Describe what ontology is in your own words. Pick two research paradigms from your textbook, describe them, and explain the ontologies of two research paradigms.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Ontology: what we believe constitutes the nature of reality, the starting point for all research
• Two of the following:
o Positivist paradigm: practitioner-scholar assumes that his or her research can identity a single truth about the phenomenon that they are studying
? Ontology: reality is out there to be captured
o Post-positivist paradigm: assumes that a reality exists, but acknowledges that the reality must be interpreted and thus can only be approximated because of our own limitations as researchers
? Ontology: reality exists but can only be approximated
o Constructivist paradigm: assumes that there are multiple realities that can be studied and that the researcher derives his or her understanding of these realities by working with an through the participants’ perspectives of a given phenomenon or problem of practices
? Ontology: multiple realities exist and are constructed
o Critical/feminist paradigm: raises questions about the power bases and inherent inequities that exist across race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and language
? Ontology: there is a reality, which has been shaped by economic, social, cultural, and political forces
o Poststructuralist paradigm: includes multiple perspectives, assumes that there is no single truth to be known
? Ontology: there are multiple realities that individuals construct to vive meaning to the universe