Which paradigm provides the basis for qualitative research?

Common Paradigms

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Qualitative and quantitative approaches are rooted in philosophical traditions with different epistemological and ontological assumptions.

Epistemology - is the theory of knowledge and the assumptions and beliefs that we have about the nature of knowledge.  How do we know the world? What is the relationship between the inquirer and the known?

Ontology - concerns the philosphy of existence and the assumptions and beliefs that we hold about the nature of being and existence.

Paradigms - models or frameworks that are derived from a worldview or belief system about the nature of knowledge and existence. Paradigms are shared by a scientific community and guide how a community of researchers act with regard to inquiry.

Methodology - how we gain knowledge about the world or "an articulated, theoretically informed approach to the production of data" (Ellen, 1984, p. 9).

Five Common Paradigms

Most qualitative research emerges from the 'interpretivist' paradigm. 

While we describe the epistemological, ontological and methodological underpinnings of a variety of paradigms, one need not identify with a paradigm when doing qualitative research.

As Bryman (2004) articulates (see chapter 1) the tension between interpretivist and positivist approaches in a political debate about the nature, importance and capacity of different research methods.

Up until the 1960s, the 'scientific method' was the predominant approach to social inquiry, with little attention given to qualitative approaches such as participant observation.

In response to this, a number of scholars across disciplines began to argue against the centrality of the scientific method.  They argued that quantitiative approaches might be appropriate for studying the physical and natural world, they were not appropriate when the object of study was people.  Qualitative approaches were better suited to social inquiry. 

To understand the tension between paradigms one must understand that this tension - the either or approach that emerged in the context of a debate about the capacity and importance of qualitative methods.  

Byrman and others, most recently Morgan (2007), argue for a more pragmatic approach; one that is disentrangled from the entrapments of this paradigm debate, one that recognizes the ties or themes that connect quantitative and qualitative research, and one that sees the benefits of blending quantitative and qualitative methods.

Assumptions and beliefs of the Interpretivist paradigm

Assumptions and beliefs of the Positivist paradigm

Assumptions of the Critical or Subtle Realist paradigm

Assumptions of Critical Theory paradigms

Assumptions of Feminist paradigms

Bryman, A. (2004). Quantity and Quality in Social Research.  London: Routledge.  First published in 1988.

Ellen, RF. (1984). Introduction. In RF Ellen (Ed.), Ethnographic Research: A guide to general conduct (research methods in social anthropology) (pp. 1-12). London: Academic Press.

Morgan, DL. (2007). Paradigms lost and paradigms regained. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. 1(1), 48-76.

  A paradigm means a set of overarching and interconnected assumptions about the nature of reality (Maykut and Moorehouse 1994). Any paradigm is built on a number of assumptions that deal with the nature of reality. The paradigm itself cannot be tested; however, it provides the basis on which we build our verifiable knowledge. A paradigm provides the largest framework within which research takes place.

A paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his famous 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. Kuhn discusses two views phases of research in science: normal and revolutionary. During the normal phase, science advances by advancing in the directions predicted by existing theories. The postulates of a paradigm are assumed to be self-evident truths during times of normal science. However, they are not self evident during times of change or when there is a shift from one paradigm to another.

A scientific revolution occurs, according to Kuhn, when scientists encounter anomalies that cannot be explained by the universally accepted paradigm within which scientific progress has thereto been made. The paradigm is not simply the current theory, but the entire worldview in which it exists, and all of the implications that come with it. When enough significant anomalies have accrued against a current paradigm, the scientific discipline is thrown into a state of crisis, according to Kuhn. During this crisis, new ideas, perhaps ones previously discarded, are tried. Eventually a new paradigm is formed, which gains its own new followers, and an intellectual battle takes place between the followers of the new paradigm and the hold-outs of the old paradigm. After a given discipline has changed from one paradigm to another, this is called a scientific revolution or a paradigm shift.

In the world of research, the use of quantitative research methods, sometimes also called the positivist approach, is the dominant paradigm. Qualitative research, on the other hand, is based on a fundamentally different set of assumptions and postulates. It constitutes what we call an alternate paradigm- that is a paradigm that is not yet fully developed.

Here are a number of examples drawn from diverse fields of human endeavor of the different paradigm shifts that have taken place over the last few centuries:

•  The transition from the Newtonian physics worldview to Einstein's Relativistic worldview

•  The development of Darwin's theory of evolution that replaced the dominant creation theory.

•  The English King signing the Magna Carta that shifted rights away from the absolute monarch

•  The Prussian military model based on the General Staff that revolutionized warfare

•  Mass manufacturing after the introduction of the assembly line.

What paradigm is qualitative research?

Which paradigm is used for quantitative research?

What are the relevant paradigms that form the foundation of qualitative research?

What are the 4 paradigms of research?