Epistemological Questions of Communication Research Paradigms

The critique of the most common communication research paradigms outlined in the previous chapters is not particularly original. Many researchers, as quoted above, have identified deficiencies in both positivist and interpretivist paradigms. However, communication scholars often propose a popular solution to overcome the limitations of each methodological paradigm by using a “mixed” methodology approach. In this chapter, I will demonstrate why the idea of mixing paradigms is logically inconsistent.