Paper Type
Completed Research Paper
Abstract
Our conventional understanding of the relationship between research paradigms, methods and data analysis in qualitative research suggests that we first hold a worldview (paradigm), which guides our selection of method, which in turn dictates whether we start analyzing data deductively or inductively. However, it is also possible to understand this relationship as flowing in the opposite direction, and thus infer the paradigmatic beliefs of a researcher based on the data analyses he or she produces. In this paper, I compare two analyses I did to the same set of interview data – one started inductively, the other one deductively –, and from there I draw conclusions about the ontological and epistemological beliefs underpinning the two analyses, as well as my own. Similar exercises can help anyone faced with the ill-structured problem of making research design choices, and implicitly urged to fit into a single research paradigm.
Recommended Citation
Lopez, Liliana, "Induction And Deduction As Entry Points Into Qualitative Data Analysis: How Can Early Analytical Choices Affect The Theorizing Process?" (2013). AMCIS 2013 Proceedings. 4.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2013/ResearchMethods/GeneralPresentations/4
Induction And Deduction As Entry Points Into Qualitative Data Analysis: How Can Early Analytical Choices Affect The Theorizing Process?
Our conventional understanding of the relationship between research paradigms, methods and data analysis in qualitative research suggests that we first hold a worldview (paradigm), which guides our selection of method, which in turn dictates whether we start analyzing data deductively or inductively. However, it is also possible to understand this relationship as flowing in the opposite direction, and thus infer the paradigmatic beliefs of a researcher based on the data analyses he or she produces. In this paper, I compare two analyses I did to the same set of interview data – one started inductively, the other one deductively –, and from there I draw conclusions about the ontological and epistemological beliefs underpinning the two analyses, as well as my own. Similar exercises can help anyone faced with the ill-structured problem of making research design choices, and implicitly urged to fit into a single research paradigm.