In order to properly identify a paradigm shift, one must first recognize a trait, habit, thought process, pattern, etc that existed and then changed over a period of time. In order to formulate this it is crucial that the starting state and endings state of a shift were actually phases and not just a misconception created by faulty research. For example, let’s consider the hypothetical that a study was conducted that should the year the I phone first came out teen social interaction reached all time lows and has since moved back higher. Looking at just this someone might come to the conclusion that there was a paradigm shift from using new tech as much as possible to forcing yourself to put the phone down and interact with others.
With the information given this is a reasonable assumption. Now let’s say that after further analysis we see that the original study did not include a lot of the interactions on the iPhone as social interacts since the college students filling out the study did not consider it that as much as the participants served 10 years later. The point is that in order to prove a phase shift the initial and ending phases need to be identified first.
If this identification step is done under some faulty psychological study and verified by other faulty psychological study using the same flawed context which may look good in academic research, then the phase shift itself is left meaningless. With my paradigm shift this shouldn’t be a problem seeing the increase in technology and the according increase in the number of people trading equities is fairly well recorded. Based on these numbers the demographics will provide a civic analysis leaving little room for such “ faulty research” to get in the way.
I agree that we have to caution ourselves against faulty research. It appears that you have anticipated finding good sources already. I think finding clear shifts is/was a hard part of the brainstorming project. Good luck with the essay!
It looks like you have a pretty solid plan of attack regarding how you’re going to select and evaluate your sources. I’m not getting a really clear read on your specific subject here (which you may have already narrowed in on), but as far as your general topic goes, I agree–numbers are pretty objective, so you should have an easier time steering clear of bias than some of us.