Qualitative research’s foundation can be considered as different as the variety of approaches for engaging in this type of methods. Since the very beginning of qualitative research, the approach as been central to the study of human behavior specifically and growth of social research more generally. Even with the growth and perceived prominence of quantitative approaches to social research, qualitative research methods have remained prominent due to the limitations of quantitive work. In today’s post, I want to share some background about the theoretical orientation of qualitative research.
Some of the early foundations of qualitative research date all the way back to Rene Descartes’s work Discourse on Methodology in 1637. In this work, he discussed the notion of objectivity and he posited that researchers should seek to distance and remove themselves to avoid corrupting the analysis process.
David Hume suggested the value and potential of empirical research to understand our world and people’s experience in it. As a result of their work and many other prominent philosophers and scientists, research came to be associated with objectivity and empirical data. Tenets that largely remain influential today.
Following this work, Auguste Comte drew a parallel between the social world and the natural world. The latter having been long established as a place where laws and data could explain processes and observed trends. The believe that the social world was solvable and understandable came to be known as positivism. The paradigm of positivism was a driving force for research particularly in the 1900s. Bryman (1988) provides some underlying core beliefs of positivism:
1) Scientific methods are appropriate for studying social activities and behaviors
2) Only that which can be observed is important
3) Knowledge comes from the collection of facts
4) Hypotheses should be tested with empirical data
5) Facts and values are separate so you can be objective
In contrast to positivism, Kant in Critique of Pure Reason argues that there are other valid approaches to gaining knowledge than simply observation.
For example, people understand the world by thinking about what has occurred around us and what we think might happen in addition to what actually transpires.
The interpretive approach, as this paradigm is known as, is generally understood as central to qualitative methods. Qualitative researchers privilege someone’s understand of the social world as well as the researcher’s own insights into this world.
Max Weber’s work pushed the interpretive approach by trying to combine the elements of both positivism and interpretive by emphasizing the importance of observation to inform interpretations about the world.
This latter notion particularly drives much of qualitative methods. The goal of qualitative methods, in this understanding, is to collect data on a participants understanding of the world in order to learn about their beliefs, views, and experiences overall.
Important Philosophical Issues
Guba and Lincoln’s foundational work, “Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research” provides a useful orientation for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative work. Paradigm, they suggest, is a “worldview that guides” the researcher.
For example, qualitative research is built in part on the view that reality is constructed by the perceptions of people as they interact with one another. If you do not believe in this worldview, it is likely that you do not believe in the fundamental value of qualitative methods.
Guba and Lincoln (2000) breakdown the orientation of qualitative research along three aspects: ontological, epistemological, and methodological.
Ontological aspects address how the researcher thinks about the world. This approach informs the questions one ask and what one believes is worth exploring. For example, if you believe that gender dynamics influence classroom teaching then you might conduct a study seeking to understand the bias students hold based on a teacher’s gender.
Epistemological aspects address what a researcher views as a knowable. In other words, can a particular research question be answered. Epistemology plays a central role in deciding to use qualitative methods because using qualitative research suggests that you believe the data to be gained can answer the question posed.
So if you believe it is possible to learn about the way gender influences teaching, then you might undertake the study of how student gender bias informs classroom teaching.
Central to qualitative research is the combination of ontological and epistemological. You need to match what is an important, worthwhile question to ask (ontological) with a question that can be answered with data (epistemological).
Finally, after having the ontological and epistemological in coordination, the researcher can begin to address the methodological. Methodological aspects ask how you will pursue the answer to your question. The culmination of your ontological and epistemological perspectives and methodological approach provides you with the approach you will use in your study.
