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Research Paradigms
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.
• Involves • Involves
unstructured experiments,
interviews, surveys, testing, and
observation, and structured content
content analysis. analysis, interviews,
and observation.
• Subjective • Objective
• Inductive • Deductive
• Little structure • High degree of
• Little manipulation structure
of subjects • Some manipulation
• Takes a great deal of subjects
of time to conduct • May take little time
• Little social distance to conduct
between researcher • Much social
and subject distance between
researcher and
subject
Lets talk about some of the assumptions or values that
are part of qualitative or quantitative paradigms: