1. Philosophic Underpinnings of Qualitative Research
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şehnaz Şahinkarakaş

2. Main differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Based on observations that are converted into discrete units that can be compared to other units by using statistical analysis.
Based on a positivist position
Qualitative:
Examines people’s words and actions in narrative or descriptive ways (closely representing the situation as experienced by the participants)
Based on a phenomenological position

3. Some Terminology: Positivism and Phenomemology
Positivism (positive or observable facts):
objective inquiry based on measurable variables and provable propositions.
For positivist research, science is and should be concerned with the explanation and the prediction of observable events.
Phenomenological approach:
understanding the meaning events have for persons being studied.
Sees the individual and his/her world as co-constituted.
The person is viewed as having no existence apart from the world, and the world as having no existence apart from the person.

4. Some Terminology: Paradigm and Postulates
Interconnected assumptions about the nature of reality (a typical example or a pattern or something)
A paradigm provides the largest framework within which research takes place
Postulates:
An assumption stated positively (a starting point of reasoning)
Postulates are the individual assumptions that are stipulated to be true.
A set of postulates make up a paradigm

5. Why are these terms important?
Research questions must be carefully matched with methods of collecting and analyzing data.
One set of postulates constitutes an alternate paradigm and the phenomenological approach to inquiry
Another set of postulates frames the dominant paradigm and positivist approach.

6. A Philosophic Perspective to Qualitative Research
Quality research is (was!) in the minority status!
Why?
Quantitative research constitutes objective observation, quantifiable data and verifiable truths.
Quantitative researcher makes a guess or forms a hypothesis which is then used to test the data.
Qualitative research is a kind of social inquiry and it focuses on the way people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live.
Qualitative researcher seeks patterns which come out of or emerge from the data.
Thus, if the underlying philosophy is not understood, this research is seen as a less rigorous a less valued way of doing inquiry.

7. A brief history of qualitative research
Cultural anthropologists: among the first and best known qualitative researchers
Freud: case studies using the knowledge gained from his patients
Rogers: transcripts of therapy
Piaget: clinical interviews

8. POSTULATES of RESEARCH PARADIGM
Questions
Postulates of the positivist approach
Postulates of the phenomenological approach
1. How does the world work?
Reality is one. By carefully dividing and studying its parts, the whole can be understood.
There are multiple realities. These realities are socio-psychological constructions forming an interconnected whole. These realities can only be understood as such.
2. What is the relationship between the knower and the known?
The knower can stand outside of what is to be known. True objectivity is possible.
The knower and the known are interdependent.
3. What role do values play in understanding the world?
Values can be suspended in order to understand.
Values mediate and shape what is understood.

9. POSTULATES of RESEARCH PARADIGM
Questions
Postulates of the positivist approach
Postulates of the phenomenological approach
4. Are causal linkages possible?
One event comes before another event and can be said to cause that event.
Events shape each other. Multidirectional relationships can be discovered.
5. What is the possibility of generalization?
Explanations from one time and place can be generalized to other times and places.
Only tentative explanations for one time and place are possible.
6. What does research contribute to knowledge?
Generally, the positivist seeks verification or proof of propositions.
Generally, the phenomentologist seeks to discover or uncover propositions.

10. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival

11. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
Can be examined and broken apart properly
Interconnected

12. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
Sth. is always at the bottom and sth. is always at the top
There is a ‘web of meaning’

13. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
One-way flowchart
Multi-dimensional reproduction

14. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
Potentially identifiable
Not identifiable

15. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
A and B cause each other
A causes B

16. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
Change occurs by replacing parts – individual and discrete parts
Change is affected by the next change in a connected manner

17. Paradigm Shift in Research Methods
Research Characteristic
Dominant Paradigm (Positivist)
Alternate Paradigm (Phenomenological)
World View
Simple
Complex
Organization of information
Hierarchic
Heterarchic
Forms of relationships
Mechanical
Holographic
Sources of change
Determined
Indeterminate
Explanation
Linear causal
Mutual causal
Nature of change
Assembly
Morphogenesis
Observer perspective
Objective
Perspectival
No way of seeing the world is definitely true (different perspectives)
Instruments are objective

18. The importance of understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the research:
a) understanding similarities and differences between words and numbers
b) perspectival observer versus objective observer
c) discovery versus proof

19. Words and Numbers
The major difference between quantitative and qualitative approaches is the meaning given to the words.
Qualitative research looks closely at people’s words, actions and records.
Quantitative research quantifies such observations (using statistics).
Qualitative researcher does not have to challenge statistics; however, understanding and presenting qualitative research is as demanding as understanding statistics.
Qualitative researcher tries to understand what people say and do (products of how people interpret the world); thus, an emphatic understanding is needed.

20. Perspectival vs Objective Observer
Why would someone use a perspectival (subjective) view in research rather than an objective view?
To be objective is to be cold and distant so the knower stands outside; to be perspectival requires to get at the world of the agent/subject so the knower and the known are interdependent.

21. Discovery vs Proof
The goal of qualitative research is to discover patterns which emerge after close observation, careful documentation and thoughtful analysis of the research topic.
In the process of discovery, we keep in mind that reality is multiple, events are simultaneously and mutually shaped and the goal of this approach is to discover not to prove.
Hypotheses (quantitative approach) are formed after observations, not before!