qualitative or quantitative methodology
In the research hierarchy there is no doubt that a research paradigm implies a research
methodology. Hopefully the explanation of the three paradigms given above should
make this very clear. It is impossible to examine multiple, individual realities in any
depth using a quantitative methodology, just as it is impossible to identify a single real -
ity, measure it or quantify it in any other way than via a quantitative methodology.
Gorman and Clayton (2005) identify the fundamental argument between the
two methodologies and present a summary of qualitative and quantitative approaches
to an inquiry. Although they do not argue necessarily for paradigmatic purity, it
appears implicit in the distinctions between the two. They begin by examining the
basic assumptions of each mode of inquiry; quantitative methodology assumes the
objective reality of social facts; qualitative methodology assumes social constructions
of reality (Gorman and Clayton, 2005, 24–8). These assumptions are in fact two