Major paradigm in the field of Social Research: (2017233060)

A paradigm is a description of the world of human behavior. It is a description of society. It is a

set of common belief and agreements shared between researchers about how problems should be
understood and addressed.
There are 5 major paradigms in the field of social research. They are:
1. Positivism
2. Post-positivism
3. Constructivism
4. Critical Theory
5. Interpretivism

Now, these paradigms are explained below:

1. Positivism: (2017233060)

The term positivism refers to a branch of philosophy that rose to prominence during the early
19th century, because of the works of the French philosopher Auguste Comte. Positivism
depends on measurable observations that leads to statistical analyses. It has an atomistic,
ontological view of the world as comprising discrete, noticeable elements and events that
interact in a noticeable, determined and regular manner.
The ontological position of positivists is that of realism. Positivists oppose to understand the
social world like the natural world. The role of the researcher is limited to data collection and
Interpretation in an objective way in positivism. Researchers warn that if a person assume a
positivist approach to his study, then it is his belief that he is independent of his research and his
research can be purely objective. In other words, studies with positivist paradigm are based
purely on facts and consider the world to be external and objective.
The epistemological position of positivists is that of objectivism. Researcher come in as
objective observers to study phenomena that exist, without any interference.
Positivist’s methodology relies heavily on experimentation. Hypothesis are put forward in
question form about the ethological relation between phenomena.
Now ‘Positivism’ is describing according to the theme of Ontology, Epistemology and
Methodology below:
Ontology: In Positivism, ontology means ‘what is reality’. There is a single reality or truth. It is
the knowledge of the ‘way things are’ is summarized in the form of time and context- free
generalization, some of which take the form of cause effects laws. The basic situation of the
paradigm is argued to be both diminutions and deterministic.
Epistemology: Epistemology means ‘How can we know reality’. In positivism, reality can be
measured and hence the focus is on reliable and valid tools to obtain that. The researcher to be
capable of studying the object without influencing it or being influenced by it. Inquiry takes
place as through a one way mirror. Values and Norms are prevented from influencing outcome
as long as the performed procedure, are strictly followed.

Methodology: Methodology means ‘How do we go about finding out the knowledge’. In

positivism, methodology is an experimental research or a survey research. Questions are
narrated in propositional form and subjected to experimental test to verify them. Possible mixed
conditions must be carefully controlled to prevent outcomes from being unreasonably
influenced.

Reference:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325022648_An_introduction_to_research_paradigms