Exploring a Typology for Classifying Inquirers and Inquiry into Paradigms

The typology of inquiry paradigms by which Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba divide social sciences scholars can be adapted to other types of disciplines, including law. Even though scholarship in law is typically more normative and less empirical than in the social sciences, qualitative data drawn from law faculty suggests that both sets of scholars work in parallel inquiry paradigms. These parallels indicate that the constructs at the basis of the typology are sound and make possible cross-disciplinary comparisons based upon inquiry paradigms.