Qualitative research in counseling psychology: A primer on research paradigms and philosophy of science.

This article presents an overview of philosophy of science and research paradigms. The philosophy of science parameters of ontology, epistemology, axiology, rhetorical structure, and methodology are discussed across the research paradigms of positivism, postpositivism, constructivism-interpretivism, and the critical-ideological perspective. Counseling researchers are urged to locate their inquiry approaches within identifiable research paradigms, and examples of “locating ” 2 popular inquiry approaches— consensual qualitative research and grounded theory—are provided. Examples of how counseling research would proceed from varying paradigms are explored, and a call is made for expanding the training students receive in philosophy of science and qualitative approaches to inquiry. In my view, North American psychology generally, and coun-seling psychology specifically, is in the midst of a gradual para-digm shift from a primary reliance on quantitative methods to a more balanced reliance on quantitative and qualitative methods. Writing from Canada, O’Neill (2002) noted that a paradigm shift is underway in which “qualitative research may (and perhaps should) replace the hegemony of quantitative methods in psychol-