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Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

2.1
`
Philosophical, Paradigm,
and Interpretive
Frameworks


Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
2.2
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 2e
2.3
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 2e
2.4
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 2e
2.5
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 2e
2.6
Chapter 2
Philosophical, Paradigm,
and Interpretive
Frameworks
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
2.7
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 2e
2.8
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 2e
2.9
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 2e
2.10
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 2e
2.11
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 2e
2.12
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 2e
2.13
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 2e
2.14
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 2e
2.15
Theoretical Perspectives:
Interpretive Communities
Postmodern perspective
Feminist theories
Critical theory
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
Queer Theory
Disability Theories

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
2.16
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 2e
2.17
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 2e
2.18
Feminist Theories
Assumptions
The overall focus is on womens 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 researchers background
to determine validity and trustworthiness of
accounts
The need to report womens voices without
exploiting them
The need to use methods in a self-disclosing and
respectful way
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
2.19
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 2e
2.20
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 2e
2.21
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 2e
2.22
Queer Theory
Assumptions
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 2e
2.23
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.

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