Abstract
Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: A Guidebook and Resource as well as Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation are the fourth editions of now classic volumes that appeared in 1975 and 1988, respectively. They provide generally robust accounts of the idea of qualitative research in social sciences. Though with different organizational structures, both of the books deal with envisioning and implementing qualitative inquiry in terms of the main concerns of theoretical conceptions, research designs, collecting observation and interview data, analyzing qualitative data, and writing qualitative research reports.
Taylor and Bogdan, joined after four decades by Devault in authoring the fourth edition of their book, present a balanced account of the basic theory as well as practice of qualitative social science inquiry. The book comprises two major parts: the first one on how-to-conduct type of discussions of different aspects of qualitative research, and the second one exemplifying different aspects of research practice and illustrating qualitative research reports by presenting selected studies. In an intriguing first chapter, the authors begin with the issue of epistemology in tangible language. They admirably discuss some of the most fundamental epistemological underpinnings of qualitative research perspective relying on the real-life sense of research and without excessive use of confusing jargon. Contrasting positivist perspectives with the fundamental stance of qualitative traditions that the authors decide to call ‘phenomenology’, they state that: ‘Since positivists and phenomenologists take on different kinds of problems and seek different kinds of answers, their research requires different methodologies.’ (p. 4)
Stepping forward towards envisioning an actual qualitative study, under the title of ‘pre-fieldwork’, the book explicates aspects of research design, selecting settings, research proposals, and accessing research settings behind ‘gatekeepers’. Then, in discussing the crucial research involvement of gathering data, like many other introductory books, Taylor and colleagues concentrate on the two prototypical qualitative data categories of field-based observation and interview in two separate chapters of the book. An important feature of their view of data gaining in qualitative research is approximating lifelike search for understandings and avoiding convolutions of strict academic research. Upon entering the research field, for instance, data collection as such is deemed ‘secondary to getting to know the setting and people’ and already-prepared ‘questions are designed to help break the ice’ (p. 55). Similarly, in explaining interviews as an important data elicitation mechanism in social science research, qualitative interviewing is depicted as a ‘conversation’ aimed at ‘understanding informants’ perspectives on their lives, experiences, or situations as expressed in their own words’ (p. 102).
Before turning to data analysis, a chapter is devoted to data collection procedures other than observation and interviewing and touches upon autobiographic data, personal and public documents, historical and archival data, and visual data. A single chapter may appear too thin to adequately address these issues but the authors seem to have found detailed accounts of such data sources beyond the scope of their introductory guidebook. The final chapter of the first part of the book is about ‘working with data’ in the process of data analysis as ‘probably the most difficult aspect of qualitative research to teach or communicate to others’ (p. 168). Relying on the notion of grounded theory as the foundation of their view of data exploration in qualitative inquiry, the authors depict it as a ‘a method for discovering theories, concepts, hypotheses, and propositions directly from data rather than from a priori assumptions, other research, or existing theoretical frameworks’ (p. 164). In line with their overall close-to-life conception of qualitative research, they refer to Glaser and Strauss (1967) to illustrate grounded-theoretical data exploration as an inductive process of reasoning and thinking based on ‘the sensitive insights’ of the qualitative researcher.
Chapters in the first part of the book lack consistently provided examples that can contextualize and illustrate discussions of qualitative research processes and procedures. However, the authors do present examples in the second part of the volume where they extensively illustrate the act of qualitative inquiry through reports of their lived research projects presented as separate chapters. Before these illustrative chapters, the introductory chapter of this part focuses on writing and publishing qualitative studies as ‘the culmination of the research process’ (p. 199). Perhaps most prominently, the chapter addresses common mistakes in writing qualitative research including some language lapses in this regard: ‘Do not use results for findings; the term results conjures up images of an experiment. Instead of referring to subjects or respondents, refer to informants, or better yet, people, students, parents, and so on.’ (p. 208)
Then, five chapters report instances of qualitative research, each one individually conducted by one of the authors on social concerns like conceptions of disability and issues of family life. Although these exemplifications are not embedded in the body of the discussions, they do provide coherent instances of real engagement in qualitative social research that may be somehow more illustrative than usual mixture of discussions and examples. Further along the line of illustration and exemplification, there are also two appendices that provide example field notes and an interview guide template. In their brief closing remarks, the authors recap their view of qualitative inquiry as a process of searching for meaning and learning rather than an obfuscated academic procedure. They ‘conclude by repeating a call, issued roughly 40 years ago in the first edition of this book, to go to the people – for students of society to immerse themselves in everyday life and to contribute new insights and understandings’ (p. 337).
In reading part one of the book, one may think of alternative ways of arranging such a ‘guidebook and resource’; different points of emphasis in conceptualizing an umbrella notion of qualitative research that encompasses various related traditions; and always-possible alternative terminology at different points. However, one may hardly judge the volume as it is to be less than strong. In fulfilling the straightforward but demanding purpose of introducing ‘qualitative research as an approach to phenomenological understanding’ (p. 335), the late Steven Taylor and his co-authors have had an admirable achievement. ‘Any book can take you only so far; it is up to you to carry on’ (p. 335), as the authors conclude in portraying the road ahead for the novice qualitative researchers in social sciences and humanities.
Turning to the second book of concern in this review essay, Merriam and Tisdell moved from their first edition that focused on qualitative case studies to this fourth edition in less than three decades. Generally close to the orientation of Taylor and colleagues’ volume, this one is also stated to be an ‘effort to explain qualitative research in an easy-to-follow narrative accessible to both novice and experienced researchers’ (p. ix). Also generally paralleling the previous book, its three parts address issues of basic conceptualizations and research designs; collecting data (mainly gained through interviews, observations, and documents); and analyzing qualitative data and research reporting. Although the authors are concerned with ease and accessibility of their narrative and the goal of providing a practical guide, they do also aim to avoid a simple qualitative research ‘cookbook’ (p. x). Perhaps that is why Merriam and Tisdell, too – while admitting that ‘there is almost no consistency across writers in how this aspect of qualitative research is discussed’ (p. 8) – set out with a first chapter on philosophical and epistemological foundations of qualitative inquiry that they interchangeably name interpretive, constructivist, or naturalistic.
The next two chapters are devoted to six frequent research frameworks that the authors call ‘common qualitative research designs’ (basic qualitative design, phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and qualitative case studies) and four expansions of qualitative traditions (mixed methods, action research, critical studies, and arts-based research). These frameworks and designs are further discussed in terms of research practice and are exemplified in another chapter. I find two particularly important notions in these discussions of qualitative research design that are not widely noticed in qualitative methodology literature. The first point is that regardless of all the sometimes-confusing traditions and terminology of qualitative approaches that have evolved in different geographical and temporal contexts, the authors propose that the essence of theory and practice in qualitative inquiry may be perceived as a prototypical basic design: ‘In summary, all qualitative research is interested in how meaning is constructed, how people make sense of their lives and their worlds. The primary goal of a basic qualitative study is to uncover and interpret these meanings.’ (p. 25) The second noticeable issue is viewing the so-called mixed-methods research as an outcome of ‘expanding the qualitative paradigm’ rather than a third paradigm as claimed by some (e.g. Feilzer, 2010; Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2009), although the nature of this expansion and the justifications of subsuming mixed methods under qualitative approaches is left unaddressed.
The three chapters in the second part are devoted to issues of collecting qualitative data. Interestingly paralleling the first volume explored in this review essay, this book also focuses on interviewing and observation as primary data collection procedures in qualitative research. A separate chapter, however, considers other sources of qualitative data including various types of documents (public records, personal documents, popular culture documents, and visual documents) as well as physical material and artifacts, including researcher-generated documents and artifacts. In elaborating on different interview types, aspects of observation, and documents, a distinctive feature of the discussions is considering issues of online data collection. Admitting that putting independent data analysis chapters after those on data collection ‘is a bit misleading because collection and analysis should be a simultaneous process in qualitative research’ (p. 195), the authors move to the ‘much more daunting task’ (p. 201) of data analysis and then to the issue of reporting qualitative research in the final part of the book.
Like almost any other book on qualitative research methodology, when it comes to data collection and analysis, the boundaries of distinct designs and approaches tend to be blurred. Although an attempt is made to continue with the types of research designs presented earlier in the book, the actual adopted conception of data analysis is bluntly stated to be ‘a basic inductive and comparative analysis strategy suitable for analyzing data in most interpretive qualitative studies’ (p. 226). Also debated in a chapter of this final part of the book is the concern of trustworthiness, including the problematization of the conceptions and terms of reliability and validity and the consideration of interconnections between trustworthiness and research ethics. Finally, after the closing chapter on writing qualitative research, to complement the illustrative examples and ‘exhibit’ boxes presented throughout the book, based on a study by one of the authors, a sample of the methodology section of a qualitative research report is provided.
What is expected from an ‘introduction to’ and a ‘guide to’ methods, designs, and resources of qualitative research is obviously met in the book by the late Taylor and his co-authors as well as the one by Merriam and Tisdell. As eloquently stated in the former book, qualitative research should be viewed as ‘a craft that can only be learned and appreciated through experience. It requires skills and a devotion that must be developed and nurtured in the real world.’ (p. 335) However, excellent books like these do go a long way in facilitating better understandings of the theoretical, methodological, and procedural issues that are required for founding a solid ground for conceiving and conducting qualitative inquiry. Moreover, beyond generic texts of qualitative research, the books can be robust models of discipline-specific textbooks of qualitative research methodology in individual disciplines of social sciences and humanities.