Research is the organized search that origins from a raised research problem, question or hypothesis, and educational research refers to the process of seeking answers concerning questions related to education systematically attempting to obtain a sufficient comprehension of education. Additionally, researchers perceive reality and knowledge differently, which directly impact and contribute in constructing and shaping their research.

To begin with, the first two worldviews and reality perceptions are epistemology and ontology. Epistemology refers to a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and source of knowledge. That is to say, studying what might be considered as knowledge and the way people could process it. Besides, four types of knowledge exist, in which there is knowledge as believe that allude to a thing researchers consider true. Yet, this type of knowledge is not established and definite for it is viewed as a possible hypothesis since believes change from one person to another. Also, researchers’ believes cannot be tested and conclusions derive from common sense. In addition, the other types of this paradigm are knowledge as authority that refer to the knowledge of well-known scholars with a good reputation within the field of research, in which, for instance, researchers may take their theories and findings as a valid source, and prior knowledge that implies to presupposition researchers make along with their schemata. On top of that, knowledge is thrived through logic. Concerning empirical knowledge, in fact, it origins from observation, experimentation of different phenomena, and interaction with the real world. Furthermore, ontology deals with understanding reality and its nature, where the research is conducted. To illustrate, a research in China differs from a research in Algeria even though the main subject might be similar. Consequently, the data collection process and the results are dissimilar owing to the different contexts and cultures. Not to mention the two ontological types that are realism, which refers to the one objective shared reality, and relativism that is the individual subjective reality of every person since people have different experiences. Researches may use realism if they are to conduct a quantitative research; however, relativism can be used if the research is qualitative. Hence, a direct influence of the different worldviews and realities of researchers and where the research is conducted on shaping the research can be clearly pointed according to the previously mentioned notions.

Moreover, Methodology and Axiology contribute in shaping the research, as well. Methodology covers the sufficient research methods, like surveys and questionnaires, along with the different approaches, such as quantitative and qualitative, to be used within the research process or in investigation depending on the way researcher perceive reality. For instance, as previously mentioned, researchers may choose either the quantitative approach if they consider life as one objective reality, or the qualitative approach if they consider it as multiple subjective realities. Additionally, Axiology is responsible of the ethical issues that may occur in research owing to the fact that it must be ethical through avoiding, for example plagiarism, mentioning authors’ names, and confidentiality of data, which is not revealing the identity of who participated in the data-collection process. Thus, researcher perception about reality determines which approaches and methods to be utilized to conduct a research, as well as taking into account including axiology to avoid common ethical issues of the research.

All in all, different worldviews of researchers towards reality and knowledge are highly vital to conduct a research due to the fact that they contribute in shaping it depending on the four paradigms, which are epistemology, ontology, methodology, as well as axiology.