Fundamentals of Qualitative Research PDF

1 genres, elements, and styles of qualitative research...

1 genres, elements, and styles of qualitative research this book does not presume to serve as a comprehensive review of qualitative research but provides a practical introduction to its fundamentals, from this particular author’s perspective. Qualita- tive research consists of an eclectic collection of approaches and Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. methods used in several social science disciplines. Fundamentals of Qualitative Research first provides an overview of the field, then proceeds to its most commonly applied data collection methods. Research design and data analysis matters are discussed next, followed by recommendations for the writing and dissemination of reports, and resources for learning more about the subject. Qualitative Research: A Definition Qualitative research is an umbrella term for a wide variety of approaches to and methods for the study of natural social life. The information or data collected and analyzed is primarily (but not exclusively) nonquantitative in character, consisting of textual mate- rials such as interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and documents, and/ or visual materials such as artifacts, photographs, video recordings, Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  4 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH and Internet sites, that document human experiences about others and/or one’s self in social action and reflexive states. The goals of qualitative research are also multiple, depending on the purpose of the particular project. Outcomes are most often composed of essential representations and presentations of salient findings from the analytic synthesis of data and can include: documentation of cultural observations, new insights and under- standings about individual and social complexity, evaluation of the effectiveness of programs or policies, artistic renderings of human meanings, and/or the critique of existing social orders and the initiation of social justice. Qualitative research is conducted within and across multiple disciplines such as education, socio- logy, anthropology, psychology, communication, journalism, health care, social work, justice studies, business, and other related fields. Just as there are multiple literary genres (short story, poetry, novel, drama, etc.), literary elements (symbolism, metaphor, allit- eration, etc.), and literary styles (realism, comedy, tragedy, etc.), so too are there multiple genres, elements, and styles of qualitative research. Naturalistic inquiry remains solidly grounded in the non- fictional realm of social reality for its investigation, yet its write-ups can employ expressive and creative literary components. Genres of Qualitative Research Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. A literary genre is a type or kind of literature characterized by a particular purpose, structure, content, length, or format. Different genres include poetry, short story, drama, novel, romance, and sci- ence fiction, for example. In qualitative research, there is also a variety of genre: the usual criteria are the particular approach to inquiry, and the representation and presentation of the study. The overview below is not an exhaustive list, but is a compilation of the most common genres in which researchers across multiple disci- plines work. Also, some of these genres are not discrete; a few can be combined into one study. For example, an ethnography can also be a case study, an autoethnography can be presented in an arts- based research format, and so on. Ethnography. Ethnography is the observation and documentation of social life in order to render an account of a group’s culture. Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 5 Ethnography refers to both the process of long-term fieldwork and the final (most often) written product. Originally the method of anthropologists studying foreign peoples, ethnography is now multidisciplinary in its applications to explore cultures in classrooms, urban street settings, businesses and organizations, and even cyberspace. Culture is a somewhat contested term and a difficult one to clarify—literally hundreds of definitions for the concept exist. Just a sampling of attempts includes the following: We define culture as: knowledge that is learned and shared and that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience.... [Culture is] social knowledge, not knowledge unique to an individual. (McCurdy, Spradley, & Shandy, 2005, pp. 5, 6) But Chang (2008) offers an alternative to the notion of culture as a fixed and group construct: [P]eople are neither blind followers of a predefined set of social norms, cultural clones of their previous generations, nor copycats of their cultural contemporaries. Rather,... individuals have autonomy to interpret and alter cultural knowledge and skills acquired from others and to develop their own versions of culture while staying in touch with Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. social expectations. (p. 16) Thus, culture is not a “thing” but an individual and social evolu- tionary process. “Through the individual we come to understand the culture, and through the culture we come to understand the individual” (Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater, 2007, p. 286). But how does culture differ from and relate to the concept of society? Kendell (2004) explains: Culture is the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society.... [A] society is a large social grouping that occupies the same geographic territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  6 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Whereas a society is composed of people, a culture is com- posed of ideas, behavior, and material possessions. Society and culture are interdependent; neither could exist without the other. (p. 42) Of the many definitions and explanations of culture and society I’ve read, I’ve found that educational anthropologist Frederick Erickson’s (1997) resonates the most with others since he cleverly uses a contemporary analogy to explain the term. Culture is like a “toolkit” that permits us to get things done. And, [by] analogy to computers, which are information tools, cul- ture can be considered as the software—the coding systems for doing meaning and executing sequences of work—by which our human physiological and cognitive hardware is able to operate so that we can make sense and take action with others in daily life. Culture structures the “default” con- ditions of the everyday practices of being human. (p. 33) The goal of ethnography, then, is to research the default condi- tions (and their “software updates”) of a people’s ways of living. For example, Rebekah Nathan’s (2005) ethnography, My Freshman Year, reports a professor’s observations of undergraduate life when she covertly enrolled as a full-time student and lived on campus. Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Her detailed fieldwork on student culture documents how a uni- versity’s mission and goals do not necessarily harmonize with stu- dent cultural concerns such as dorm life, dining patterns, preferred friendships, and attitudes toward classes and scheduling. Grounded Theory. Grounded theory (discussed further in Chapter 4) is a methodology for meticulously analyzing qualitative data in order to understand human processes and to construct theory— that is, theory grounded in the data or constructed “from the ground up.” The originators of the methodology were Anselm L. Strauss and Barney G. Glaser, sociologists who in the 1960s studied illness and dying. Their original work has been reenvisioned by such later writers as Juliet Corbin, Adele E. Clarke, and Kathy Charmaz. Grounded theory is an analytic process of constantly compar- ing small data units, primarily but not exclusively collected Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 7 from interviews, through a series of cumulative coding cycles to achieve abstraction and a range of dimensions to the emergent categories’ properties. Classic grounded theory works toward achieving a core or central category that conceptually represents what the study is all about. This core or central category becomes the foundation for generating a theory about the processes observed. For example, Charmaz (2009) studied how serious chronic ill- ness affects the body and the identity of self. A core category or “mode of living” with physical impairment that she identified from her interviews was adapting. Note how the word is a gerund (an “-ing” word) and implies process—actions that people take to solve a problem. Charmaz explains the theory, one that was not preap- plied to the data, but one that emerged from them through her analysis of interview transcripts, appropriately coded to construct the actions at work in her participants: By adapting, I mean altering life and self to accommodate to physical losses and to reunify the body and self accordingly. Adapting implies that the individual acknowledges impair- ment and alters life and self in socially and personally accept- able ways. Bodily limits and social circumstances often force adapting to loss. Adapting shades into acceptance. Thus, ill people adapt when they try to accommodate and flow with Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. the experience of illness. (p. 155) Later in the narrative, Charmaz extends the analysis by outlining and discussing the stages people undergo as they adapt. Again, note the gerunds at work here: “After long years of ignoring, minimizing, struggling against, and reconciling themselves to illness, they adapt as they regain a sense of wholeness, of unity of body and self in the face of loss” (p. 156). Grounded theory is a complex, multistage genre of qualitative research, but an approach that has been utilized in thousands of studies in many disciplines since it was first introduced. Phenomenology. Phenomenology is the study of the nature and meaning of things—a phenomenon’s essence and essentials that determine what it is. The genre’s roots lie in philosophy’s Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  8 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH early hermeneutic analysis, or the interpretation of texts for core meanings. Today, phenomenology is most often a research approach that focuses on concepts, events, or the lived experiences of humans. The experience can be as mundane as grocery shopping, to as life changing as getting married. Motherhood, for example, is a phenomenon, and one of its essential elements is a parent with one or more children. But the purpose of this phenomenological study is not to examine the spe- cific lives of, say, twenty mothers interviewed to gather data, but rather to synthesize the commonalities of their collective experi- ences and perceptions of motherhood. One essential that might be extracted from the data is motherhood as a “caretaking responsi- bility”; another essential might be motherhood as “protector of one’s child.” Some qualitative research studies take a phenomenological approach when the purpose is to come to an intimate awareness and deep understanding of how humans experience something. It is revealing to another what goes through one’s mind and what one feels as the phenomenon occurs. Some researchers will document these experiences thematically through such statements as “Motherhood is…” and “Motherhood means…”. There are no specific methods for gathering data to develop a phenomenological analysis; interviews, participant observation, Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. and even literary fiction, provide ample material for review. The primary task is researcher reflection on the data to capture the essence and essentials of the experience that make it what it is. Case Study. A case study focuses on a single unit for analysis—one person, one group, one event, one organization, and so on. The genre serves as a reasonably manageable holistic project for novices to qualitative research to learn basic methods of fieldwork, data collection, and analysis. The purpose is not necessarily to develop an argument for how the single case represents or reflects comparable individuals or sites. Unlike studies that research a large number of settings or participants to gather a broader and more representative spectrum of perspectives, the case study in and of itself is valued as a unit that permits in-depth examination. Anthropologist Harry F. Wolcott addresses the most common Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 9 criticism leveled at case study researchers when challenged with, “What can you learn by studying just one of anything?” His classic reply is, “All you can!” Nevertheless, any suggestion of the case study’s generalizability or transferability is up to the researcher’s logical and interpretive persuasiveness, and/or the reader’s ability to draw inferences of how the case speaks to a broader population or issue. A case may be chosen deliberately because of its unique charac- ter, thus presenting itself as a rich opportunity and exemplar for focused study—for example, a highly successful secondary school for adolescents of color in a lower-income neighborhood. At other times, a case may be chosen strategically because it is deemed to represent the most typical of its kind—for example, a moderately performing secondary school in a lower middle-class urban neigh- borhood; the ethnic distribution of its students parallels the ethnic demographics of the American population. Yet at other times, a case may be chosen simply and purposively for convenience— for example, a school in which the researcher’s university has a collaborative partnership for preservice teacher education and field studies in child development. Yet even within a single setting, there are diverse participants with diverse experiences and diverse perspectives. The “case” doesn’t always refer to one person, and more than likely there is no Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. single theme that perfectly captures how every individual within a group or organization thinks and feels. Nevertheless, in some qualitative studies, multiple cases might be examined simultane- ously or consecutively for comparison and contrast. This approach places all cases in some type of context. Michael V. Angrosino’s (1994) classic case study article, “On the Bus with Vonnie Lee: Explorations in Life History and Metaphor,” tells the poignant story of a developmentally disabled adult and his fascination and love for riding the city bus. Vonnie Lee’s childhood was a troubled and abusive one, but as a young man entering the work force, he takes pride and joy in his new sense of independence and status. The article extends beyond the specific case by noting how the disabled do not have to be viewed as those with “disorders,” but as individuals with lives as richly complex and metaphoric as someone from the average population. Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  10 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Content Analysis. Content analysis is the systematic examination of texts and visuals (e.g., newspapers, magazines, speech transcripts), media (e.g., films, television episodes, Internet sites), and/or material culture (e.g., artifacts, commercial products) to analyze their prominent manifest and latent meanings. A manifest meaning is one that is surface and apparent—for example, describing a particular article of clothing as: a long-sleeved jacket constructed out of thick black leather with several silver-colored zippers and snaps, worn primarily for torso protection during motorcycle riding. A latent meaning is one that is suggestive, connotative, and subtextual—for example, that same black leather jacket symbolizing a member of “biker” culture and, when worn on a muscular, mesomorphic, bearded male, of a hypermasculine “outlaw” or “bad-ass” persona. Some content analyses are both quantitative and qualitative in their design, since statistical frequency of occurrence becomes one important measure of salient themes, especially in texts and media. For example, the campaign speeches of two opposing political candidates may be analyzed by determining and counting the number of times each one says particular key words and phrases. The results may suggest not only what each individual candidate’s platform emphasizes as a manifest reading of data, but also the latent messages suggested by their discourse when they are com- Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. pared and contrasted with each other. One candidate’s speeches may be imbued with frequently occurring words and phrases such as “community,” “now,” and “our responsibility,” whereas the other candidate’s speeches may highlight such text passages as “folks,” “nation,” and “back to better times.” Mixed Methods Research. Mixed methods research utilizes a strategic and purposeful combination of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis for its studies. It is assumed that the epistemological (i.e., ways of knowing) and methodological advantages of each paradigm can work in concert to corroborate or more robustly support the findings, or to reveal complementary or even contradictory outcomes. For example, a group of participants might be administered a written survey that asks them to rate their attitudes toward a particular issue, such as Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 11 their perceptions of their state government’s effectiveness. A survey might include such response items as: 1 = STRONGLY AGREE 2 = AGREE 3 = DISAGREE 4 = STRONGLY DISAGREE I feel that at least 1 2 3 4 one of my elected state representatives holds values similar to mine. The state taxes I pay 1 2 3 4 annually are a reasonable amount. Our state governor is an 1 2 3 4 effective leader. Participants are instructed to circle one of the ratings in response to each statement. The mean or average rating is then calculated for each item. If demographic data are also provided by respond- ents, mean ratings can be compared by gender, ethnicity, age range, political party affiliation, and other variables of interest to discern any statistically significant differences in responses. Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Then, a sampling of participants who took the survey might be individually interviewed to expand on the survey’s prompts. “Our state governor is an effective leader” might initiate an interview question such as, “What are your perceptions of our state’s gover- nor?” The open-ended qualitative responses are then analyzed to determine if there is corroboration or contradiction with related quantitative survey responses. Mixed methods research has been present for several decades, but only recently has the genre emerged as an approach that brings the once-separated quantitative and qualitative paradigms together to form a new epistemological, theoretical, and methodological way of working, when appropriate for the research purpose and questions. Narrative Inquiry. Narrative inquiry is a research genre inclusive of a variety of approaches, but they share the goal of transforming data Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  12 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH from, by, and/or about participants into literary story formats—an approach colloquially labeled “creative nonfiction.” This genre acknowledges that humans tend to structure knowledge into narrative forms of cognition—in other words, we remember that which is in storied forms. If history were nothing but a bullet- pointed list of dates, names, places, and facts, it would be difficult to retain the information in our heads. But if there were a narrative that wove the facts to hold them together as a linear story line, we are more likely to make sense of history because we now have a plot that sequentially structures the details. In everyday life, we also use story line and plotting as ways to make sense of current and past experiences. Our family lineage is a story, a student’s university career is a story, even shopping for and purchasing an item of clothing is a story. There is a “What hap- pens first, second, third,…?” and so on sequencing that keeps us on track with our daily routines, and “What happens next?” seems to be an almost universal curiosity hardwired into humans when we hear a story well told. Narrative inquiry recrafts the often scat- tered, improvisational ways we tend to share our accounts into well-plotted, artistic forms that utilize the conventions of fictional literature to present not just a more ordered rendering of life but an aesthetically rich one. Tom Barone’s (2001) Touching Eternity: The Enduring Outcomes Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. of Teaching, reports the long-term effects of Don Forrister, an out- standing high school art teacher, on some of his students. As with most qualitative studies, Barone interviewed his participants to gather essential data, but rather than merely reporting and analyz- ing in an objective manner the teacher’s methods and former stu- dents’ reflections on how their mentor may have influenced their lives, Barone crafts his text with imagery and emotion to create an evocative, omniscient narrative reminiscent of literary short sto- ries. In the passage below, one of the art teacher’s former students, through Barone’s interpretation, recalls a significant moment for her in high school: She had taken all of Don’s classes, 3 years’ worth, all of them wonderful and nurturing. She thought of his small, quick glances, his movements toward this student or that, the nods of affirmation, the laughs at students’ self-deprecating remarks, Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 13 the clear-headed and not unkind criticism, the busyness of it all, but a business never devoid of compassion and joy. This particular incident had occurred during her first year with him, sophomore year, age of 15. Late afternoon. The class had been working on drawing still lifes. Hers had been a penciled rendition of a gnarled old tree on the river road, a tree that she had loved for its natural dignity. After seventh period every- one else had gone. She felt his presence. He had been looking at her drawing as she packed to go, had said to her at that moment, “You could be a good drawer.” Not “you are,” not “if you worked hard,” not the old cliché, “you have potential.” Just “you could be a good drawer.” Not gratuitous. Not meaning to flatter. Not cajoling. Not coercing. Just stating a positive fact. To this very day, she remembered how flushed she had felt, in a glow, delighted that he had noticed her work, noticed her, intimating that her existence was valued, at least to him, to one who knew so much about things like what makes for good drawings. She recalled that it had taken her years to realize that it had not been a compliment, had been in fact much better than that.... From that point on, she had considered herself among the chosen. (Barone, 1997, Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. pp. 228–229) Poetic Inquiry. An emergent movement within qualitative research is the transformation of qualitative data or the expression of qualitative experience through poetic structures. Just as with literary poetry, the structures of poetic inquiry can take various forms. Sometimes a researcher will extract from an interview transcript the key verbatim words and phrases that seem to capture the essence of the text. The extracts might be kept in the same order as they appeared in the transcript, or rearranged or deconstructed for purposes of effect. An interview transcript sample from an older adult male might read (with selected words bolded since they seemed key at the time of transcription): I regret not taking care of myself physically when I was younger. Now my body’s real out of shape and this mass of Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  14 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH fat and loose skin. I see all these younger kids and how firm and toned they are, and I think to myself I could have looked like that if only I hadn’t eaten so much and exercised more. I’m going to the gym now just to lose weight, mostly, and so far I’ve been disciplined enough to go several times a week. I have this mantra that keeps me going, “Sometimes it’s not about the journey—sometimes it’s about the destination.” I’d love to lose about 50 pounds, and if I give it time it’s pos- sible. There are all these clothes I’d love to buy and wear, but they only go so far up in size, you know? If I’m a “large” or, even better, a “medium,” I can fit into them. The bolded words are then extracted, examined, and arranged into a poetic structure (sometimes referred to as “found poetry”) to render an essentialized account of the participant’s perceptions, though not everything bolded has to be incorporated into the poem, and minor additions can be added for clarity: My body: out of shape a mass of fat and loose skin Younger kids: firm toned When I was younger, I could have looked like that Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Regret.... Going to the gym now: lose about 50 pounds large to medium disciplined Sometimes it’s not about the journey—sometimes it’s about the destination. Arts-Based Research. Arts-based research applies performing and visual arts media and methods to sometimes collect and most often represent and present its findings. Interestingly, not just academics but professionals within the arts industries have researched and interviewed key people for their products. Composer Steven Reich took selections from audio-recorded interviews with selected participants about trains in America and Europe during World War II and arranged their vocal rhythmic and inflection patterns into melodies for his musical work, Different Trains. Playwright Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 15 Doug Wright interviewed German celebrity and gay transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf for his one-man Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play, I Am My Own Wife. In qualitative research, artistic modes of expression can be used to collect participant data. For example, children might be given disp- osable or digital cameras and asked to photograph their everyday worlds to gather data for the researcher on what is important to them. The photos then serve as stimuli for interviews with young people about the photographs’ contents and meanings. The pictures can become part of the data display that accompanies a written article, or the photos themselves can be exhibited with accompanying written or oral narratives as an arts-based presentation for selected viewers. As another example, adolescents of color might be asked to use their bodies to sculpt themselves and others into still images or tableaux that represent such abstract concepts as “discrimination,” “prejudice,” and “power.” The facilitator may then ask them to move in space slowly in a way that shows how the body represents and transitions from “inequity” to “equity.” This sculpting technique is called Image Theatre, a participant-centered modality based on the premise that we sometimes cannot put into words what we think and feel. These images are videotape-recorded as they occur, providing the researcher rich visual data to analyze and even play back to the participants themselves for a discussion of their own Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. perceptions of the work. It is sometimes difficult for some to understand how a ten-minute dance performance can be labeled “research” and its abstract move- ments “data,” or how a hand-sewn quilt’s patterns visually and sym- bolically represent the conceptual patterns of human action and feelings experienced during fieldwork. The arts are not just products, they are also epistemological processes—in other words, ways of knowing through personal inquiry and aesthetic expression. Art forms are media and rich metaphoric modes of communication that can provide insightful meaning when words alone are insufficient. Autoethnography. Autoethnography is the reflexive, cultural reporting of self, most often through narrative. Davis and Ellis (2008) explain that the genre is “the study of a culture of which one is a part, integrated with one’s relational and inward experiences. The author incorporates the ‘I’ into research and writing yet analyzes him- or Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  16 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH herself as if studying an ‘other’...”. (p. 284). Though an individual’s personal account certainly utilizes autobiographical details, autoethnography is more than just a retelling of one’s life story or a key episode from it. Recall the various definitions of culture in “Ethnography” above. Autoethnography incorporates not just personal background experiences but personal ways of living and one’s inherent value, attitude, and belief systems. Lisa M. Tillmann-Healy’s (1996) personal struggle with bulimia at various ages in “a culture of thinness” is graphically presented through a series of starkly written vignettes. This autoethnographic excerpt from a tale titled “Common Bathroom” suggests how ram- pant the problem is within university life: I chew the last Dorito and take a swig of Diet Coke. Without bothering to look up, I head down the hall. I stride to the common bath—the worst feature of dormitory living. When Gloria from the west wing exits, the swinging door nearly hits me in the face. “Sorry,” she says with a smile. Her red eyes, filled with tears, give her away. “You OK?” I ask. “Never better,” she responds, and I don’t push. Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. I move to the corner stall and lift the toilet seat. Fresh vomit sprays cover the rim. “You’re getting indiscreet, Gloria,” I say softly. I lean over and push my finger down my throat. The Doritos and Diet Coke come up stubbornly in thick clumps. “Bad idea,” I scold myself. The swinging door opens again, so I pull my finger out, qui- etly put the seat back, and sit on the toilet, waiting. Someone enters the stall two down from me. She slides the lock into place. Instead of the expected bathroom sounds, I hear the toilet seat being lifted, then a flush. Over the whirl of suction, I can still make out gagging and splashing.... I am 19 years old. (pp. 93–94) Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 17 Some researchers take issue with autoethnography, asserting that the genre, if misused, can be nothing more than self-indulgent writing with little utility and transfer to the knowledge bases of a discipline. But autoethnography can also be perceived as a more authentic, first-person case study with rich details that provide a unique insider’s perspective about the issues addressed. The genre also gives its writer intimate knowledge of what it takes for a par- ticipant to look inward to openly reveal personal experiences to others. A saying I pass along to others in my research classes is, “You can’t learn how to tell someone else’s story until you first learn how to tell your own.” Evaluation Research. Evaluation research systematically examines people, programs, organizations, and/or policies to assess their quality, merit, and effectiveness. The genre is customized to specific purposes and can employ a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, when needed. Evaluation research is generally a contracted enterprise, and the best studies involve the immediate stakeholders as part of the evaluation process from the beginning, soliciting from them their perceptions of the program, and how the evaluation will ultimately help them redesign current and future endeavors. The researcher or research team doesn’t necessarily assume an “objective” stance but assesses Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. the values at work in case-specific projects, offering constructive and practical recommendations for improvement. As an example, I was once hired by a state arts commission to evaluate one of their funded education projects in distance learning—that is, using cable television broadcasts of videotaped programming as a medium for the instructional delivery of classroom performing arts lessons to rural elementary schools. I interviewed the three production team members separately on their intended goals and perceptions of the project in progress and observed them at work during their rehearsals and studio tapings. But since I was a novice to distance learning, I also interviewed teachers and media specialists in the field to gain a better under- standing of what makes for effective programming of this nature. Once the distance learning videotapes were completed, I previewed a thirty-minute episode to an average classroom of children (the project’s targeted audience) and observed them as they watched the Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  18 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH show to document their body language and verbal comments, which suggested interest or boredom. I then interviewed them as a group afterward and collected written survey data from them to further assess their responses to and engagement with the pro- gram. The primary readers of my final evaluation report were two administrators of the state arts commission, but I also shared my observations and personal comments, plus the children’s general reactions, to the production team members themselves. Aside from this specific case project, broader issues related to distance learning were also raised and evaluated. For example, one ironic finding was that the massively extensive number of clock hours the three-member production team devoted to planning, scripting, rehearsing, taping, and editing the television series could have been devoted instead to their live, in-class instruction directly for and with the targeted child audiences. In this particular project, distance learning technology did not effectively deliver the content to its constituents, as originally intended. Technology, in this par- ticular case, actually lessened and inhibited the funded program’s primary goal—quality arts instruction to rural children in remote areas of the state. Action Research. Action research is conducted with the expressed Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. purpose of not just observing social life, but reflecting on one’s own practice or working collaboratively with participants to change their setting and circumstances for the better. Participants’ lives and their social environment are examined critically. Diagnostics (via reflexive interviews, observation, journaling, and other data collection methods) are conducted to discern the specific problems and issues. Solutions and empowerment strategies are then implemented to initiate and hopefully sustain positive change. The researcher or research team serves as a facilitator of the project and, ideally, works equitably and democratically with participants since their personal investment, ownership, and stakes in the matter are more likely to generate significant outcomes. It is also possible to conduct an action research project for and by oneself, and the method is applied by such professionals as teachers to improve their classroom environment, and by clinicians to enhance their practice with clients. Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  GENRES, ELEMENTS, AND STYLES : 19 One example of a participatory action research project is a community-based worker who observes that the adolescent Hispanic girls she counsels devalue themselves in overt and sub- conscious ways because of their gender and ethnic background. With the girls’ permission, the adult worker facilitates with them a series of carefully designed workshops on gender and ethnic iden- tity, accompanied with focus group discussions and introspective reflection through journaling and poetry writing. Most of the girls come to heightened identity awareness and a systematic under- standing of social discrimination, and how sometimes their own actions reinforce and maintain their marginalized status. Under the adult facilitator’s guidance, the participants develop strategies for self-empowerment and resilience, then “field test” these ideas in everyday social encounters, recording their progress in journals and through follow-up group discussion. Investigative Journalism. Journalists and qualitative researchers rely on similar methods to gather data for their particular purposes: interviewing people, going into settings to witness events firsthand, searching for information in various archives and data banks, taking photographs, and so on. Journalists, however, target general public audiences for their work through news media and mainstream publications. And, a journalist’s writing is not bound Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. by some of the more discursive traditions and scholarly standards of academia, though investigative journalism can be just as rigorously conducted as ethnography. This genre uncovers social life and most often reveals its injus- tices that are of current interest to the general public and policy- makers. For example, Barbara Ehrenreich’s (2001) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, reports her experiences with six minimum wage jobs. The purpose of the investigation was to work and live solely on this level of income for a period of time to learn if and how the sizeable population of people making minimum wage coped with it. Ehrenreich’s honest and riveting narrative reveals the sometimes degrading and frustrating environments of selected workplaces, plus a meticulous account of the meager monies she earned and had to spend on basic necessities. Her final chapter presents an insightful analysis and critique of the economic and social conditions and issues she investigated. Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Created from uclan-ebooks on 2025-02-04 21:21:10.  20 : FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Critical Inquiry. Critical inquiry is not so much a method as it is a social and political mission. Canella & Perez (2009) identify the critical inquirer as “a hybrid body that is researcher, cultural worker, investigative journalist, and activist/communicator for the public good” (p. 172). This genre is not just knee-jerk social commentary, but carefully researched issues that analyze and reveal social injustices. In many cases, the critical inquirers themselves have been part of the action or restoration efforts to work for change that will benefit the oppressed. In the passage below, Giardina & Vaughan (2009) do not just recount but openly and unabashedly comment on the misguided and insensitive political motivations during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 destruction in the southern United States: In the days following Katrina, calls rang out from all corners of the country to “rebuild New Orleans.” Congress author- ized an initial $50 billion in emergency funds. The American Red Cross pledged untold funds and dispersed hundreds of volunteers to the region. Even President Bush stated that New Orleans would be rebuilt “better than before.”... Better than before. I supposed that is all a matter of perspective: Even from the outset, it was clear that if the powers-that-be were to have their own way, it certainly wasn’t going to look Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. much like the old New Orleans. Rep. Richard Baker [Republi- can-Louisiana] admitted as much when he told the Wall Street Journal, “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”... Of course, by “cleaned up public housing,” Rep. Baker meant that he was thankful that the hurricane displaced those (largely poor, largely black) resi- dents who were living in impoverished dwellings, in effect making the now-abandoned or destroyed land prime for real estate (re)development. (p. 143) Same Topic, Different Genres. Keep in mind that the same phenomenon, case, or process can be investigated using any one (or more) of the genres above. The specific genre selection, however, attributes expectations about how you approach the study and how its write-up may be shaped. For example, a broad topic for qualitative examination may be the seemingly mundane: “groceries.” Saldana, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. 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