Ideologies of Research

 I did not find the videos very helpful. The metaphors and comparisons to characters from shows/movies made me more confused because I am not familiar with the references. I focused more on understanding Post Positivist but the extra research I tried to do made me more confused.

After our class discussion I realized there were a couple of things we thought were post positivist that were not characteristics of.  Putting the research ideologies in terms of how they are used in education helped a lot. I now understand that post positivist is very black and white and can be compared to typical classroom evaluations, testing, scoring schools and other common data collected from schools. This ideology only accepts the widely accepted truth and ignores any outside influences or other factors that could affect the research being done. Constructivist considers the knowledge of the researcher and the subjects. It accepts multiple realities, contexts and relations with other people; this could be focus groups, interviews and other methods that include the voices of all participants. Critical, as I understand it, is very similar to constructivist except that it takes research to the next step of action and encourages participants to lead change.

Understanding these ideologies of research, I know that I participate in all three, in my own work with STEM. We collect pre and post surveys that are very "black and white", as well as attendance and other demographic data for our funders that is typical post positivist research. However, I know my style is more constructivist, and with youth, can also be critical. The way I present data and go beyond the black and white to gain a deeper understanding of youth and our programs' experiences includes my participants and considers multiple realities. 

I think I would like to focus more on critical research for my capstone project by researching new ways of conducting our research methods with our participants and changing to more equitable practices.