Qualitative Research Approaches

• Reading Ethnography
• Reading Grounded Theory
• Reading Phenomenology
• Reading Case Studies
• Reading Action Research
• Reading Narrative
• Reading Mixed Methods

As of this writing in 2009, there is an abundance of published studies that make use of various qualitative research approaches. There are a number of journals devoted exclusively to articles of a qualitative nature. In addition, many other journals accept articles written from a qualitative research perspective.

This was not always the case, however. In the 1980s, some in the field of education—dissatisfied with the paucity of research about the culture of classrooms and schools—began to apply ethnographic methods to address questions about schooling, teaching, and learning. One of the first works specifically devoted to qualitative research methods in education, Robert Bogdan and Sari Biklen's textbook Qualitative Research for Education (first edition 1982, second edition 1992), emphasized ethnographic methods. Throughout the decade of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, other qualitative research approaches found their way into education. Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba introduced the provocative work Naturalistic Inquiry (1985), which challenged us to think about the very assumptions on which traditional quantitative research was based. The educational research field was undergoing tremendous change.

Throughout this period, qualitative researchers began to look for outlets to publish their research. Qualitative researchers were also finding their way. Many of the traditional journals and editors struggled with these new approaches to conducting research. Traditional journals and editors were in somewhat of a quandary: What was qualitative research? Was there more than one type? Was there a “right” way to do it? Could it be more than ethnography? What made for “good” qualitative research? How could they judge something that was dynamic and emerging? Who would set the criteria? The traditional way of doing research was being turned on its head—often by those whose voices had not been heard previously. Beginning in 1988, the U.K.-based International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE) became a specific source for publication of qualitative educational studies. Although not limited to the educational field, other journals became more open to publishing qualitative studies in education (e.g., The Qualitative Report, Educational Researcher, Qualitative Inquiry, and Qualitative Research, among others).

In 1998, John Creswell published Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. For the first time, qualitative researchers had available to them a text that presented ways of doing qualitative research that were different from ethnography. Qualitative research had arrived. The second edition of Creswell's book (2007) saw a subtle change in the title: Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. This 2007 edition included five approaches (i.e., narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic, and case study). Narrative had replaced biography in this edition, and the term “approaches” had replaced “traditions.” Creswell's text was not specific to education, but it was quite applicable to the field.

By the late 1990s, there was an explosion of journals, some online, that were more accepting of publishing articles that did not follow a traditional, quantitative approach. Most of these journals were targeted to a general readership in the social sciences rather than specifically to education. As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, we continue to see many new avenues for researchers to have their work available to larger audiences. In addition to online journals, communication using the Internet has resulted in work becoming immediately available. Although much of this writing does not go through the usual peer review process, it is available for the worldwide community. I believe this global community of scholars may bring about new ways and new criteria for evaluating and judging.

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