Constructivism: learning theories and approaches to research

Abstract

This chapter aims to promote alignment of worldview, theoretical frameworks and research approaches in relation to constructivism and its philosophical underpinnings. It provides an overview of constructivist theories of learning. The chapter focuses on constructivist approaches to research: its traditions and methods. It then provides examples from various disciplines including clinical medicine, health professions education and nursing. Constructivism has arisen as an alternative to positivism as a way of understanding the world. In that sense, it differs from positivism in important and fundamental ways. These include ontology, epistemology and methodology and the chapter explains these in detail. The constructivist worldview has given rise to theories of learning which are increasingly relevant in health professions education. When conducting research from a constructivist worldview, it is common to hear discussions of the following three terms: relativist, transactional and subjectivist.

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