ABSTRACT
A paradigm of inquiry is an approach to asking questions, a school of inquiry that has rules about rigour and validity. Different paradigms shine different lights on reality. In 1982, Egon Guba convened a conference in San Francisco to analyse three paradigms of inquiry that had emerged out of naive positivism. The three paradigms are post-positivism; critical theory; and constructionism. The chapter describes the ontological and epistemological assumptions made by these three paradigms. Post-positivism examines individual countable facts, for example the effect of a self-help website on avoiding hospital admissions. Critical theory looks at the hidden connections that exist between different factors, for example social networks that help people to stay out of hospital. Constructivism looks at emergence from dynamic interaction; for example deciding a set of actions to avoid hospital admission after a family conference. If Guba's three paradigms in combination always illuminate different and useful aspects of the world, the implications are breath-taking.
