of Knowledge Paradigm eI is the knowledge whieh is Femphasis.on reason. in onder to dge IC is based on demonsuable, swyhich are determined through xor experimentation, | males use of following four Ways of knowing When coming up with an initial idea for When reviewing the professional en reasoning from findings to ‘engaging in procedures that lead and procedures used in a to find out something. Data ogic and flow of the systematic | in conducting a research project in order about the research problem, -concemed with the plan that lies ‘use of particular methods (Crotty, cconeemed with what, why, when, s collected and analysed, Methodology procesces fol ed or minimised. Methodology is dion plan that justifies the use and ques. Therefore, methods of enquiry ‘researcher's assumptions about the ¢ of knowledge. a mental representation of how an » parts and their inter-relationships) Paton prndigns have evolved In TT 51 Positivism Ponitivism was fire proposed by the French Philoiopher Auguste Comte, ‘The positive paradigon adhere «0 the basic idea that understanding of phenomena in reality anunt be medsiued and supported by evidence, ‘The process cf studying a phenomena in positivion ty done by fring the relationship between an independent variable and ‘or more dependent variable and also dlicovering, ens inferences by applying experimental xine she influence of the independent variable on the dependent Varlable and events througl this process, ‘This paradigm totally focuses on understanding, the objects by empirical: tests and methods such ax sampling measurement, questionnaire, gmup discussion ete. ‘This leads (o high validity and reliability (o the insights provided by: positivist researchers. Positivist studies thus can be generalised to large scale of population too. For prsiti true knowledge is based on experience of senses and c obtained by observation and. experiment, Positivis researchers adopt scientific. method as a means. of knowledge generation, For better decision of using this theoretical approach in arch, one must he aware of its advantages and disadvantages, especially when positivism is applied in social research, Advantages of Positivism The major advantages of using « positivist approach ts = As it is @ paradigm based on evidence, statistics, the methods and methodoligies used are empirical in nature, the result of the same phenomena or event may be allowed to replicate for different groups or subgroups of population in social contexts. As a result it proves to he Quite economical in terms of both saving time and investments for using the findings of specific study for future quantitative predictions. + As data being collected under the view of objecti epistemology, the findings of research can be reliable and ‘support researchers to miake scientific assumptions. + Reliability which can be estimated by statistical analysis ie identifying the internal consistency or correlation ‘among the variables, using Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient and validity of research results is one of the icy strength of this approach. + Application of key methods such as experimental research or survey research and appropriate methods of ‘ampling, instramentations and statistical treatments of data, for determining quantitative findings will help to “provide an intensive answer for any research questions.Essential Aspects of Knowledge Paradigm isgue of power relations within the society and race, dass, gender, education, economy, reli social institutions that contribute to social Interaction of. igion and other ‘systems, Horkheimer, one of the founders of the Ctitical th suggests their criteria for an adequate critical theory Thee are «+ Itmust be explanatory about what is wrong with eurrent social reality. + Itmust identify the action to change it. + It must provide both clear norms for criticism and transformation, “The above criteria entitles critical theorists not merely to explore the problem but also to identify the ways and strategies which could ensure a successful implication in the society. Critieal theory not only intend to highlight and explain the social factors that cause powerful groups to dominate the weaker sections of society but also strives for a social set up based on equality for all the members. In order to achieve the predefined target, critical theorists haye used various methodologies. It provides choices that allow linking theories and methods as an ongoing process dat is contextually bound and not pre-determined, Critical theory is flexible to adopt any methodology or technique, which could help in suggesting betterment in the unbalanced social system. Tools of Critical Perspective Critical researchers may use qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods, However, it is mostly seen that critical research is more inclined towards qualitative research designs, The three typical tots of critical research are (i) Ideology Critique It is a way of critiquing the ideology of the powerful group who use particular values and practices to exercise their power and get contro! over the classes. An ideology is an organised calle oid eas. The suppressed classes never realise onan \der the ideological control of the swhich is a capitalist society. Critiquing id yalues uncovers the vested interests ‘and restores to consciousness of ‘Research This is another tool to - and unfair practices and ideologies adachieve the target of a balanced mn research is about research that ation, Itgives power to those jéext to school, curriculum ete, mnt of disadvantage that affect 53 teacher community on the-basis of gender, ethnicity or bias on any other basis, (ili) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) This is another tool used by researcher under the critical paradigm. Van Digk define CDA as “type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance and inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context.” The above definition highlights certain characteristics of CDA. which are as follows + vis analytical by nature and related to the misuse ‘of power by some social institution on political, social, cultural, ethical or gender basis. © The task of critical analysts is not understand, but to challenge the social inequality that surfaces as the result of Critical Discourse analysis, * [vis of significant potential and importance in the social domain for critical research and_ brings change in society. + It has been observed globally in rec that problems in systems, resource management social action, social practices or forces of structure are a result of language and discourse. just. to it researches Discourse structures create power relations in terms of how our relative status is negotiated through interchange with others. The dynamics of language. power and society. are inter-related and worth ‘studying form CDA point of view. ‘Thus, the ‘declared! purpose of CDA is to expose hov Janguage is used in the socio-political abuse of power. Selecting an appropriate research paradigm to conduct at ‘effective research is not an easy task for atesearcher, as he ‘might get carried away with the popularity of any on paradigm over others and end up with invalid or vagu findings. It is important for the researcher to select ai appropriate research paradigm and at the same tim broaden their vision by opening up to new concepts an ideas. Critical paradigm offers new and tefreshing perspectives explore issues and make difference not only to the world knowledge, but literally to the world itself and the ives" should be explored and used by mode researchers. Critical theory being more flexible it pursuit of reality puts heav:, ‘a (Aspe of treed ae phenomenology is essentially a description of appearances. Phenomenology and existentialism takes com, roles. But, both take the conditions of life as brute facts, rather than having to be proven. Existential phenomenology takes the human condition in allits wondrous manifestations as the focus of investigation. Existential phenomenology emphasises the unfolding nature of human experience and brings out the fact that ‘world is not only the correlate of consciousness but that ‘without world there will be no consiousness. Consequently, Yor existential phenomenology the modalities of conscious experiences are also the ways one is in the world. ‘The core belief of existentialism, “Dasein’ ie, being-in the-world, refers exclusively to human reality in contrast to non-human reality. It lay insistence that human reality is situated in a concrete world context. In short, man is only man as a result of his actions which are worked out in the world. The word ‘existence! is usually used by existentialists to refer only to human reality for ‘what it means to exist isto be always engaged in tasks of the world, Thus, it ean be seen that existential phenomenology is the menger of two streams of thought ie Kierkegaard” existentialism and Husserl's phenomenology . It merged in Heidegger's ‘Being and time’ and served as foundation of the philosophy ‘existential phenomenology’. Cooperative Inquiry Cooperative inquiry is a way of working with other people who have similar concerns and interest as researcher, in order 10. + understand the world and make sense of life of the researcher and develop new and creative ways of looking, at things. leam how to act to change things as the researcher-wants aan finds out to do things in a better way. Research is always considered to be the work done at universities and research institutes. The researcher asks questions, do interviews and gather data applicable for his 55 Another problem in traditional research isthat the thinking done by researchers is often theoretical rather than practical. Therefore, the research never helped people to find how to act in order to change things in their lives. Thus, the outcome of 2 good research is not fulfilled as the ‘solutions offered for a better life were just restricted to- books and academic papers. However, good research 3s concerned with revisioning our understanding of our world. as well as transforming practice within it. So, in traditional research the role of researcher and subject ‘was mutually exclusive. Researcher was the one who was contributing to the thinking that goes into the project while subjects role was to do actions which are to be studied. In cooperative enquiry, the mutually exclusive role are transformed into cooperative roles and involved people work as co-researchers and co-subjects. Everyone is involved in cach and every step of a research i.e. management of the inquiry, experience and action to be explored. drawing conclusions, taking initiative and exerting influence on the process. Thus, it can be said that cooperative enquiry is not ‘arescarch on people, but it’s a research with people Features of Cooperative Inquiry The defining features ofa cooperative inquiry can be summarised as follows ‘© ‘There exist an intentional interplay between reflection and making sense on one hand and action-experience on the other hand. © ‘There is the external attention, through agreed procedures to establish the validity of inquiry and. its findings. The primary procedure is to use inquiry cycles moving several times between action and reflection. = Inquiry method can be both transformative and informative about any human condition that has an open unbound awareness. Importance. is given to transformative inquiries that involves action where people change their way of being, doing and relating to the world in the direction of greater epistemology for a wide ranging inquiry “knowledge