1. Running head: QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE PARADIGMS 1
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Paradigms
Cheryl Vierheilig
University of Phoenix

2. QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE PARADIGMS 2
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Paradigms
In demonstrating how my worldview aligns with the qualitative paradigm and quantitative
paradigm, it is essential that my ideology of what quantitative and qualitative concepts are with my
vision and perception are key to determining how I view the paradigms of these dimensions.
Qualitative methods are defined in terms of trying to develop an understanding of the meaning a set
of actions has to an actor through some form of contact with how they experience their experience
in everyday social contexts (Johnson, Buehring, Cassell, & Symon, 2007). Qualitative
research entails taking an interpretivist perspective where one is particularly interested in being able
to investigate the perspectives that subjects have and to interpret their view of the world (Johnson,
Buehring, Cassell, & Symon, 2007). Qualitative allows you to probe the individual on the micro
level and if we are going to really understand people, we need to go to the micro and build it into a
macro picture. Qualitative methods can be utilized for theory generation with theory testing built
into the process (Johnson, Buehring, Cassell, & Symon, 2007).
Qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning
individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem (Creswell, 2014). The process of
research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participant’s
setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher
making interpretations of the meaning of the data (Creswell, 2014). The final written report has a
flexible structure. Those who engage in this form of inquiry support a way of looking at research
that honors an inductive style, a focus on individual meaning, and the importance of rendering
the complexity of a situation (Creswell, 2014).

3. QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE PARADIGMS 3
Quantitative research is an approach for testing objective theories by examining the
relationship among variables (Creswell, 2014). These variables, in turn, can be measured,
typically on instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures
(Creswell, 2014). The final written report has a set structure consisting of introduction, literature
and theory, methods, results, and discussion and like qualitative researchers, those who engage in
this form of inquiry have assumptions about testing theories deductively, building in protections
against bias, controlling for alternative explanations, and being able to generalize and replicate
the findings (Creswell, 2014).
When distinguishing how my worldview aligns with quantitative and qualitative
paradigms, it is imperative to understand what both types of research are composed of and
depending upon what type research is necessary and that which correlates to the ultimate
question of my research will be the keys that will determine what research methodology will be
appropriate and aligned with my worldview. If I chose to demonstrate a qualitative approach, I
can utilize these designs: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnographies,
and case study. The qualitative approach that would be incorporated for my worldview would
include open-ended questions, emerging approaches, text or image data.
The quantitative approach that my worldview would deploy would include closed-ended
questions, predetermined approaches, and numeric data. In my quantitative research, my
methods would include tests and verification of theories or explanations, and identification of
variables. My methods would relate variables in questions or hypotheses and standards of
validity and reliability. Observations and measures of the data and information collected would
be compiled numerically. Remembering to employ an unbiased approach would be relevant in

4. QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE PARADIGMS 4
the quantitative research method used. Experimental designs and nonexperimental designs, such
as surveys would be types of studies when using the quantitative approach (Criswell, 2014).
References
Creswell, J. (2014). Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches, Fourth Edition. : SAGE.
Johnson, P., Buehring, A., Cassell, C., & Symon, G. (2007). Defining qualitative management
research: An empirical investigation. Qualitative Research in Organizations and
Management, 2(1), 23-42.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17465640710749108