Chapter One Qualitative Research An Opening Orientation Overview

Chapter One Qualitative Research: An Opening Orientation

Overview • • • The dynamic processes of qualitative study Situating qualitative research Defining qualitative research The key components of qualitative research The role of the researcher The horizontals of qualitative research – criticality, reflexivity, collaboration, and rigor • Overview of approaches to qualitative research 2

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Situating qualitative research • No universal, static ‘Truths’ • Context and contextualization are central • Questions the interpretive role and authority of the researcher and acknowledge the subjectivity of all researchers • Relational aspects of research (interpersonal dynamics and broader issues of power) shape research and findings 4

Defining qualitative research “Qualitative research, broadly, is based on the methodological pursuit of understanding the ways that people see, view, approach, and experience the world and make meaning of their experiences as well as specific phenomena within it. ” 5

Key components of qualitative research • • Fieldwork and naturalistic engagement Descriptive and analytic Seeks complexity and contextualization Researcher as instrument Fidelity to participants Meaning and meaning-making Inductive 6

The role of the researcher Researcher’s identity • Social location • Positionality 7

Social location/identity • Researcher’s identity markers (e. g. , gender, social class, race, sexual identity/orientation, culture, ethnicity, language communities, etc. and intersections of these) 8

Positionality • Researcher’s relationship to the context and setting of the research 9

Horizontals in qualitative research Criticality Reflexivity Collaboration Rigor 10

Criticality • A critical methodological approach – Creates the conditions to see, engage, contextualize, and make meaning of the complexity of people’s lives and society • Serves as a counter-narrative to dominant and normative cultural knowledge 11

Reflexivity “the systematic assessment of your identity, positionality, and subjectivities” (p. 15) 12

Collaboration • Should occur throughout the research process, regardless of whether you are on a team or a lone researcher • Dialogic engagement: The collaborative, dialogue-based processes that qualitative researchers engage in throughout a research study that push you to think about various aspects of the research process (and products) in dialogue with others. 13

Rigor • Responsive research design • Fidelity to participants’ experiences • Seeks complexity and contextualization in design and representation • Transparency • Reflexive engagement 14

Approaches to qualitative research – Action research – Case study – Ethnography/critical ethnography – Evaluation research – Grounded theory 15

Approaches to qualitative research – Narrative research – Participatory action research – Phenomenology – Practitioner research 16

Questions for reflection • What are the general processes of a qualitative research study? • How does the history of qualitative research affect its practice? • What are the key components of qualitative research? • What are core values, beliefs, and assumptions upon which qualitative research is based? • What role(s) does the researcher play in qualitative research? 17

Questions for Reflection • How are the terms iterative, recursive, positionality, social location, emergent, epistemology, ontology, methodology, criticality in qualitative research, binaries, and dialogic engagement used in qualitative research? • How are criticality, reflexivity, collaboration, and rigor integral to qualitative research? • What stands out about the different approaches to qualitative research? • What do you consider to be the possibilities of qualitative research? 18