introductory lecture: foar 701 research paradigms
TRANSCRIPT
FOAR701: Research paradigms (2016)Introduction & course overview
Nicole Anderson, Noah Bassil &Greg DowneyFaculty of ArtsMacquarie University
FOAR701 objectives
Location Collaboration
VersatilitySelf-awarenessGeneralisability
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FOAR701 objectives
A more personal set of motivations.
FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
FOAR701 expectations
AttendanceGenerosity
SeriousnessAmbition
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FOAR701 expectations
New unit, so procedures and
materials are under
construction.
Tutorial? Nothing required.
FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
FOAR701 assessmentAnalytical essay
(midterm break, 2k words)
Research design project (3k words)
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FOAR701 structure
questions?
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Introductions CO-CONVENORS
Nicole [email protected]
Y3A 165COffice hours: TBA
Interests: Derrida, deconstruction,
posthumanism, cultural theory, animal studies, feminist
theory, continental philosophy, art, swimming with whales.
FACULTY OF ARTS | MMCCS
Noah [email protected]
Office: W6A426 Office hours: Tuesdays 12-2
Interests: Postcolonialism, Global Imperialism and the Middle East, Emancipatory
Politics, Literature, Endurance/Strength Training
and 3-D Puzzles. FACULTY OF ARTS | MHPIR
Greg [email protected]
W6A 614Office hours: Thursday
afternoon or by appointmentInterests: neuroanthropology,
skill acquisition, capoeira, Brazil, blindness, salsa & tango
dancing, horse breeding
FACULTY OF ARTS | ANTHROPOLOGY
‘Research Paradigms’
Paradigm
FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
Sir Karl Popper
Thomas Kuhn
Philosophy of Science
“The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.”
― Karl Popper
Science characterised by:Falsifiability.Empirical validation.Hypothesis testing.Cumulative.Rejection of induction.
― Karl Popper
‘Paradigm’ as intellectual tool
Thomas KuhnFACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
Thomas Kuhn
‘Normal science’= ‘puzzle solving’Normal science is supported by a socialised community that accepts a paradigm:What is a good question?What constitutes an explanation?Errors are treated as ‘anomalies.’
Thomas Kuhn
‘Normal science’
anomalies
example: epicycles in Ptolemaic planetary theory.
Thomas Kuhn
‘Normal science’…the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend most all their time, is predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like. Normal science often suppresses fundamental novelties because they are necessarily subversive of its basic commitments. As a puzzle-solving activity, normal science does not aim at novelties of fact or theory and, when successful, finds none.
Kuhn 1962: 5
Thomas Kuhn
‘Normal science’
anomaliesaccumulate
crisis of model
new paradigm
Structure of ‘scientific revolution’ = paradigmatic shift
Thomas KuhnUndermines prediction & falsifiability as key determinants of ‘science.’Incommensurability: ‘no common measure.’ • (based in gestalt psychology)• probably overstates relativism
(and downplays continuity).• underestimates how disruptive
‘normal science’ can be (too great a division between ‘normal’ & ‘revolutionary’).
Thomas Kuhn — ‘What about the arts?’Thought that ‘pre-scientific’ disciplines stuck in pre-paradigm state: • no consensus or ‘normalcy’
on basic questions.• "tradition of claims,
counterclaims, and debates over fundamentals” (Kuhn 1972:6).
• like ‘philosophy.’However, paradigm means boundary between science & other forms of knowing is less firm than pre-Kuhn.
ParadigmDouble sense: Exemplar & Shared Framework‘Disciplinary Matrix’ — social fact.Non-deductive & resistant to ‘anomalies’
FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
Paradigm• Ontology• Epistemology• Methodology• Symptoms: causation, scale, actors, preferred
‘data,’ typical questions, style of explanation, researcher’s role
• Intellectual history• Inter-paradigmatic relations • Critiques
Recognising Patterns Paradigms as family
resemblances
— Feuerbach (cited by Giorgio Agamben, 2002)
Entwicklungsfähigkeit
— Giorgio Agamben (2002)
If a work, be it a work of science or art or scholarship has some value, it will contain this philosophical element. It is something which remains unsaid within the work but which demands to be unfolded and worked out.
‘Unit Design’
Paradigms• Rational Choice Theory
Adam Lockyer (Security Studies & Criminology)
• Marxism(s)Jean-Philippe Deranty (Philosophy)
• Functionalism, Structural-Functionalism, et al.Adela Sobotkova (Ancient History)
• ModernisationGreg Downey (Anthropology)
FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701
Paradigms• Psychoanalysis/
PsychodynamicsKevin Groark (Anthropology)
• Hermeneutics & Symbolic ApproachesClare Monagle (MHPIR)
• Narrative TheoryPaul Sheehan (English)
• Structuralism, Semiotics & Cognitive ApproachesAndrew Gillett (Ancient History)
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Paradigms• Poststructuralism
Noah Bassil (MHPIR)• Post-humanism & the
AnthropoceneIan Collinson (MMCCS)
• Interactionism & MicrosociologyKristine Aquino (Sociology)
• Final reflections…Greg and Noah
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Thanks, and good luck!
Bibliography online at iLearnPhotos public domain at Pixabay.FACULTY OF ARTS | FOAR701