Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of qualitative research. It discusses the characteristics, and philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research and its characteristics, comparing it, where necessary, with quantitative research. Five critical approaches to qualitative research are explained with the help of suitable examples: grounded theory, case study, phenomenology, narrative, and ethnography. Research paradigm and various perspectives (symbolic, ethnomethodological, and psychoanalytic) of qualitative research perspectives, thick and thin description facilitate researchers in determining the direction of their research. Approaches to qualitative research, meaning of exploration and steps in qualitative data analysis have been explained.
Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts
(Albert Einstein)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Recommended Readings
Ahern, K. J. (1999). Ten tips for reflexive bracketing. Qualitative Health Research, 9(3), 407–411.
Ahrens, T., & Chapman, C. S. (2006). Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory. Handbooks of Management Accounting Research, 1, 299–318.
Babbie, E. R. (2020). The practice of social research. Cengage AU.
Becker, H. S. (2017). Practitioners of vice and crime. In Pathways to data (pp. 30–49). Routledge.
Bogdan, R. C., & Taylor, S. J. (1975). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A phenomenological approach to the social sciences. No title.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. (2003). Research design (pp. 155–179). Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Crotty, M. (1996). Phenomenology and nursing research. Churchill Livingston.
Cutcliffe, J. R. (2003). Reconsidering reflexivity: Introducing the case for intellectual entrepreneurship. Qualitative Health Research, 13(1), 136–148.
Denzin, N. K. (1971). The logic of naturalistic inquiry. Social Forces, 50(2), 166–182.
Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive biography (Vol. 17). Sage.
Denzin, N. K. (2001). Interpretive interactionism (Vol. 16). Sage.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. sage.
Denzin, N. K. (2017). Symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology. In Everyday life (pp. 258–284). Routledge.
Denzin, N. K., & Yvonna S. L. (2005). Introduction. The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 1–32). SAGE Publications.
Erlingsson, C., & Brysiewicz, P. (2013). Orientation among multiple truths: An introduction to qualitative research. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 3(2), 92–99.
Frank, G. (1997). Are there life-after categories? Reflexivity in qualitative research. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 17(2), 84–98.
Firestone, W. A. (1987). Meaning in method: The rhetoric of quantitative and qualitative research. Educational researcher, 16(7), 16–21.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. Basic Books.
Given, L. M. (Ed.). (2008). The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. Sage Publications.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Aldine.
Glaser, B. G. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity. University of California.
Guba, E. (1990). The paradigm dialog. Sage.
Hancock, B., Ockleford, E., & Windridge, K. (2001). An introduction to qualitative research. Trent Focus Group.
Harris, M. (1968). Emics, etics, and the new ethnography. In The rise of anthropological theory: A history of theories of culture (pp. 568–604)
Holloway, I. (1997). Basic concepts for qualitative research. Basic Books.
Kuhn, T. S. 1970a. Logic of discovery or psychology of research. I. Lakatos & A. Musgrave (Eds.), Criticism and the growth of knowledge (pp. 1–23). Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive Science, 4(2), 195–208.
Lofland, J., Snow, D., Anderson, L., & Lofland, L. (2006). Analyzing social settings: A guide to qualitative observation and analysis (4th ed.). Wadsworth.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society (Vol. 111). University of Chicago press.
Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. Revised and Expanded from “Case Study Research in Education.”. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. In Qualitative data analysis: a sourcebook of new methods (pp. 263–263).
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Sage Publications.
Ormston, R., Spencer, L., Barnard, M., & Snape, D. (2014). The foundations of qualitative research. Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers, 2(7), 52–55.
Palaganas, E. C., Sanchez, M. C., Molintas, V. P., & Caricativo, R. D. (2017). Reflexivity in qualitative research: A journey of learning. Qualitative Report, 22(2).
Polkinghorne, D. E. (2005). Narrative psychology and historical consciousness. Narrative, identity, and historical consciousness (pp. 3–22).
Ponterotto, J. G. (2006). Brief note on the origins, evolution, and meaning of the qualitative research concept thick description. The Qualitative Report, 11(3), 538–549.
Porter, S. (1993). Nursing research conventions: Objectivity or obfuscation? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18(1), 137–143.
Potter, J. (1996). Discourse analysis and constructionist approaches: Theoretical background. British Psychological Society.
Ruby, J. (Ed.). (2016). A crack in the mirror: Reflexive perspectives in anthropology. The University of Pennsylvania Press.
Schwandt, T. A. (2001). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry (2nd ed.). Sage.
Stebbins, R. A. (2001). What is exploration. Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences, 48, 2–17.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research. Sage Publications.
Sudnow, D. (1967). Passing on; The social organization of dying. Prentice-Hall.
Sundow, D. (1978). Ways of the hand. Harvard University Press.
Thorne, S. (2000). Data analysis in qualitative research. Evidence-Based Nursing, 3(3), 68–70.
Weider, D. L. (1974). Language and social reality. Mouton.
Williams, J. P. (2008). Emergent themes. The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, 1, 248–249.
Wilson, T. P. (1970). Conceptions of interaction and forms of sociological explanation. American Sociological Review, 697–710.
Wolcott, H. F. (1994). Transforming qualitative data: Description, analysis, and interpretation. Sage.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Design and methods. Case Study Research, 3(9.2), 84.
Zimmerman, D. H., & Wieder, D. L. (2017). Ethnomethodology and the problem of order: Comment on Denzin. In Everyday life (pp. 285–298). Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gupta, A. (2023). Introduction. In: Qualitative Methods and Data Analysis Using ATLAS.ti. Springer Texts in Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49650-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49650-9_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-49649-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-49650-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)