Experimental Research
Methods in Language
Learning
Chapter 3
Experimental Research Paradigm
and Processes
Leading Questions
• Have you ever heard of the term ‘research
paradigm”? Do you know what it is about?
• What are key criteria you have in mind when
you read a research article?
• Do you know steps researchers take to
complete their experimental study?
Research Paradigms in Experimental
Research
• Guba and Lincoln (2005) define a research
paradigm as a set of related
beliefs/assumptions that underlie an
approach to research and its relationship to
the world.
• A paradigm is related to how researchers see
the world, what they believe constitutes
knowledge about the world and how this
knowledge can be attained.
Ontology, Epistemology and
Methodology
• Ontology: What is a reality or truth?
• Epistemology: What is our relationship to the
established reality or truth?
• Methodology: How do we know about the
reality or truth?
Ontology, Epistemology and
Methodology
• At an ontological level, we ask ‘what is
reality?’ How do we know what we think we
know is real?
• At an epistemological level, we seek to
establish the relationship between ourselves
and what we aim to know (e.g., research
constructs and their causal-like relationships).
Questions includes objective-subjective
judgements in our observations.
Ontology, Epistemology and
Methodology
• At a methodological level, we ask ‘how do
we go about our pursuit of knowledge?’ This
level is related to the research methods we
employ to understand reality. We ask ‘how do
we collect data that are suitable for our
research questions?’, and ‘how do we
analyze them?’
Positivist Paradigm
• A realist perspective, which believes that the
object of an inquiry really exists ‘out there’ in
the world
• Reality is governed by immutable laws and
mechanisms essentially independent of whom,
when and how it is being examined.
• Takes an objectivist stance toward an inquiry.
• Tries to completely remove their influence from
the research setting.
• Attempts to control variables and manipulate
the research setting
Postpositivist Paradigm
• A modified positivism and takes similar
stances to those of the positivists.
• Unlike the positivists, the postpositivists
maintain that the object of their inquiry can
never be perceived with total accuracy,
though existing outside and independent of
their minds.
• Assumes that objectivity is nearly impossible to
achieve in research, but the notion of
objectivity is retained as an ideology to
regulate their research.
Postpositivist Paradigm
• Postpositivists modify the positivists’ position by
encouraging the use of multiple strategies for
gathering and analyzing data (including
qualitative data)
• Multiple strategies can allow researchers to
gain a more complete understanding of the
subject matter.
Constructivist Paradigm
• Does not share the realist or critical realist
perspective.
• Takes the relativist stance that realities are
multiple and exist in people’s minds.
• Multiple realities exist and are constructed by
individual observers
• Takes the subjectivist position that a reality is
inherently and unavoidably subjective.
• Adopts a non-experimental, nonmanipulative set of research procedures.
Constructivist Paradigm
• Ethnographic studies, for example, employ a
range of techniques associated with
prolonged fieldwork, such as participant
observations and in-depth interviews.
• Dialogic approaches are methods that allow
an interaction with participants in the
research setting.
• Hermeneutic describes a research process in
which the researcher forms interpretations
based on their observation notes, and
interview recordings, etc
Experimental Research Processes
• Figure 3.1 presents the key stages of research
processes.
• The figure suggests that in practice, these
processes are iterative or cyclical (i.e., going
back and forth).
Figure 3.1 Experimental Research
Processes
Experimental Research Processes
1. Choos a Topic: To find important,
researchable and feasible topic
2. Identify a Research Problem: To have a clear,
well-identified research problem or gap as
suggested by the existing literature
3. Do a Literature Review: To conduct and write
a comprehensive and critical review of the
relevant literature including theories and
previous studies. To ask research questions or
set research hypotheses.
Experimental Research Processes
4. Design an Experimental Study: To plan and
organize the study; to consider a suitable
research design that can address the
research problem; to consider research
instruments and data collection procedure;
to consider ways in which data will be
analyzed.
5. Consider Ethics: To consider any physical or
psychological harms to research participants;
to have consent from participants or
guardians; to gain permission from the
authority to conduct the study; to obtain
institutional ethics approval.
Experimental Research Processes
5. Consider Ethics: To consider any physical or
psychological harms to research participants;
to have consent from participants or
guardians; to gain permission from the
authority to conduct the study; to obtain
institutional ethics approval.
6. Collect Data: To conduct an experiment
(provide treatment(s)), as planned and
collect all necessary data to address the
research problem/answer the research
questions; to use research instruments
appropriate for the study.
Experimental Research Processes
7. Analyze Data: To check data for
completeness prior to a preliminary data
analysis; to conduct reliability analysis; to
perform statistical analysis such as a t-test or
an analysis of variance (ANOVA); if
qualitative data is also collected, to analyze it
following a particular qualitative framework;
to empirically answer the research questions
Experimental Research Processes
8. Interpret Data: To go beyond raw data in
order to conclude about the effect of the
treatment or condition on something; to
discuss both statistical and practical
significance of the study
9. Discuss Findings: To discuss results in relation to
the theories and previous research; to
conclude the study and consider implications
and limitations of the study.
10. Write up a Report: To disseminate the
research in a written report.
Discussion
• Do you find it useful to distinguish the positivist,
from the postpositivist and the constructivist?
Why or why not?
• What are difficult concepts about research
paradigms that you have had so far?
• In your view, which experimental stage(s) is
the most critical to good experimental
research?