Pragmatism, Methodology and Politics of Research (PDF)

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Methods, Research, grade: 3, Bilgi University Istanbul (Communication), course: Inquiry of knowledge, language: English, abstract: The field of research has been coupled by a myriad of unending debates since the time immemorial. The centre of this discussion is in the methodologies used in social and behavioural sciences. It has resulted in a significant divide between the advocates of either the qualitative or quantitative paradigms. Keenly evaluating this dispute, it has resulted in nothing substantial in the field of research rather than purists. Mono-method research, however, is a significant challenge endangering the advancements in the social sciences. It is highly divisive in that sense.

In my perspective, however, from experience gathered in the field of research and studies on the methodologies employed in solving various research problems, I recommend the pragmatism paradigm in addressing a particular research problem. As long as we expect our research findings to be valued by the educational stakeholders, then we should not ignore the significance and importance of utilising both qualitative and quantifiable research approaches concurrently in our investigation in social and also in behavioural sciences. Though pragmatism is a new research paradigm in the field of social and behavioural science, it eliminates the confusion which for a long time has marred and characterised the research paradigms. It possesses a significant challenge to researchers on choosing the appropriate method to use in their research works.