The Paradigmatic Challenge of Mixed-Methods Research: Positivism, Relativism or Pragmatism?

Contemporary research in education has been shaped by changing trends in society over the last 100 years. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the multifaceted nature of contemporary education research and the challenges this environment provides to beginning researchers. This paradigmatic issue is explored across five interconnected themes. (1) Educational research is dynamic and keeping up to date with developments in theory and practice has to be ongoing. (2) There is an ongoing transition between theories, to research methodologies, to educational practices and then back to theories. (3) Educational research cannot occur in a vacuum and so the context and culture of that research needs to be articulated. (4) Educational research is often explored using a qualitative or quantitative data framework but other similarities and differences also need to be considered. (5) The research methodology needs to work towards answering the specific research question under investigation. Educational research by its very name means re-looking, going back again and again, and wondering (theorising) what is happening and why in education.