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 individual’s 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 researcher’s
responsibility to change
society?
• Or should the researcher
remain objective or neutral
and only attempt to find
new knowledge?
Should the researcher’s 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
researcher’s 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
researcher’s 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 insider’s view and voice.
• Etic. The outsider’s 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 other’s
descriptions, in what way do
you see the object differently.
How have individual
descriptions changed.