SOCI 2001B: Assignment 5

Professor Alex Bing

Ashlyn Murray - 101231372

March 15, 2023

Reflection 1

The research paradigm I resonate with most and would like to have underpinning my

project is the interpretive paradigm. The reason for this is because in doing any research my goal

is to simply sit down, listen to various individuals, and gain an in-depth understanding of each of

their subjective views on the world as well as the factors that have led them to having that

perspective. In doing so, I hope to allow the individuals participating in my project to define how

the research will progress and what the data I collect is going to mean. Ultimately, I want the

participants themselves to be the experts guiding what information is contributing to my project

and why, not myself.

Now that I have taken a look back at the ethics form I have created for this course, I

believe my prospective project does indeed imply the interpretive paradigm that I was hoping

for. Specifically, in my project “The Effects of an Absent Mother on Female Students

Relationships with Other Female Students” I aim to gather information from young female

Carleton students directly using unstructured, one-on-one interviews. As a result, I hope to

develop an understanding of every participants personal experience in growing up as a female

without any female authority figures in their home as well as the individual experiences they

have had with other female students on campus. Additionally, since I will be utilizing

unstructured, one-on-one interviews the female students themselves will be individually given
the opportunity to provide me with the information they personally want to share and feel would

be a relevant addition to the project at hand, not the information I guide them to provide. Thus, as

I wished, the young female Carleton students participating in my study will be the ones

controlling what direction the research I collect will go. Taking all of this into consideration, I

believe anyone would similarly conclude that my study implies interpretivism as it seeks to

understand the mentalities and experiences of young female Carleton students who grew up

without motherly figures.

However, after going into a breakout room with some of my peers last week we

collaboratively came to the conclusion that my project may have some elements of the critical

paradigm implied within it as well. While I am still not absolutely sure about this, we came to

this conclusion due to how the critical paradigm explores power relations and issues with social

justice. Elements like these could potentially come into play within my study since it examines

how the social relationships of young female students are effected by the absence of female

authority in their lives while growing up. What makes me question this is the fact that the critical

paradigm strays from neutrality and gives researchers the chance to assume what participants

would say while I want my project to focus on reflexivity and ultimately the subjective opinions

and views given by the young female participants themselves. Overall, I see the possibility in

this suggestion but would definitely need to take a deeper look into what the critical paradigm

entails in order to determine if it truly fits into my project and what I hope to achieve with it.