Research Paradigms

Qualitative Research
Concepts

Most quantitative research texts

identify three primary types of

research:
Exploratory research on a
concept, people, or situation
that the researcher knows
little about.
Descriptive research on a
concept, people, or situation
that the researcher knows
something about, but just
wants to describe what he/she
has found or observed.
Explanatory involves testing
a hypothesis and deriving that
hypothesis from available
theories.

Generally these types of studies fit within our

understanding of qualitative and quantitative
research.

Exploratory research involves

qualitative studies
(observation, interviews, and
content analysis)
Explanatory research involves
quantitative studies and
hypothesis testing.
Descriptive studies most often
involve quantitative research
techniques or a combination of
qualitative and quantitative
method.

(Please note however, that Rossman & Rollis

use the term descriptive to describe
some types of qualitative research)

When researchers talk about different

approaches to research, they talk about
paradigms.
A paradigm is a worldview
or a set of assumptions about
how things work.
Rossman & Rollis define
paradigm as shared
understandings of reality
Quantitative and qualitative
research methods involve very
different assumptions about
how research should be
conducted and the role of the
researcher.

Differences between
qualitative and quantitative research

Involves
unstructured
interviews,
observation, and
content analysis.

Subjective
Inductive
Little structure
Little manipulation
of subjects
Takes a great deal
of time to conduct
Little social
distance between
researcher and
subject

Involves
experiments,
surveys, testing,
and structured
content analysis,
interviews, and
observation.
Objective
Deductive
High degree of
structure
Some manipulation
of subjects
May take little time
to conduct
Much social
distance between
researcher and
subject

Lets talk about some of the assumptions or values

that are part of qualitative or quantitative
paradigms:

For example, do you think:

That the truth can be
determined in every situation?
Can everyone agree on the
truth?
What evidence do you need to
determine what is the truth?

How is knowledge or truth

generated?
Are things true if they are
printed in books or the
newspaper?
Who determines the truth?
Can different people hold
different perceptions about
what is the truth?
Is an individuals perception of
the truth determined by his or
her experiences and
interactions with other people?

Should society change or should

it stay the same?
Is it the researchers
responsibility to change
society?
Or should the researcher
remain objective or
neutral and only attempt
to find new knowledge?

Should the researchers personal

experiences and values influence his or her
research?
If so, how does the

researcher prevent
personal bias from
influencing the study?

To review, qualitative research is:

Subjective different people
can perceive the truth
differently. Qualitative
research attempts to find out
how people perceive their
lives. Different people will
have different perspectives.
The researchers experiences,
beliefs, and values are
incorporated into the research
design and analysis of data.

In general, research bias is

controlled by:
Keeping records on the
research process, data analysis,
and problems encountered.
Conducting research in a
systematic way.
Involving colleagues and
research participants in
research design and data
analysis.
Being upfront about the
researchers own beliefs &
values.
(We will discuss specific
techniques later in the course)

Purpose of most qualitative

research is to:
Increase knowledge of
people or situations that
are not usually studied
(especially, the
experiences of women,
persons of color, and
people who are often
marginalized in society)
Provide information that
can be used for social
change.

Examples of research often used

for social change:
Feminist research (assumes
women are oppressed in
society research is to be
used to help reduce
discrimination).
Participatory action research
people affected by a social
problem work with a
researcher to study a problem,
collect data, analyze data,
make recommendations, and
use the results to influence
social change.

Rossman & Rollis identify 4 different paradigms but

the two primary paradigms are:

Positivism associated with quantitative

research. Involves hypothesis testing to
obtain objective truth. Also used to predict
what may happen at a future date. Critical
realism is a subtype of positivism that
incorporates some value assumptions on the
part of the researcher. It involves looking at
power in society. Researchers primarily rely on
quantitative data to do this.
Interpretivism associated with qualitative
research. Used to obtain an understanding of
the word from an individual perspective.
Critical Humanism is a subtype of the
Interpretive paradigm. The critical humanism
approach is one in which the researcher
involves people studied in the research
process. Data is used for social change.

Two terms from the book that we

should talk about.
Community of practice: People you
work and consult with in the course
of a study. A community of practice
helps you incorporate other points of
view in your work.
Reflexivity the relationship between
the research and people being
studied. The presence of the
researcher affects the people being
studies (think of the Hawthorne Effect
from SWRK 170!). The researcher is
also influenced by the people studied.
Reflexivity in qualitative research
also pertains to the requirement that
the researcher think about what he or
she has found as well as the process
of doing research.

Two other important terms.

Emic the insiders view and voice.
Etic. The outsiders view and voice.
***Researchers are most often outsiders
trying to understand a community,
group, or individuals. Emic refers to
the view of people in the community
or the individuals studied. However,
there are different approaches to
qualitative research that vary in the
amount of social distance between
the researcher and people studied.
Next week we will listen to an
interviewer who became a part of the
community he studied!

Exercise for Today:

In groups, choose an object with
which you and your group
members are familiar (for
example, a can of Pepsi). Hand
the object to one person and
ask her to describe it in any
way she chooses. Continue
this process with four or five
people until you run out of
things to say. Having heard
others descriptions, in what
way do you see the object
differently. How have individual
descriptions changed.