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Table 4.1 Comparison of Positivist and Interpretivist Paradigms (Adapted from Carson et al., 2001, p. 6)

Positivist

Interpretivist

Epistemology ‘Grounds’ of knowledge, or the relationship between reality and research

Possible to obtain hard, secure, objective knowledge Focus on generalisation and abstraction Thought governed by hypotheses and stated theories

Understood through ‘perceived’ knowledge Focus on the specific and concrete Seeks to understand specific context Acknowledge values cannot be eliminated Take steps to minimise values

Axiology The role of the researcher’s values

Eliminate from the research process

Rhetoric Language adopted to present research findings Ontology Nature of ‘being’ and the world Reality

Precise, objective, scientific

Subjective

Direct access to real world

No direct access to real world No single external reality

Single external reality

(continued)