The lists below probably align to three paradigmatic scales:
- Super-Paradigms
- Paradigms
- Sub-Paradigms
The notion of “paradigm” is fairly slippery. Many people have tried to present solidified definitions and examples of paradigms. However, the existence of a particular paradigm is situated in the context and how it manifests.
In the following table, the items in each column do not necessarily match across rows.
Assumptions & Orientations | Paradigms | Research Methodologies |
(Possible Super-Paradigms) | (Some Possible Paradigms or Sub-Paradigms) | |
• Positivism | • Historical Studies | • Experimental |
• Holism | • Causal Modeling | • Quasi-Experimental |
• Reductionism | • Quantitative Evaluation | • Correlational |
• Mechanism (see worldviews) | • Qualitative Evaluation | • Survey & Questionnaire Designs |
• Determinism | • Large Scale Assessment | • Grounded Theory Designs |
• Contextualism (see worldviews) | • Student Cognition | • Ethnographic Designs |
• Organicism (see worldviews) | • Student Learning | • Descriptive—Naturalistic Designs |
• Formism (see worldviews) | • Student Interaction | • Narrative & Self-Study Designs |
• Empiricism | • Process—Product (Treatment—Effect) | • Participant Observation |
• Behaviorism | • Student Discourse | • Interview Designs |
• Constructivism | • Student Achievement | |
• Relativism | • Teacher Cognition | |
• Teacher Reflection | ||
• Process-Product | ||
• Teacher Practices | ||
• Communities of Practice | ||
• Cultural & Ethnic Studies | ||
• Feminist Studies | ||
• Queer Studies | ||
• Chaos & Complexity | ||
• Studies of Systems Thinking | ||
• Program Effectiveness | ||
• Classroom Ecology | ||
• Teacher Self-Study | ||
• Action Research | ||
• Content Analysis | ||
• Document Analysis | ||
• Curriculum Studies | ||
• Post-Modern Curriculum Studies | ||
• Developmental Studies | ||
• Technology in Education | ||
• Arts, Inquiry, & Education | ||
• Brain-based Studies | ||
• Biographical Analysis | ||
• Multilingual Education | ||
• Ethnic Studies | ||
• Classroom Assessment | ||
• Classroom Management Studies | ||
• Peace Education | ||
• Constructivism | ||
• Social Constructivism | ||
• Cooperative Learning | ||
• Social Justice Studies | ||
• Curriculum for Democracy | ||
• Disability Studies | ||
• Environmental Education | ||
• Informal Education | ||
• Holistic Education | ||
• Indigenous Education | ||
• International—Global Education Studies | ||
• School Improvement | ||
• Marxian Analysis | ||
• Moral Development | ||
• Studies of Motivation | ||
• Critical Pedagogy | ||
• Philosophical Studies | ||
• Professional Development | ||
• Religion and Education | ||
• School Climate Studies | ||
• Semiotics | ||
• Social and Emotional Studies | ||
• Spirituality Education | ||
• Self-Regulated Learning |