Mixed paradigms : combining participatory and positivist research methods : Guyanese case studies

Abstract

The debate between proponents of participatory and positivist research methodologies has been long and at times heated, but in four months research work in Guyana, the author found elements of the two paradigms melding. Positivist researchers are found to be less than completely objective in practice, while participatory researchers adopt positivist tools for use in their studies. In short, hard drawn lines of demarkation between the two schools of thought become blurred in the field.

The implications of this blending of methodologies are explored, both theoretically and in the light of practical experience. Can field researchers not have the best of both worlds, combining positivist and participatory methods as these fulfill research needs? Or are the two approaches worlds apart, with practices appropriate to one invalidating the results and conclusions of the other? The key to the puzzle lies in who sets the research agenda and controls the generation of knowledge.