Research design has actually been something I've learned about before. It seems that sciences rely heavily on primary research in order to further and better the overall understanding of the science. However, integrating worldviews alongside the three types of research design of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, has opened my eyes to a more comprehensive understanding of the designs.
The postpositivist worldview mentions innovators such as Newton. This helped me connect to what I've learned about the famous scientist in elementary school, such as Newton's Law, to help me understand that this worldview can be more scientifically associated. The ideas such as "problems studied by post-positivists reflect the need to identify and assess the causes that influence outcomes, such as found in experiments.... [along with] the intent to reduce the ides into a small, discrete set of ideas to test, such as the variables that comprise hypotheses and research questions". (Creswell, 2009, p.7) I've had to do many science fair projects in my life, and the one I executed in the 8th grade comes to mind. Our teacher had us complete each step of the process by a certain due date, which in her mind probably eased the burden of the overall project. However, this method allowed me to grasp each step of the process easily and has stamped those concepts into my memory forever more. The hypotheses, methods of observation, and required materials are just a few of the steps of the process utilized in science experiments, as well as quantitative method with a postpositivist worldview.
The social constructivist worldview alongside the qualitative research design makes sense within the psychology setting. "Qualitative researchers seek to understand the context or setting of the participants through visiting this context and gathering information personally... they also interpret what they find." (Creswell, 2009, p.8) A lot of understanding of human behavior comes from observation and then subsequent deciphering of their actions. My Bachelor's degree was in Psychology, and most of the core classes I took discussed qualitative experiments, and it was even mandatory for me to participate in some of those experiments conducted by Master's level students. Actually participating in the experiments gave me a broader picture of the experiments conducted. My current archives and manuscripts class has an assigment of touring an actual archives. According to the teacher, this assists the students in truly understanding the material learned; participation is key.
The advocacy and participatory worldview seemed the most interesting and straightforward. Immediately, studies of African tribes and the lifework of Jane Goodall who studied chimps - albeit not humans, came to mind as true advocacy and participatory worldviews. Due to the nature of the possible studies, it makes sense that most of these types of studies are considered qualitative, with a select few fitting into the quantitative design.
The worldview that spoke to me the most was the pragmatic worldview. I liked how "pragmatism is not committed to any one system of philosophy and reality... this applies to mixed methods research in that inquirers draw liberally from both quantitative and qualitative assumptions". (Creswell, 2009, p.10) This method and worldview seems to employ the most comprehensive methodology and thereby present a truly complete picture. Truthfully, I couldn't think of any direct examples, however I'm confident that I will come across many of these during the course of this class.
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