The Imprint of Business Norms on American Education By Dameon V ...

“causal factors” (Denzin, 1970, p. 26). In effect, methodologies can be seen as evolving internally into new forms externally. They evolve because no one methodology has authority, and all are fallible (Popper, 1983, p. 519). Perceiving them as static methods of scientific discovery tends to imprison researchers in permanent fixtures, leading to restricted conceptualizations (Popper, 1994, chap. 2). The “prisons” I speak of are theoretical frameworks and technical methodologies; the breaking out of these entrapments “can only be the result of a critical effort and of a creative effort” on the part of the researcher (Popper, 1994, p. 52). I believe the investigator should be able to leapfrog from one frame to the next, simultaneously highlighting linkages and appreciating each method and perspective as valuable.

I recognize that my strategy is an eclectic approach. I used theoretical paradigms and data-collecting methods as a malleable element, adaptable and taking shape within the context.³ I borrowed concepts from hermeneutics, Foucauldian discourse analysis, positivism, and critical theory.

However, it is important to note that although I accept knowledge as a social construction, this does not mean that I believe knowledge is relative. There are many perceptions of truth. However, in accord with Popper (1983, p. 451), I maintain that “if an assertion is true, it is true forever,” and truth can be found when it corresponds to facts (p. 511). Furthermore, facts are known through the conditions for truth of certain statements that bring one nearer to the truth, indicating a growth in knowledge (p. 518). Therefore, discovering the facts leads to truth, and in this way, one can decisively know things.

Thus, for epistemological reasons, I utilize a realist approach to knowledge. This is because realism allows me to connect various paradigms, seeing their value and usefulness in a single study (Archer, Bhaskar, Collier, Lawson, & Norrie, 1998). Also, a realist approach allows for a meaningful ontological perspective: seeing social structures as real entities, as things that can be known (Bhaskar, 1975). This is important because the thing that I explore is an abstract social entity, which is the crux of my theory. That thing iswhat I call the Imprint.