Qualitative Research Methods

SARAH J. TRACY is Professor and School Director of The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. She developed the “Big Tent” model for high-quality qualitative research and has published more than 100 scholarly monographs, in publications such as Communication Monographs, Management Communication Quarterly, and Communication Theory.

• Preface: Is this book for me? xviiAbout the Companion Website xxv1 The impact and power of qualitative methods 1Overview and introduction 2Three core qualitative concepts: self-reflexivity, context, and thick description 2Self-reflexivity 2Context 4Thick description 4The strengths and distinctions of qualitative research 4How qualitative research is distinct from quantitative research 5Strengths of qualitative research 6Qualitative research is useful in a variety of jobs, settings, and disciplines 8Qualitative research skills are instrumental at work 8EXERCISE 1.1 Interviewing a friend, colleague, or classmate 10How qualitative methods show up in a range of disciplines and settings 11Transforming ideas to sites, settings, and participants 12Sources of research ideas 12EXERCISE 1.2 Field/site/participant brainstorm 13CONSIDER THIS 1.1 Sources of research ideas 14Ethical compatibility, yield, suitability, and feasibility 15RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 1.1 Negotiating research with minoritized populations 18TIPS AND TOOLS 1.1 Factoring the ease of fieldwork 19Moving toward a research question 19RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 1.2 Published examples of research questions 21EXERCISE 1.3 Early research question brainstorm 22Considering collaboration 23FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 24In summary 25PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 1 Three potential field sites and/or participant groups 252 Entering the conversation of qualitative research 27Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 28Inductive/emic, deductive/etic, and abductive/iterative approaches 30The funnel metaphor 31EXERCISE 2.1 A quick dip into the field 32Sensitizing concepts 32A complex focus on the whole 33Naturalistic inquiry 34Thick description 34Bricolage 34A sampling of theoretical approaches that commonly use qualitative methods 36Symbolic interactionism 36CONSIDER THIS 2.1 How do I know myself? 38Structuration theory 38CONSIDER THIS 2.2 Why am I standing in line? 40EXERCISE 2.2 Action versus structure 41Sensemaking 41Historical matters and current conversations in qualitative research 43The early days 43Ethically problematic research and the creation of the IRB 44Recent history in academia and the professional sector 45Current conversations: social justice, ethics, post-qualitative research, big data 46CONSIDER THIS 2.3 Celebrating diverse bodyminds in qualitative research 48In summary 50PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 2 Research problems and questions 513 Paradigmatic reflections and qualitative research genres 54Paradigms: positivist, interpretive, critical, postmodern 55Positivist and post-positivist paradigms 55Interpretive paradigm 57EXERCISE 3.1 A frog’s eye view through verstehen/understanding 59Critical paradigm 59Postmodern and other “post” paradigms 62Paradigmatic complexities and intersections 65EXERCISE 3.2 Assumptions of paradigmatic approaches 66Key genres of qualitative research 68Case study 68Grounded theory 69Ethnography and ethnography of communication 70Phenomenology 72Participatory action research 74Narrative inquiry and autoethnography 76Creative, performative, and arts-based approaches 77In summary 78PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 3 Paradigmatic lens and qualitative genre 794 Research design, sampling, research proposals, ethics, and IRB 83Planning the data collection: fieldwork, interviews, texts, and visuals 84The value of fieldwork and “participant witnessing” 84The value of interviews 86The value of textual analysis and cultural studies 87The value of visual and arts-based materials 88Developing a sampling plan: who, what, where, how, and when 90Random samples and representative samples 90Convenience/opportunistic samples 91Maximum variation samples 91Snowball samples 92Theoretical-construct samples 92Typical, extreme, deviant, and critical incident samples 92TIPS AND TOOLS 4.1 Sampling plans 94How and when to choose your sample 94Ethics and institutional review boards (IRB) 95CONSIDER THIS 4.1 Ethical considerations during the research design phase 96Research instruments, informed consent, and confidentiality 96Different levels of ethical risk and IRB review 98The quirks of IRB 99Creating a research proposal 101TIPS AND TOOLS 4.2 Research proposal components 102Title, abstract, and keywords 102Introduction/rationale 103EXERCISE 4.1 Conceptual cocktail party 104Literature review and conceptual framework 106EXERCISE 4.2 Annotated bibliography 107Research questions/foci 107Methodology and methods 107TIPS AND TOOLS 4.3 What belongs in a qualitative methods section? 108Budget/timeline 108TIPS AND TOOLS 4.4 What to include in a qualitative project budget 109Projected outcomes 109In summary 110PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 4 Research proposal & institutional ethics review 1105 Negotiating access and exploring the scene 114Confessional tales that illustrate common challenges of access and consent 115Riding my mentor’s coattails: Citywest 911 emergency call-takers 115Becoming a full participant: the Radiant Sun cruise ship 116Entering a closed organization: Women’s Minimum and Nouveau Jail 117Accessing an elite interviewee population surrounding a delicate topic 118Practical considerations of negotiating access 119Do some homework before you begin 120RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.1 Contact information log 121Please don’t reject me! Seeking research permission 121RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.2 Sample access proposal: Emotion, culture, and organizational communication 124An ethical posture of accessing virtual and digital texts 125Negotiating access for interviews and avoiding imposter participants 127Abandoning the ego, engaging embodiment, embracing liminality 128EXERCISE 5.1 Self-identity audit 130Navigating those first research interactions 131RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.3 Initial reactions speak volumes 132Relationship building with participants 133Seeking informed consent in the scene 133TIPS AND TOOLS 5.1 Navigating the beginning of the qualitative research project 134Exploratory methods 134Briefing interviews and participant information table 134Member diaries 135RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.4 Participant information table 135Maps and narrative tours 136In summary 138PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 5 Research design, map, and narrative tour 1396 Field roles, fieldnotes, and field focus 141Field roles and standpoints 142Complete participant 143Play participant 145CONSIDER THIS 6.1 When playing is uncomfortable 146Focused witness 146Complete witness 147TIPS AND TOOLS 6.1 Advantages and disadvantages of different field roles 149Visual, virtual, and digital aspects of fieldwork 150Writing fieldnotes: raw records, headnotes, and formal fieldnotes 151Raw records and headnotes 151EXERCISE 6.1 Taking raw records in the scene 153Formal fieldnotes 154RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 6.1 Fieldnote header 155Qualities of good fieldnotes 156Economy versus detail 156Showing (and using dialogue) versus telling 156Making the familiar strange and the strange familiar 157Noticing the data as evidence 158CONSIDER THIS 6.2 Noticing the data as evidence 159Analytic reflections 159Fieldnote wrap-up 160TIPS AND TOOLS 6.2 Fieldnote writing tips 161Focusing the data and using heuristic devices 161FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 163In summary 166PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 6 Fieldnotes 1667 Interview planning and design: Structuring, wording, and questioning 169Self-reflexivity in interviews 170EXERCISE 7.1 Self-reflexive interviewing 171Interview structure, type, and stance 171Level of structure in interviews 171Interview types: ethnographic, informant, respondent, narrative 173Interview stances: deliberate naïveté, collaborative, pedagogical, responsive, confrontational 174TIPS AND TOOLS 7.1 Interview structure, types, and stances 175Interview guide and question wording 176Wording good questions 176EXERCISE 7.2 Strategizing interviews 176RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 7.1 Research questions versus interview questions 177Interview questions: types, purposes, examples, and sequencing 178Opening the interview 178TIPS AND TOOLS 7.2 Interview question types 179Generative questions 180Directive questions 182Closing the interview 184Visual, embodied, and experiential interview approaches 184RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 7.2 Mobile peripatetic interviews 187Interview question wrap-up 188How many interviews are “enough”? 189In summary 191PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 7 Annotated interview schedule/guide, sample rationale, and pilot 1928 Interview practice: Embodied, mediated, and focus-group approaches 196Conducting face-to-face interviews 197Interview logistics 197Why good interviewing is so much more than asking questions 199Technologically mediated approaches to interviewing 201Strengths of mediated interviews 202Disadvantages of mediated interviews 203TIPS AND TOOLS 8.1 Mediated interviews: advantages and disadvantages 204The focus-group interview 205The value of focus groups 206When to use focus groups 208Planning focus groups 208TIPS AND TOOLS 8.2 Logistics of formal focus groups 209Facilitating the focus group 211EXERCISE 8.1 Practicing focus groups 212Overcoming common focus group and interviewing challenges 213RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 8.1 Interviewing people who are suffering 215EXERCISE 8.2 Role-playing interview challenges in a fishbowl 217Transcribing 218TIPS AND TOOLS 8.3 Common transcribing symbols 220In summary 221PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 8 Interview practice, play-back, transcription, and fact-checking 2229 Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 224Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 225Organizing and preparing the data 228Coding: what it is and how to start 229CONSIDER THIS 9.1 Motivating questions and coding domains 231Analysis technology: manual approaches versus computerized software 232Manual approaches 232RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.1 Manual coding visual displays: Artistic canvas and tabletop categories 233Analysis using computers, AI, and qualitative data analysis software 235Primary-cycle coding and first-level descriptive codes 236EXERCISE 9.1 Playing with analysis and thinking qualitatively (also known as practicing without the fear of screwing it up) 238Secondary-cycle coding: second-level analytic and axial/hierarchical codes 239EXERCISE 9.2 Grouping together codes via axial and hierarchical coding 241Focusing the analysis and creating a codebook 242RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.2 Codebook excerpt 243CONSIDER THIS 9.2 Focusing the data analysis 246Synthesizing activities: memos, negative cases, and analytic outlines 246RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.3 Analytic memos 247RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.4 Loose analysis outline 249PIQDA visual overview and where to go from here 250FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 251In summary 252PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 9 Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) practices 25310 Advanced data analysis: The art and magic of interpretation 256Advanced tools for data analysis: visual displays and QDAS 258Visual data displays 258RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 10.1 Matrix display 259Qualitative data analysis software 261Exemplars and vignettes 264Developing typologies 266Narrative analysis and dramatistic strategy 267TIPS AND TOOLS 10.1 Questions to inspire narrative analysis 270Metaphor analysis 271Explanation and causality 274Discourse tracing 276RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 10.2 Micro, meso, macro sources 277A post-qualitative analysis: deconstructionism and arts-based research 279FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 281In summary 282PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 10 Advanced data analysis/interpretation 28211 A big tent model of qualitative quality: Creating a credible, ethical, significant study 285Combatting positivism creep: moving beyond objectivity, reliability, and formal generalizability 286Eight “big tent” criteria for high-quality qualitative research 288TIPS AND TOOLS 11.1 Eight “big tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research 289Worthy topic 291Rich rigor 291EXERCISE 11.1 Gauging worth and rigor 292Sincerity 293Critical self-reflexivity 293Transparency 294RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 11.1 Sincerity word cloud 294Credibility 295Thick description 295Crystallization or triangulation (NOT both at the same time) 295TIPS AND TOOLS 11.2 Intercoder reliability 297Multivocality 297Member reflections (NOT member “checks”) 298Resonance 299Transferability, naturalistic generalization, and provocative generalization 300Aesthetic merit 301Significant contribution 301EXERCISE 11.2 Articulating and gauging significance 304Ethical research practice 304Procedural ethics 304Situational ethics 305CONSIDER THIS 11.1 Situational and relational ethics 306Meaningful coherence 306FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 308In summary 309PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 11 Articulating quality practices 30912 Theorizing and writing: Explaining, synthesizing, and crafting a tale 313Theorizing, brainstorming, explaining 314EXERCISE 12.1 Words push back on us: a creative analytic exercise 316EXERCISE 12.2 Theorizing via bracketing, abduction, metaphor, and explaining 317Types of tales: realist, impressionistic/poetic, confessional/autoethnographic 318The realist tale 318Creative, impressionist, and poetic tales 319The confessional tale 321RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 12.1 Poetic inquiry 322CONSIDER THIS 12.1 Speculative fiction 323EXERCISE 12.3 Accidental rewrites 324Key puzzle pieces of a qualitative essay 324Writing the framing material: title, abstract, key words 326Writing the introduction, the literature review, and the conceptual framework 326Writing the research questions and purposes 327Writing the research methodology and method(s) 328RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 12.2 Methods data display 329Findings and analysis: choosing an organizational approach 330Themes/topics 330Chronology/life-story 331Convergence/braided narrative 331Puzzle explication strategy 332Separated text 333Layered/messy texts 333EXERCISE 12.4 Which writing strategy? 334Implications, conclusions, limitations, and future directions 334EXERCISE 12.5 Synthesizing implications simply and meaningfully 335In summary 339PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 12 Article format model 34013 Drafting, polishing, and publishing 343Writing as a method of inquiry 345How to write and format qualitative research 346Choosing the research materials 346Rich, luminous, and thick representations 347Structuring the data in sections, paragraphs, and sentences 348EXERCISE 13.1 Writing from different perspectives and verb tenses 349Formatting qualitative work 350Visual representations and art 352RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 13.1 Visual representation 354Setting yourself up for success by considering the audience first 355Submitting, revising, and resubmitting for journal publication 356TIPS AND TOOLS 13.1 National or international journals that have published qualitative communication research (an incomplete list) 357Writing as practice: creating good habits and overcoming challenges 360How to write a lot 360Addressing common challenges in qualitative writing 362FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 366In summary 366PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 13 Empirical qualitative research essay 36814 Qualitative methodology matters: Exiting and communicating impact 369Navigating exit and research disengagement 370Give notice and say goodbye 371Exits can be emotional 371Don’t spoil the scene 372Give back 372RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 14.1 Thank you note 373Ethically delivering the findings 374TIPS AND TOOLS 14.1 Best practices for returning the findings 374FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 375Public scholarship: crafting representations that move beyond the scholarly essay 376Public scholarship 376Staged performances 377RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 14.2 Staged performance with impact 378Digital representations 379White papers and translated essays 380Grant applications and reports 381TIPS AND TOOLS 14.2 White papers 382Professional consulting and private-sector qualitative research 384Media relations 384EXERCISE 14.1 Six-word stories 385Web presence 386Warning: doing research that matters can be terrifying 388Overcoming lingering obstacles to public scholarship 389EXERCISE 14.2 Making an impact via public scholarship 391FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 391In summary 393Appendix A Fieldnote 394Appendix B Focus group guide 396Appendix C Interview/focus group excerpts with different levels of transcription detail 400References 404Index 431