Qualitative Research (eBook)

A Guide to Design and Implementation

Elizabeth J. Tisdell, Sharan B. Merriam, Heather L. Stuckey-Peyrot (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 5. Auflage
611 Seiten
Jossey-Bass (Verlag)
9781394266456 (ISBN)

Infos

The essential guide to understanding, designing, conducting, and presenting a qualitative research study

Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, 5th Edition is filled with practical advice and proven guidance for designing and implementing qualitative research studies, and for communicating findings clearly and effectively. Readers will develop a strong foundation in qualitative research theory and application, including an understanding of data sources, data analysis tools, and the types of qualitative research. This revised Fifth Edition offers an expanded interdisciplinary focus, covering qualitative research in the medical and health professions, the social sciences, education, and the humanities. It also covers new tools and technologies-including discussion of AI in qualitative research-that facilitate the process of conducting, analyzing, and presenting research. Written in reader-friendly terms, Qualitative Research is accessible to both novice and experienced researchers.

• Discover the theories, techniques, and analysis methods that make for rigorous qualitative studies
• Consider issues related to online data collection, interpretation of results, and qualitative research ethics
• Learn to develop a strong theoretical framework to guide qualitative studies
• Discover how qualitative research is used in many fields, including healthcare

Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation is an indispensable reference for students and researchers looking to grow their knowledge of qualitative research methodologies across disciplines.

Dr. Elizabeth J. Tisdell is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education at Penn State University-Harrisburg.

Dr. Sharan B. Merriam is a retired professor of adult education at the University of Georgia. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, including Learning in Adulthood.

Dr. Heather L. Stuckey-Peyrot is co-director of the Qualitative and Mixed-Method Core at the Penn State College of Medicine.

Textauszug

PREFACE

Qualitative research is a mature field of study with its own literature base, research journals, special interest groups, and regularly scheduled conferences. Just as a tree has multiple roots and branches, so does the field of qualitative research. Its earliest influences are from anthropology, sociology, and the social sciences. Philosophically it is informed by constructivism and phenomenology, and researchers who are interested in social justice research are informed by critical, feminist, critical race theory, queer theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism. Academic disciplines also inform current discussions of qualitative research: since the last edition of this book in 2016, there has been rising publications in the medical and health profession fields. Newer scholars who contribute to the wide research and discussion of qualitative inquiry build on earlier roots and branches of qualitative research history when discussing methodological issues; they also put their own spin and experience on the work as they contribute to the further development of qualitative research. In that sense, qualitative research also has a legacy.

This book itself also has a history and a legacy. Amidst all the branches of qualitative research, one thing that has remained constant is the need for a practical guide for ways to conduct a qualitative research study—how to design and implement it. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation is our attempt to do so, while acknowledging the growth and development of the field. It represents our effort to explain qualitative research in an easy-to-follow narrative accessible to both novice and experienced researchers. In essence, it is a practical guide without being just a “cookbook” for conducting qualitative research; readers also come to understand the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of this research paradigm.

In thinking about the notion of legacy in qualitative research, the three of us as co-authors represent three different inter-generations of qualitative researchers. Sharan Merriam was Elizabeth (Libby) Tisdell's dissertation chair at the University of Georgia in 1992, which was a critical feminist study of power relations based on gender, race, and class in higher education classes. Fifteen years later, Libby was Heather Stuckey's dissertation chair at Penn State University–Harrisburg in 2007. Heather's was a study of the role of creative expression in the learning of women with Type 1 diabetes, which made use of narrative and arts-based expression. Given our inter-generations, Libby and Heather have been strongly influenced by Sharan and those who influenced her. At the same time, the three of us have each been influenced by the studies we've done, the fields of study where we work or have worked, and the scholars we've read and know. We've also been influenced by our students and by the qualitative dissertations and theses we have supervised. We were delighted to come together to work on this book to further this work, not only for the constantly developing field of qualitative research, but as part of the work of our ongoing legacy.

This fifth edition of Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation represents the latest iteration in thinking about and understanding qualitative research. The first edition, published in 1988, centered on qualitative case study research; the 1998 second edition featured qualitative research, with case study as a secondary focus. The 2009 third edition saw a further reduction in the attention to qualitative case studies, and a wider look at other approaches to qualitative research. Sharan Merriam was the sole author of the first three editions. By 2014, when it was time to begin thinking of a new edition, Libby had been teaching graduate classes in Qualitative Research for 20 years while doing her own research and used earlier editions of the book in her classes. Hence, Sharan invited Libby to join her in writing the fourth edition of the book in 2016, since Sharan had retired from teaching but was still doing research. That edition focused largely on interpretive/constructivist qualitative research, but also included a chapter on mixed methods, critical, action, and arts-based research (ABR). In addition, it included attention to online communities, online ethnography, and the tools of technology now available for qualitative analysis.

In preparing to write this fifth edition last year, we knew we wanted to address a general audience as well as those from the health and medical professions. Two of the three of us (Libby and Heather) have for many years been working with medical and health professions education faculty and medical students who have been in their classes and programs. Penn State's Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Program, where Libby was a professor (until June 2024 when she retired) has a medical and health professions option in their MEd program; medical students can also complete a joint MD/MEd at Penn State and participate in those classes and learn about qualitative research. Heather is both Professor at Penn State's College of Medicine and the Co-Director of the Qualitative and Mixed Method Core there; hence, she was and is a perfect addition to our writing team for this edition.

The fifth edition of this text retains some of the features of the fourth edition, published in 2016, including a discussion of the most common types of qualitative research. These include descriptive studies, ethnography (including autoethnography), grounded theory, case study, phenomenological research, and narrative inquiry. These types of qualitative studies are generally studying people's perspectives on a phenomenon, or how a process or culture unfolds in a class, organization, and/or community. We have retained and updated this discussion of most common “types” of qualitative research because from our experiences in teaching and conducting workshops, there is little clarity about the differences among these approaches for researchers new to qualitative research. We hope to bring more distinctions, as well as include more detail about critical research, the goal of which is to effect social change by challenging existing societal structures and power dynamics. We include more on action and community-based participatory (CBPR) studies, where researchers and community members or participants engage as equal partners in all aspects of the research process to effect social change. We have also updated and provided a more nuanced discussion of mixed methods research and arts-based approaches.

Another defining characteristic of this book is its how-to, practical focus, wherein the mechanics of conducting a qualitative study are presented in a straightforward manner. Designing a qualitative study, collecting and analyzing data, and writing the research report and/or publication are topics logically presented and liberally illustrated to assist the new researcher desiring some guidance in the process. The revisions in these chapters have greatly benefited from our having access to nearly a decade of additional resources published since the fourth edition; our own further research; our supervision of dozens of qualitative dissertations or master's projects; and continued thinking about and working with other qualitative and mixed methods researchers.

There are two substantive changes to this fifth edition of Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. First, we have added many examples related to the medical and health professions, and the issues that researchers often run into in these disciplines that are still heavily influenced by a quantitative paradigm of (post) positivism. (Readers might be sure to look at Dr. Paul Haidet's Foreword and discussion of his own journey with this as a physician and as a Director of Medical Education Research in a College of Medicine.)

The second substantive change that is different from earlier editions is related to the first, and it comes from the interest in qualitative research from those in the medical and health professions—that is, the potential influence yet again of (post) positivism on qualitative research. This is not necessarily new, but it is manifested in slightly different ways. We discuss the benefits, liabilities, and manifestations of this influence. One manifestation is that some journals want to be assured of the “rigor” of a study by providing a checklist offering a specific way to write up qualitative studies, such as following the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) guidelines (Tong, Sainsbury, & Craig, 2007). Indeed, grant funders and peer-reviewed journals often do the same thing, which is understandable to make sure that the study is rigorous and has attended to appropriate verification issues. There are benefits and liabilities to this. On the one hand, journals (or grant funders) who operate this way are clear on what is expected for submission, which is helpful if one wants to increase the chances of being published in that journal or receiving that grant. On the other hand, these standards and concerns about intercoder agreement and other “quantification” of codes seem unnecessary to some qualitative researchers; further such checklists fly in the face of some critical and poststructural approaches. In any case, in this edition of the book, we offer a nuanced discussion of such issues. In addition, we add to the discussion on how technology is affecting the qualitative research arena, with the proliferation of online data sources, qualitative data analysis...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.3.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Bildungstheorie
• Schlagworte: Qualitative data • qualitative data coding • Qualitative research • Qualitative Research Analysis • qualitative research book • Qualitative research design • qualitative research guide • qualitative research healthcare • qualitative research textbook
• ISBN-13: 9781394266456 / 9781394266456