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Compare And Contrast Research Paradigm

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Description of Two Contrasting Research Paradigms
Qualitative Research Paradigm
A paradigm is essentially what guides the research conducted by a researcher. Qualitative and quantitative are the main two research paradigms that guide a researcher. These are basically beliefs about reality or ontology. This is called relativism and in this paradigm, the researcher believes that there are many qualitative perspectives of reality. Generally this type of research is subjective. Qualitative research analysis is generally inductive and focuses on experiences and perceptions of research participants. Research design methods for this paradigm include phenomenology (lived experience), ethnography (influence of culture) and grounded theory (social process) (NurseKillam, 2017).

In an article written by Locke, she discusses interpretivist (or constructivist) (Qualitative) paradigm. The interpretivist (or constructivist) believes that individuals or groups construct reality based on interactions with the social environment. This paradigm is distinguished by an interest in understanding the world of lived experience from the point of view of those who live it. The researcher is concerned with subjective reality. Researchers working in this paradigm focus on particular situated actors who they construe as composing meaning out of events and phenomena though prolonged processes of interaction that involve history, language and action.

Quantitative Research Paradigm
The ontology within

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