Abstract: In accordance emerging branches of social thought, the opinions of social scientists have been changing. Positivism is not the dominant force anymore. Multiple-paradigms are able to coexist in today’s world. This prompts social science researchers to understand the evolution and main concepts of different paradigms. Only after researchers investigate the fundamental issues of ontology, epistemology, and methodology, they can properly employ methods to explore social phenomenon. With this premise, this paper first illustrates different paradigms of social science research, then moves onto examine the approaches of quantitative and qualitative research and finally examines the relationships between researchers and research subjects. In conclusion, the criteria of research quality are analyzed.
