{{Short description, Form of qualitative research which utilizes the method of dialectic Dialectical research or dialectical inquiry or dialectical investigation is a form of

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

which utilizes the method of

dialectic Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...

, aiming to discover

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

through examining and interrogating competing ideas, perspectives or arguments. Dialectical research can be seen as a form of

exploratory research Exploratory research is "the preliminary research to clarify the exact nature of the problem to be solved." It is used to ensure additional research is taken into consideration during an experiment as well as determining research priorities, collect ...

, in that there is not so much a research

hypothesis A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...

to be tested, but rather new understandings to be developed. Dialectical research may also be thought of as the opposite of

empirical research Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. It is also a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. Empiricism values some research more than other kinds. Empirical evidence (the record of one ...

, in that the researcher is working with arguments and ideas, rather than data. Indeed Bertell Ollman (1993) argues that all research is either dialectical or nondialectical. Dialectical research may be applied to a range of problems. For instance, Eli Berniker and David McNabb (2006) argue for the application of dialectical research for the study of organizational processes, and James Page (2008) has used a dialectical research method to develop a philosophy of peace education.

References

*Berniker, Eli and McNabb, David E. (2006) 'Dialectical Inquiry: A Structured Qualitative Research Method', ''The Qualitative Report'', 11(4): 642-664. *Ollman, Bertell. (1993) ''Dialectical Investigations'' New York: Routledge. *Page, James. (2008) ''Peace Education: Exploring Ethical and Philosophical Foundations''. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing
Bibliographic Information and SummaryTable of Contents
*Rowan, John. (1981) 'A Dialectical Paradigm for Research', In: Peter Reason and John Rowan (eds.) ''Human Inquiry: A Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research'' (93-112) New York: Routledge. Qualitative research