Chapter 2 Philosophical Paradigm and Interpretive Frameworks Creswell

Chapter 2 Philosophical, Paradigm, and Interpretive Frameworks Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 2. 1

Key Questions • What philosophical assumptions are being acknowledged (implicitly or explicitly) in a qualitative study? • What paradigm stances do qualitative researchers use? • What interpretive or theoretical frameworks are researchers likely to use when qualitative researchers select a lens for their study? • How are the assumptions, paradigms, and interpretive/theoretical frameworks used in designing and or conducting a qualitative study? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 2

The Role of Philosophical Assumptions, Paradigms, and Worldviews • When researchers undertake a qualitative study, you are tacitly agreeing to its underlying philosophical assumptions. • After choosing qualitative research, then researchers bring to the study their own worldviews that shape the direction of the study. • Further, some researchers use an interpretive lens because they want to advocate for a correction to marginalization of underrepresented groups or to societal problems. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 3

Philosophical Assumptions • The nature of reality (ontology) • How researchers know what they know (epistemology) • The role of values in research (axiology) • The language of research (rhetorical) • The methods used in the process of research (methodology) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 4

Philosophical Assumption: Ontological • Question: What is the nature of reality? • Characteristics: Reality is subjective and multiple, as seen by participants in the study • Implications for Practice: Researcher uses quotes and themes in words of participants and provides evidence of different perspectives Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 5

Philosophical Assumption: Epistemological • Question: What is the relationship between the researcher and that being researched? • Characteristics: Researchers attempt to lessen distance between themselves and that what is being researched • Implications for Practice: Researchers collaborate and spend time in field with participants, to become an “insider” Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 6

Philosophical Assumption: Axiological • Question: What is the role of values? • Characteristics: Researchers acknowledge that research is value laden and that biases represent • Implications for Practice: Researchers openly discusses values that shape the narrative and includes own interpretation in conjunction with the interpretation of participants Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 7

Philosophical Assumption: Rhetorical • Question: What is the language of research? • Characteristics: Researchers write in a literary, informal style using the personal voice and uses qualitative terms and limited definitions • Implications for Practice: Researchers use an engaging style of narrative, may use first -person pronoun, and employ the language of qualitative research Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 8

Philosophical Assumption: Methodological • Question: What is the process of research? • Characteristics: Researchers use inductive logic, studies in the topic within its context, and uses an emerging design • Implications for Practice: Researchers work with particulars (details) before generalizations, describe in detail, the context of the study, and continually revise questions from experiences in the field Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 9

Paradigms and Worldviews • Definition of paradigm: a basic set of beliefs that guide action (Guba, 1990, p. 17). • Major research paradigms – – Postpositivism Social constructivism Advocacy/Participatory Pragmatism Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 10

Postpositivism • Approach – – Scientific Reductionism oriented Cause/effect A priori theories • Practice – Inquiry in logically related steps – Multiple perspectives from participants not single reality – Rigorous data collection and analysis – Use of computer programs – Reports have scientific structure (e. g. , problem, data collection, etc. ) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 11

Social Constructivism • Approach – The understanding of the world in which we live and work – The development of multiple meanings – The researchers look for complexity of viewpoints • Practice – Researchers ask broad general open-ended questions – Researchers focus on the “processes” of interaction – Researchers focus on historical and cultural settings of participants – Researchers acknowledge their background shapes interpretation – Researchers “interpret” the meanings others have about the world Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 12

Advocacy/Participatory • Approach – It contains an action agenda – It focuses on issues such as oppression, domination, suppression, alienation and hegemony – It is recursive or dialectical – It is emancipatory – It helps people free themselves from constraints – It is practical and collaborative “with” others • Practice – The issues help shape research questions – The researchers work with participants to design questions – The “voice” of the participants is heard throughout the research process – The agenda is focused on action for reform Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 13

Pragmatism • Approach – Focuses on the outcomes of the research – Focuses on “what works” to address the research problem – Focuses on the researchers freedom of choice in methods – Focuses on the many approaches to collecting and analyzing data • Practice – The researchers use multiple methods to answer research questions – The research is conducted that best addresses the research problem Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 14

Theoretical Perspectives: Interpretive Communities • • • Postmodern perspective Feminist theories Critical theory Critical Race Theory (CRT) Queer Theory Disability Theories Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 15

Postmodernism Perspectives • Assumptions – There are knowledge claims must be set within the world today in multiple perspectives such as race, gender, class, and group affiliations – There are negative conditions show themselves in the presence of hierarchies, power, control by individuals in the hierarchy and multiple meanings of language – There are different discourses – There are marginalized people that are important – There are Meta-narratives or universals hold true of the social conditions – There is a need to “deconstruct” the text to learn about the hierarchies, oppositions, contradictions Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 16

Postmodernism Perspectives • Examples – Interpretive Biography (Denzin, 1989) – Narrative (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) – Grounded Theory (Clark, 2005) – Researchers study “turning points”) during life transitions – Ethnography (Thomas, 1993) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 17

Feminist Theories • Assumptions – The overall focus is on women’s diverse situations and the institutions that frame those situations – The subject matter is focused on domination within a patriarchal society – The lens is focused on gender – The goals are focused to establish collaborative relationships to place the researcher within the study so as not to be objective but transformative • Practice – The need to examine the researcher’s background to determine validity and trustworthiness of accounts – The need to report women’s voices without exploiting them – The need to use methods in a self-disclosing and respectful way Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 18

Critical Theory • Assumptions – The focus is concerned with empowering people to transcend the constrains placed on them by race, class and power – The theory is used to interpret or illuminate social action – The themes include scientific study of institutions and their transformation through interpreting meanings of social life, historical problems, domination, alienation, and social struggles Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 19

Critical Theory • An example from Ethnography – Focus on changes in how people think, encourage people to interact, form networks with the end goal of “social theorizing” – Focuses on the use of an intensive case study or historically comparative cases of specific actors – Focuses on the formation of formal models – Focuses on the use “ethnographic accounts” (interpretive social psychology) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 20

Critical Race Theory (CRT) • Goals of CRT – To present stories about discrimination from the perspective of people of color (e. g. , cases studies of descriptions and interviews – To eradicate racial subjugation while recognizing that race is a social construct – To interact race with other inequities such as gender and class • Practice – The research places race and racism is in the foreground of the research process – The research looks for ways to explain the experiences of people of color – The research offers transformative solutions if racial, gender and class subordination Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 21

• Assumptions Queer Theory – It is related to the complexities of individual identity – It explores how identities reproduce and perform in social forums – It uses the term “queer theory, ” which allows for the incorporation of other social elements including race, class, age – It holds that binary distinctions are inadequate to describe sexual identity • Practice – It uses Postmodern or poststructural orientation to deconstruct dominant theories related to identity – It focuses on how identity is culturally and linked to discourse and overlaps with human sexuality Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 22

Disability Theories • Assumptions – The focus is addressing the meaning of inclusion in schools and encompasses administrators, teachers and parents who have children with disabilities – The focus is on disability as a dimension of human difference rather than defect • Practice – The research process views individuals with disabilities as different – The questions asked, labels applied to these individuals, communication methods, and consideration of how data collection will benefit the community are considered – The data are reported in a way that is respectful of power relationships. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 23

Chapter 2 Philosophical, Paradigm, and Interpretive Frameworks Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2 e 2. 24