Using a mixed-methods approach, this study sought to understand a general sense of paradigm confidence and to see how this confidence relates to doctoral student identities as emerging scholars. Identity development was explored among 46 education doctoral students at a midsized public university in the Southeast. Researchers examined students' emerging scholar identities, sense of belonging, and confidence in understanding their research paradigms. Key findings suggest that being able to demonstrate confidence in research paradigms is important to scholar development as it reflects the internal identity of the researcher and the external position of the scholar in the academic field.