MECM90038 Chap.4 Research Paradigms: Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology
Research Paradigms: Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology
Week 3 introduces the vocabulary that sits beneath every research design, and this chapter explains it in plain terms. Ontology is a theory of being or reality; epistemology is a theory of how knowledge is produced; methodology is the rationale linking techniques to both.
The chapter then maps the four paradigms the lecture traces through media studies: empiricism and positivism, interpretative social science, critical social science and postmodernism, with the focus and typical theories of each. It closes on the lecture's key claim that a research question embodies a paradigm, showing how to read a draft question for its assumptions and whether its method fits.
Grasping these ideas helps you position your topic, engage readings critically and justify choices in the methodology assignment.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Ontology as an account of what exists and what is real
- 02
Epistemology as a theory of how knowledge is produced
- 03
Methodology as the rationale linking techniques to knowledge and reality
- 04
Four evolving paradigms of media studies and research
- 05
Ontological and epistemological questions specific to media and communications
- 06
Reading the paradigm embodied in a draft research question
Worked example · free
Matching a paradigm to a podcast question
- 1Spot the signal: asking whose accounts are left out questions how knowledge is produced and who is silenced.
- 1Name the paradigm: critical social science, with epistemology leading and reality treated as disputed.
- 1State the consequence: the method must analyse whose voices the episodes include and exclude, not just count episodes.
Key terms
- Ontology
- Ontology is an account of what exists and what reality is. In media research it asks what it means to be human in a mediated world.
- Epistemology
- Epistemology is an account of how knowledge comes to be produced. It raises the question of whose perspectives shape what we know about media.
- Methodology
- The rationale behind the techniques a study uses to find and produce knowledge. It connects a chosen method to a view of knowledge and of reality.
- Research paradigm
- A broad tradition of assumptions about reality and knowledge that guides research. The Week 3 lecture names four in media studies, from positivism to postmodernism.
Research Paradigms: Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology FAQ
What is the difference between ontology and epistemology in media research?
Ontology concerns what reality is, so in media research it asks how media shape our sense of the real and of being human. Epistemology concerns how knowledge is produced, so it asks from whose perspective media are studied and who has defined communication over time. A study usually leans more toward one of the two.
Which research paradigm should my media project use?
No single paradigm is required. The lecture's point is that your research question already embodies one, so choose deliberately. If your question seeks audience meanings, it sits near interpretative social science; if it asks whose voices are excluded from coverage, it is critical. Make sure your method and data fit the paradigm your wording implies.
Is methodology the same thing as method?
No. A method is a technique, such as coding articles or analysing discourse in posts. The Week 3 slides define methodology as the theory or rationale behind such techniques, tying them to a view of knowledge and of reality. In the methodology assignment you justify that rationale, not just name the technique.
Why does a positivist question about media effects fit poorly in this subject?
Positivism seeks a singular, generalisable truth through observation and experiment, focusing on message and sender. Measuring effects on people usually needs surveys or experiments, which the subject's desktop research rule excludes for ethics reasons. A text-based project can still study messages, but questions about measured effects on audiences fall outside what you can collect.
Assessment move
Learn the three definitions by their roots: ontos for being, episteme for knowledge, and methodology as the reasoning that joins them. Then make a four-row table of the paradigms with their focus, from message and sender to individual agents living with media, plus one typical theory each. Take three readings from your literature search and note which paradigm each seems to draw on.
Finally, rewrite your own draft question twice, once in an interpretative register and once in a critical register, and keep whichever fits your problem and your public data best.
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