How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 418
which knowledge is acquired and validated" (Gall, Borg, &
Gall, 1996)
Methodology: how do we know the world, or gain
knowledge of it?
When challenging the assumptions underlying positivism, Lincoln and
Guba (2000) also identified two more categories that will distinguish
different paradigms, i.e. beliefs in causality and oxiology.
The assumptions of causality asserts the position of the nature and
possibility of causal relationship; oxiology deals with the issues about
value. Specific assumptions about research include the role of value in
research, how to avoid value from influencing research, and how best to
use research products (Baptiste, 2000).
Dill and Romiszowski (1997) stated the functions of paradigms as
follows:
Define how the world works, how knowledge is extracted from
this world, and how one is to think, write, and talk about this
knowledge
Define the types of questions to be asked and the methodologies
to be used in answering
Decide what is published and what is not published
Structure the world of the academic worker
Provide its meaning and its significance
Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxh139/paradigm.htm
(The Pennsylvania State University ©2010. All rights reserved.)
Paradigms are an effort to make things explainable and understandable,
they drive all behavior, and behavior drives results. Paradigms are
mental models or ways of thinking about something, they define what
we view as important and how we approach problems and activities.
They focus our attention, they concentrate our efforts on what we have
deemed to be important, they give us the confidence to solve problems.
Ideally shifting your paradigms will allow you to change from who you
think you are, to who you truly are. It is a movement from the accepted
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