

• Questions: What is the process of research? What is the language of research?

• Characteristics: Researcher uses inductive logic, studies in the topic within its context, and uses an emerging design

• Implications for Practice: Researcher works with particulars (details) before generalizations, describe in detail the context of the study, and continually revise questions from experiences in the field



Writing Philosophical Assumptions

into Qualitative Studies

• Throughout the study through

– Multiple perspectives reported as themes

– Quotes of participants

– Discussion of researcher values and biases

– Describe details and particulars before

generalizations

• As a special section on philosophy



Interpretive Frameworks

• Definition of paradigm: a basic set of

beliefs that guide action (Guba, 1990, p.

17).

• Major research paradigms

– Postpositivism

– Social constructivism

– Transformative frameworks

– Pragmatism



Postpositivism• Approach

– Scientific

– Reductionistic

– Cause/effect

– A priori theories

• Practice– Inquiry in logically related steps

– Multiple perspectives from participants not single reality

– Rigorous data collection and analysis

– Use of computer programs

– Reports have scientific structure (e.g., problem, data collection, etc.)



Social Constructivism• Approach

– Seek understanding of the world in which participants live and work

– Develop varied, multiple meanings

– Look for complexity of views

• Practice– Ask broad general open-ended questions

– Address the “processes” of interaction

– Focus on historical and cultural settings of participants

– Acknowledge researchers’ backgrounds shapes interpretation

– Make sense of the meanings others have about the world



Transformative Frameworks• Approach

• Aid people to improve society

• Knowledge reflects power and social relationships

• Issues include oppression, domination, suppression, alienation, and hegemony

• Participatory action research-recursive or dialectical, people free themselves, emancipatory, and practical and collaborative “with” others

• Practice

• Issues help shape research questions

• Work with participants to design questions, collect and analyze, and report

• The “voice” of the participants is heard throughout the research process



Postmodern Perspectives• Assumptions

• Knowledge claims must be set within the world today in multiple perspectives such as race, gender, class, and group affiliations

• Negative conditions show themselves hierarchies, power and control by individuals, and multiple meanings of language

• Marginalized people are important

• Meta-narratives or universals span social conditions

• “Deconstruct” texts in terms of language to learn about the hierarchies, oppositions, contradictions– E.g., influence of information technologies



Pragmatism• Approach

• Focus is on the outcomes of the research

• “What works” to address the research problem

• The problem being studied and questions asked about it

• The “what and how” of research based on where the researcher wants to go

• Practice

• Use multiple methods to answer research questions

• Employ multiple sources of data– E.g., ethnographers may employ surveys and qualitative data

• Conduct research that best addresses the research problem



Feminist Theories• Approach

• Make problematic women’s diverse situations and the institutions that frame those situations

• Gender domination within a patriarchal society

• Establish collaborative, nonexploitative relationships

• Place the researcher within the study so as not to be objective but transformative

• Gender as a social construct that differs for each individual

• Practice

• Questions relate to centrality of gender in shaping consciousness

• Any method can be made feminist



Critical Theory

• Assumptions

– Empowering people to transcend the

constrains placed on them by race, class,

gender, and power differences

– Scientific study of social institutions and their

transformation through interpreting meanings

of social life; historical problems of

domination, alienation, and social struggles;

and critique of society



Critical Theory (continued)• Defined by configuration of methodology

• An example from Ethnography

– Understand changes in how people think, encourage people to interact, become activists, examine conditions

– An intensive case study or historically comparative cases of specific actors

– Formal models

• Substantive theories and topics of the investigators



Critical Race Theory (CRT)• Goals of CRT

– To present stories about discrimination from the perspective of people of color (e.g., cases studies of descriptions and interviews

– To eradicate racial subjugation while recognizing that race is a social construct

– To interact race with other inequities such as gender and class and inequities experienced by individuals

• Practice– Race and racism is in the foreground of all aspects of the

research process

– Challenge the traditional research paradigms, texts, and theories to explain the experiences of people of color

– Offers transformative solutions if racial, gender and class subordination



Queer Theory• Assumptions

• Variety of methods and strategies relate to individual identity

• Explores how identities reproduce and perform in social forums

• The term “queer theory,” allows for other social elements including race, class, age etc.

• Challenge and undercut identities as singular, fixed, or “normal”

• Binary distinctions are inadequate to describe sexual identity

• Practice

• Queer theory is a focus of inquiry rather than a methodology

• In addition to research, artistic and cultural representations



Disability Theories• Assumptions

– Addresses the meaning of inclusion in schools and encompasses administrators, teachers and parents who have children with disabilities

– Interpretive lens: disability as a dimension of human difference, not a defect

• Practice– The research process views individuals with disabilities as

different

– The questions asked, labels applied to these individuals, communication methods, and consideration of how data collection will benefit the community are considered

– The data are reported in a way that is respectful of power relationships.



Using Social Justice Interpretive

Frameworks

• Elements to how interpretive frameworks will be practiced– Research focuses on understanding specific

issues or topics

– Research procedures are sensitive to participants, sites, and power imbalances

– Researchers are respectful of co-construction of knowledge with participants as true owners of information

– Research is reported in diverse ways and calls for societal change



Interpretive

Frameworks

and

Associated

Philosophical

Beliefs

26Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry & Research

Design 4e. SAGE Publishing, 2018.

Source: Adapted from Lincoln et al.

(2011).



Interpretive Frameworks (continued)Source: Adapted from Lincoln et al. (2011).

Lead 901 Chapter 2

Education

Transcript of Lead 901 Chapter 2