Any research problem in social, behavioral and human sciences conforms to some philosophical assumptions and a particular epistemological stance which influence and guide research practice (Crotty, 1998; Creswell, 2015a; Patton, 2015). According to Crotty (1998), epistemology “provide(s) researchers with a sense of stability and direction as they go on to do their own building; that is, as they move towards understanding and expounding the research process after their own fashion in forms that suit their particular research purposes” (p. 2). In other words, we as researchers need to have a good knowledge about multiple epistemologies that underpin any educational research in social sciences (Glesne, 2011; Bryan, 2012).
Creswell (2014), identified four worldviews of a mixed methods approach: (1) postpositivist, …show more content…
This worldview encourages collaborative work with members of these communities to build knowledge based on their experiences, and conforms with the beliefs of qualitative researchers in cultural studies programs (Creswell, 2014).
Unlike quantitative and qualitative epistemological worldviews, the pragmatic worldview holds a radical middle epistemological stance (Patton, (2015). In other words, its worldview does not conform to either the quantitative or qualitative ones. Instead, it believes in the coexistence of both quantitative and qualitative epistemological worldviews and the use of quantitative measures and qualitative life stories to have a good understanding of the research problem.
The pragmatic worldview is widely used among mixed methods researchers. As this study is concerned with investigating vocabulary strategies by using quantitative and qualitative research methods, the pragmatic worldview was chosen in the context of this