Methodological Approaches in Education Research and Strengths and Limitations of Using NVivo in Educational Research

Running head: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION RESEARCH
Methodological approaches in education research
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1METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION RESEARCH
1. Methodological approaches in education research:
Research paradigms represent an essential element of a research project. This is because they
influence strategy and the way researchers create and interpret the definition of reality. Depending
on research paradigm, researchers have divided their researches into three categories (Mertens,
2014). The following essay brings an account into methodological approaches in education research
keeping the research paradigms in mind.
Paradigm is a comprehensive belief system guiding practices and researches. From a
philosophical perspective, it comprises of the view of nature of reality irrespective of the fact it is
external or internal to the knower. For educational researchers, there have been various scopes of
significant paradigms present (Lederman & Abell, 2014). This governs the inquiries to policies and
practices of education. Every standard has been carrying related theories of learning and teaching,
assessment and curriculum, professional development and so on.
The first one is the quantitative research, attributed to the ability to test veracity and falsity
of interrelations taking place between different regularities of a social world. Example of this is the
positivistic research that never goes beyond the theory and leaves the reality intact. This is because
of the fact is external to an actor. Again, another feature of the quantitative method is the deductions.
For entering inquiry process, the quantitative researcher uses the deductive reasoning that starts with
the universal view of a situation and works back to particulars.
The next one is qualitative research. In contrast to the deductive approach of quantitative
research, the qualitative research has been commencing projects with an inductive example for a
specific situation. For education, under qualitative research data analysis and collection are done to

2METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION RESEARCH
see whether the patterns have been suggesting a relationship between variables for inferring
generalizations and also theories (Ary et al., 2018).
The last one is the mixed method research. Though very useful, the research methods have
been more free-floating than supposed (Wilson, 2017). In spite the benefits of using every
methodology independently there have been more good reasons for the favor of pragmatist or multi-
strategy research. In education, the research questions are answered best through mixed methods
instead of a single one.
Thus the study shows that research paradigms are marginal while thinking about
methodology and processes for educational research. A significant polemics is evolved on various
questions like what method has been providing the best outcome for scholarly research. Putting into
simple words, the qualitative study is based on words and quantitative analysis is based on numbers.
Additionally, under research community, voices in favor of the use of both methodologies have been
rising. An admixture of both of these methodologies has been bringing advantages for research on
education. Through drawing multiple paradigms, the educational researchers make a significant
contribution to aligning curricula, classroom teaching, learning practices and teacher education with
the challenging and complex needs of 21st century. Moreover, the paradigms are also helpful for
commissioned, transitional and other kinds of researches that are critiqued and possessing particular
modelling. This makes a smart effect regarding curriculum design on student learning.