Paradigm Wars

In this powerful exploration of worldviews in transition, Mark Woodhouse examines current controversies in the quest for an integrative vision of reality. These include alternative medicine, holistic education, spiritual healing, and ecofeminism, as well as reincarnation, the New Physics, extraterrestrial visitations, and personal growth. In the Appendix, Fred Mills contributes a pioneering study of sacred geometry.

In this spirited book, best-selling author Jerry Mander partners with one of the world's most celebrated indigenous leaders, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to gather powerful firsthand reports on a momentous collision of worldviews that pits the forces of economic globalization against the Earth's indigenous peoples. With many of the planet's remaining natural resources on indigenous lands, traditional indigenous practices of biodiversity preservation have, ironically, made these lands targets for global corporations seeking the last forests, genetic and plant materials, oil, and minerals to feed their unsustainable growth. Corporate invaders often employ military force, as well as harsh pressures from the World Bank, IMF, and WTO. But native peoples refuse to be victims. Their stories of resistance and growing success are inspirational. Book jacket.

An overview of film studies

The Handbook contains a gold mine of articles by leading scholars on what has come to be known as the third methodological movement in social research. Aimed at surveying the differing viewpoints and disciplinary approaches of mixed methods, this breakthrough book examines mixed methods from the research enterprise to paradigmatic issues to application. The book also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of mixed methods designs, and provides an array of specific examples in a variety of disciplines, from psychology to nursing. The book closes with a brief section on how to teach and perform collaborative research using a mixed methods research design. Written so that it can be used either as a pedagogical tool or as a reference for researchers, the book is rich in examples and includes a glossary, easy-to-follow diagrams, and tables to help readers become more familiar with the language and controversies in this evolving area.

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Methods, Research, grade: 1,3 (77%), University of Warwick (Politics and International Studies), course: Qualitative Research Methods, language: English, abstract: Validity and reliability as quality indicators have an uneasy standing in qualitative research and are subject to numerous debates. Researchers from different paradigmatic backgrounds expressed a variety of views, the extremes ranging from a complete denial of the possibility of valid and reliable qualitative research on one hand to the rejection of validity and reliability as meaningful quality indicators on the other. The following essay acknowledges the diverging assumptions underlying the different paradigms associated with quantitative and qualitative research. However, it denies that validity and reliability are inherently connected to predetermined ontological or epistemological assumptions and argues for their general use as quality indicators. To clarify this claim, a selection of different paradigms and the development of alternative quality indicators within them are highlighted. Since the usefulness of this multitude of indicators is questionable, reconciliation is attempted by consolidating them. The concepts of “core validity” and “core reliability”, which can be specified according to the researcher’s paradigm, are introduced for this task. These concepts underline the relevance and applicability of validity and reliability as quality indicators in qualitative research. Furthermore, qualitative research has developed strategies and methods, which enable the researcher to address negative influences on validity and reliability and achieve high degrees of both.

Perhaps not since Ralph Tyler's (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has a book communicated the field as completely as Understanding Curriculum. From historical discourses to breaking developments in feminist, poststructuralist, and racial theory, including chapters on political theory, phenomenology, aesthetics, theology, international developments, and a lengthy chapter on institutional concerns, the American curriculum field is here. It will be an indispensable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses alike.

The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods is a must for every social-science researcher. It charts the new and evolving terrain of social research methodology, covering qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in one volume. The Handbook includes chapters on each phase of the research process: research design, methods of data collection, and the processes of analyzing and interpreting data. The volume maintains that there is much more to research than learning skills and techniques; methodology involves the fit between theory, research questions research design and analysis. The book also includes several chapters that describe historical and current directions in social research, debating crucial subjects such as qualitative versus quantitative paradigms, how to judge the credibility of types of research, and the increasingly topical issue of research ethics. The Handbook serves as an invaluable resource for approaching research with an open mind. This volume maps the field of social research methods using an approach that will prove valuable for both students and researchers.

The basic requirements for research designs and research proposals are laid out at the beginning of the book, followed by discussion of the major design elements, and the choices that need to be made about them. Four sample research designs at the end of the volume illustrate the application of the research strategies.

This book provides a collection of key methodological writings in mixed methods research along with a collection of exemplar studies. This cross-disciplinary volume helps define the "literature" of mixed methods research. Selections are draw from the international literature that has appeared across diverse research disciplines over the past 30 years. Key features: writings in the field of mixed methods: methodological selections address research design types and purposes, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and future directions; offers exemplar research studies: examples include published studies from diverse disciplines, including sociology, education, evaluation, health sciences, nursing, and family science; Provides visual diagrams to illustrate exemplar research studies: these diagrams help readers understand how the method's components are implemented and how they can develop diagrams for their own studies.