Exploration, Paradigms, and Research Questions

Research Methods — Week 2. Key concepts from the comprehensive notes.

Exploration

The opening phase of research in which researchers develop or refine research questions, review existing literature, and identify relevant theory.

Empirical research

Research that evaluates concrete evidence or observations.

Context of discovery

The exploratory stage in which observations and curiosity lead researchers to investigate what is already known and what still needs to be studied.

Paradigm

A mental model or frame of reference used to organize reasoning and observations.

Ontology

Assumptions about the nature of reality and whether the social world is ordered and predictable.

Epistemology

Assumptions about what counts as knowledge and whether social reality should be studied objectively or subjectively.

Functionalism

A paradigm that treats the social world as relatively orderly and predictable and emphasizes objective study of behaviour.

Research design

operationalization -> research method -> sampling strategy, followed by a research proposal.

Research execution

pilot testing -> data collection -> data analysis -> research report.

Observation

The phase in which a researcher notices a phenomenon, event, or behaviour of interest.

Rationalization

The phase in which a researcher develops a logical explanation for observations.

Validation

The phase in which explanations are tested through systematic data collection and analysis.

Research question

A specific question about a behaviour, event, relationship, or phenomenon that a study seeks to answer.

Researchable problem

A problem that can be investigated using observable evidence and appropriate research methods.

Literature review

A systematic review of existing research used to understand the current state of knowledge, identify important work, and find gaps.