ABSTRACT
This particular study of crime and the elderly (in Focus Town) employed a variety of research techniques in order to support a less common, though no less important, viewpoint. Each research method addressed the issue of crime and the elderly from a different perspective, and each was guided by the naturalistic paradigm, which enables the acquisition of information that demonstrates contextual variety. According to Guba (1981), “The naturalistic paradigm rests on the assumption that there are multiple realities, that inquiry will diverge rather than converge as more and more is known, and that all ‘parts’ of reality are interrelated so that the study of any one part necessarily influences all other parts” (p. 77).
