Epistemology And Metaphysics For Qualitative Research

This clearly written and provocative text outlines the wide range of epistemological and metaphysical pillars of research. In a clear, easy to follow style, the reader is guided through an array of concepts that are defined, explained and made simple. With the aid of helpful examples and case studies, the book challenges the prevailing modes of thinking about qualitative inquiry by showcasing an immense variety of philosophical frameworks. Armed with a strong understanding of this philosophical backbone, students will be able to choose and defend a ‘pick and mix’ of research methods that will uniquely complement their research. Empiricism Rationalism Realism Skepticism Idealism Positivism Post-positivism Idea-ism Hermeneutics Phenomenology Social Ontology Quantum Mechanics Essential reading for new and experienced researchers, this ‘must’ for any social science bookshelf will help unlock a new level of research creativity.

This clearly written and provocative text outlines the wide range of epistemological and metaphysical pillars of research. In a clear, easy to follow style, the reader is guided through an array of concepts that are defined, explained and made simple. With the aid of helpful examples and case studies, the book challenges the prevailing modes of thinking about qualitative inquiry by showcasing an immense variety of philosophical frameworks. Armed with a strong understanding of this philosophical backbone, students will be able to choose and defend a ‘pick and mix’ of research methods that will uniquely complement their research. Empiricism Rationalism Realism Skepticism Idealism Positivism Post-positivism Idea-ism Hermeneutics Phenomenology Social Ontology Quantum Mechanics Essential reading for new and experienced researchers, this ‘must’ for any social science bookshelf will help unlock a new level of research creativity.

This book is an innovative attempt to examine and restructure the field of qualitative research methods. It develops a series of «rules» which not only give qualitative inquiry a firmer methodological grounding but also serve as specific guidelines for the practicing researcher. Additionally, the book situates the conduct of qualitative inquiry within the broader framework of epistemological concerns drawn from contemporary debates in the philosophy of science and social science. The book can be used, then, as an in-depth introduction to qualitative research methods as well as a social epistemological foundation for the justification of these methods.

This book provides students with a concise introduction to the philosophy of methodology. The book stands apart from existing methodology texts by clarifying in a student-friendly and engaging way distinctions between philosophical positions, paradigms of inquiry, methodology and methods. Building an understanding of the relationships and distinctions between philosophical positions and paradigms is an essential part of the research process and integral to deploying the methodology and methods best suited for a research project, thesis or dissertation. Aided throughout by definition boxes, examples and exercises for students, the book covers topics such as: - Positivism and Post-positivism - Phenomenology - Critical Theory - Constructivism and Participatory Paradigms - Post-Modernism and Post-Structuralism - Ethnography - Grounded Theory - Hermeneutics - Foucault and Discourse This text is aimed at final-year undergraduates and post-graduate research students. For more experienced researchers developing mixed methodological approaches, it can provide a greater understanding of underlying issues relating to unfamiliar techniques.

"We conceived of this book with the idea that critical explorations into the key philosophical issues in qualitative research could throw light on distortions, power relations, hidden assumptions and possibilities within the field, and could ultimately provide the groundwork for needed change and new directions. We wanted to do this with rigor, getting underneath the contemporary divisions in qualitative research, first building up philosophy and core concepts and then returning to specific practices in qualitative research. The book, in a way, then, is a statement of hope. We have seen many promising trends in the last few decades as academics from the groups who have traditionally been studied and spoken for in the past - indigenous peoples, women, minorities, gays and lesbians, for example - make their voices heard, as the «other» speaks back, and as the uses to which research is put receive more scrutiny. We see signs that qualitative research may begin to turn the tables on its own history and become a tool for emancipation rather than its opposite. The book is divided into five sections which each focus on different aspects of qualitative methodological practices and the concepts which are inherent in the practices themselves. The editors of this book are experienced with conducting qualitative research and two of the editors teach multiple university courses on research methodology and the social and epistemological theories associated with inquiry. Many of the books available for our courses divide qualitative research into a number of disparate types and then explain philosophical and epistemological positions according to those divisions. In our opinion, such approaches inadequately confront orienting questions of human knowledge implicit to all forms of social research. We intend to produce a new book that exemplifies theory and methods in qualitative research in relation to a sound presentation of social-theoretical core concepts."--Publisher's website.

This book is about going beyond dichotomy. The research literature in social sciences is full of apparent dichotomies such as the dichotomy between: qualitative and quantitative approaches; "reality" and "multiple-realities"; ontology and epistemology; researchers and participants; the right and wrong conduct of research; and sometimes even between the goals of research and the ethics of research. Throughout the book, it is shown that adopting a dialectical approach, which attempts to integrate apparent contradictions and opposites at a higher level of abstraction, may serve as a way out of the twin horns of such dilemmas. To begin this journey, the authors start with the classical dilemma of the relationship between "reality" and "knowledge", as a common divide between the quantitative and qualitative epistemological paradigms, and the philosophical assumptions underlying them. To illustrate the understanding of the relationship between knowledge and reality, metaphors of "maps and territories" are used as a framework for the dialectical construction of knowledge. This book will be valuable to a diverse readership, including scholars interested in epistemology and philosophy of science and research methods, mainly from qualitative traditions. It will also be of interest to quantitative researchers as well, including supervisors of graduate students, lecturers and, most importantly, students and researchers-to-be.

Philosophies of Qualitative Research' helps readers understand, present, and critique the different roles of philosophical paradigms in qualitative research. Author Svend Brinkmann shows how to reflect upon, report, and evaluate the ways in which philosophical positions inform qualitative research as it is currently practiced.

Interpretative Qualitative Research: Agency, Subjectivity, and Experience frames the concerns and processes of standard analytic induction, ethnomethodology, and symbolic interaction in terms of cutting-edge issues for contemporary qualitative research. It is the first book to demonstrate how interpretive paradigms for qualitative data analysis produce research findings that are rooted to significantly different understandings of personal agency and social structures; subjectivity and identity; and, the nature of human experience. Specifically, the book explores the analytical process, interpretative power, and political effects of these three styles of interpretative research. The result is a rich, pedagogical resource that explores not only how data is interpreted but also the kinds of problems, solutions, and questions that can be investigated.