Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact guides you through sequential stages of a qualitative research project, from project design and data collection to analysis, interpretation, and presentation. Drawing on her background in qualitative research methods and human communication, Sarah J. Tracy shares personal and backstage stories while showing you how to code data, craft meaningful claims, develop theoretical explanations, and communicate research that impacts key stakeholders.
Employing a practical, problem-based contextual approach, the third edition of Qualitative Research Methods incorporates developments in textual, media, visual, arts-based, and digital analysis. New coverage includes social media data-scraping techniques, AI and ChatGPT, fieldwork and interviewing, digital ethnography, working with neurodivergent populations, adopting digital and traditional archival approaches, and much more. This edition includes a wealth of new examples, case studies, discussion questions, full-color visuals, and hands-on “Project Building Blocks” activities you can use at any stage of your qualitative research project.
Supported by a companion website containing extensive teaching and learning tools, Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact is an indispensable resource for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty across multiple disciplines, as well as researchers, ethnographers, and user experience professionals looking to hone their methodological practice.
Table of Contents
Preface: Is this book for me? xvii
About the Companion Website xxv
1 The impact and power of qualitative methods 1
Overview and introduction 2
Three core qualitative concepts: self-reflexivity, context, and thick description 2
Self-reflexivity 2
Context 4
Thick description 4
The strengths and distinctions of qualitative research 4
How qualitative research is distinct from quantitative research 5
Strengths of qualitative research 6
Qualitative research is useful in a variety of jobs, settings, and disciplines 8
Qualitative research skills are instrumental at work 8
EXERCISE 1.1 Interviewing a friend, colleague, or classmate 10
How qualitative methods show up in a range of disciplines and settings 11
Transforming ideas to sites, settings, and participants 12
Sources of research ideas 12
EXERCISE 1.2 Field/site/participant brainstorm 13
CONSIDER THIS 1.1 Sources of research ideas 14
Ethical compatibility, yield, suitability, and feasibility 15
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 1.1 Negotiating research with minoritized populations 18
TIPS AND TOOLS 1.1 Factoring the ease of fieldwork 19
Moving toward a research question 19
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 1.2 Published examples of research questions 21
EXERCISE 1.3 Early research question brainstorm 22
Considering collaboration 23
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 24
In summary 25
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 1 Three potential field sites and/or participant groups 25
2 Entering the conversation of qualitative research 27
Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 28
Inductive/emic, deductive/etic, and abductive/iterative approaches 30
The funnel metaphor 31
EXERCISE 2.1 A quick dip into the field 32
Sensitizing concepts 32
A complex focus on the whole 33
Naturalistic inquiry 34
Thick description 34
Bricolage 34
A sampling of theoretical approaches that commonly use qualitative methods 36
Symbolic interactionism 36
CONSIDER THIS 2.1 How do I know myself? 38
Structuration theory 38
CONSIDER THIS 2.2 Why am I standing in line? 40
EXERCISE 2.2 Action versus structure 41
Sensemaking 41
Historical matters and current conversations in qualitative research 43
The early days 43
Ethically problematic research and the creation of the IRB 44
Recent history in academia and the professional sector 45
Current conversations: social justice, ethics, post-qualitative research, big data 46
CONSIDER THIS 2.3 Celebrating diverse bodyminds in qualitative research 48
In summary 50
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 2 Research problems and questions 51
3 Paradigmatic reflections and qualitative research genres 54
Paradigms: positivist, interpretive, critical, postmodern 55
Positivist and post-positivist paradigms 55
Interpretive paradigm 57
EXERCISE 3.1 A frog’s eye view through verstehen/understanding 59
Critical paradigm 59
Postmodern and other “post” paradigms 62
Paradigmatic complexities and intersections 65
EXERCISE 3.2 Assumptions of paradigmatic approaches 66
Key genres of qualitative research 68
Case study 68
Grounded theory 69
Ethnography and ethnography of communication 70
Phenomenology 72
Participatory action research 74
Narrative inquiry and autoethnography 76
Creative, performative, and arts-based approaches 77
In summary 78
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 3 Paradigmatic lens and qualitative genre 79
4 Research design, sampling, research proposals, ethics, and IRB 83
Planning the data collection: fieldwork, interviews, texts, and visuals 84
The value of fieldwork and “participant witnessing” 84
The value of interviews 86
The value of textual analysis and cultural studies 87
The value of visual and arts-based materials 88
Developing a sampling plan: who, what, where, how, and when 90
Random samples and representative samples 90
Convenience/opportunistic samples 91
Maximum variation samples 91
Snowball samples 92
Theoretical-construct samples 92
Typical, extreme, deviant, and critical incident samples 92
TIPS AND TOOLS 4.1 Sampling plans 94
How and when to choose your sample 94
Ethics and institutional review boards (IRB) 95
CONSIDER THIS 4.1 Ethical considerations during the research design phase 96
Research instruments, informed consent, and confidentiality 96
Different levels of ethical risk and IRB review 98
The quirks of IRB 99
Creating a research proposal 101
TIPS AND TOOLS 4.2 Research proposal components 102
Title, abstract, and keywords 102
Introduction/rationale 103
EXERCISE 4.1 Conceptual cocktail party 104
Literature review and conceptual framework 106
EXERCISE 4.2 Annotated bibliography 107
Research questions/foci 107
Methodology and methods 107
TIPS AND TOOLS 4.3 What belongs in a qualitative methods section? 108
Budget/timeline 108
TIPS AND TOOLS 4.4 What to include in a qualitative project budget 109
Projected outcomes 109
In summary 110
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 4 Research proposal & institutional ethics review 110
5 Negotiating access and exploring the scene 114
Confessional tales that illustrate common challenges of access and consent 115
Riding my mentor’s coattails: Citywest 911 emergency call-takers 115
Becoming a full participant: the Radiant Sun cruise ship 116
Entering a closed organization: Women’s Minimum and Nouveau Jail 117
Accessing an elite interviewee population surrounding a delicate topic 118
Practical considerations of negotiating access 119
Do some homework before you begin 120
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.1 Contact information log 121
Please don’t reject me! Seeking research permission 121
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.2 Sample access proposal: Emotion, culture, and organizational communication 124
An ethical posture of accessing virtual and digital texts 125
Negotiating access for interviews and avoiding imposter participants 127
Abandoning the ego, engaging embodiment, embracing liminality 128
EXERCISE 5.1 Self-identity audit 130
Navigating those first research interactions 131
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.3 Initial reactions speak volumes 132
Relationship building with participants 133
Seeking informed consent in the scene 133
TIPS AND TOOLS 5.1 Navigating the beginning of the qualitative research project 134
Exploratory methods 134
Briefing interviews and participant information table 134
Member diaries 135
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 5.4 Participant information table 135
Maps and narrative tours 136
In summary 138
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 5 Research design, map, and narrative tour 139
6 Field roles, fieldnotes, and field focus 141
Field roles and standpoints 142
Complete participant 143
Play participant 145
CONSIDER THIS 6.1 When playing is uncomfortable 146
Focused witness 146
Complete witness 147
TIPS AND TOOLS 6.1 Advantages and disadvantages of different field roles 149
Visual, virtual, and digital aspects of fieldwork 150
Writing fieldnotes: raw records, headnotes, and formal fieldnotes 151
Raw records and headnotes 151
EXERCISE 6.1 Taking raw records in the scene 153
Formal fieldnotes 154
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 6.1 Fieldnote header 155
Qualities of good fieldnotes 156
Economy versus detail 156
Showing (and using dialogue) versus telling 156
Making the familiar strange and the strange familiar 157
Noticing the data as evidence 158
CONSIDER THIS 6.2 Noticing the data as evidence 159
Analytic reflections 159
Fieldnote wrap-up 160
TIPS AND TOOLS 6.2 Fieldnote writing tips 161
Focusing the data and using heuristic devices 161
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 163
In summary 166
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 6 Fieldnotes 166
7 Interview planning and design: Structuring, wording, and questioning 169
Self-reflexivity in interviews 170
EXERCISE 7.1 Self-reflexive interviewing 171
Interview structure, type, and stance 171
Level of structure in interviews 171
Interview types: ethnographic, informant, respondent, narrative 173
Interview stances: deliberate naïveté, collaborative, pedagogical, responsive, confrontational 174
TIPS AND TOOLS 7.1 Interview structure, types, and stances 175
Interview guide and question wording 176
Wording good questions 176
EXERCISE 7.2 Strategizing interviews 176
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 7.1 Research questions versus interview questions 177
Interview questions: types, purposes, examples, and sequencing 178
Opening the interview 178
TIPS AND TOOLS 7.2 Interview question types 179
Generative questions 180
Directive questions 182
Closing the interview 184
Visual, embodied, and experiential interview approaches 184
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 7.2 Mobile peripatetic interviews 187
Interview question wrap-up 188
How many interviews are “enough”? 189
In summary 191
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 7 Annotated interview schedule/guide, sample rationale, and pilot 192
8 Interview practice: Embodied, mediated, and focus-group approaches 196
Conducting face-to-face interviews 197
Interview logistics 197
Why good interviewing is so much more than asking questions 199
Technologically mediated approaches to interviewing 201
Strengths of mediated interviews 202
Disadvantages of mediated interviews 203
TIPS AND TOOLS 8.1 Mediated interviews: advantages and disadvantages 204
The focus-group interview 205
The value of focus groups 206
When to use focus groups 208
Planning focus groups 208
TIPS AND TOOLS 8.2 Logistics of formal focus groups 209
Facilitating the focus group 211
EXERCISE 8.1 Practicing focus groups 212
Overcoming common focus group and interviewing challenges 213
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 8.1 Interviewing people who are suffering 215
EXERCISE 8.2 Role-playing interview challenges in a fishbowl 217
Transcribing 218
TIPS AND TOOLS 8.3 Common transcribing symbols 220
In summary 221
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 8 Interview practice, play-back, transcription, and fact-checking 222
9 Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 224
Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) 225
Organizing and preparing the data 228
Coding: what it is and how to start 229
CONSIDER THIS 9.1 Motivating questions and coding domains 231
Analysis technology: manual approaches versus computerized software 232
Manual approaches 232
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.1 Manual coding visual displays: Artistic canvas and tabletop categories 233
Analysis using computers, AI, and qualitative data analysis software 235
Primary-cycle coding and first-level descriptive codes 236
EXERCISE 9.1 Playing with analysis and thinking qualitatively (also known as practicing without the fear of screwing it up) 238
Secondary-cycle coding: second-level analytic and axial/hierarchical codes 239
EXERCISE 9.2 Grouping together codes via axial and hierarchical coding 241
Focusing the analysis and creating a codebook 242
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.2 Codebook excerpt 243
CONSIDER THIS 9.2 Focusing the data analysis 246
Synthesizing activities: memos, negative cases, and analytic outlines 246
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.3 Analytic memos 247
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 9.4 Loose analysis outline 249
PIQDA visual overview and where to go from here 250
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 251
In summary 252
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 9 Phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis (PIQDA) practices 253
10 Advanced data analysis: The art and magic of interpretation 256
Advanced tools for data analysis: visual displays and QDAS 258
Visual data displays 258
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 10.1 Matrix display 259
Qualitative data analysis software 261
Exemplars and vignettes 264
Developing typologies 266
Narrative analysis and dramatistic strategy 267
TIPS AND TOOLS 10.1 Questions to inspire narrative analysis 270
Metaphor analysis 271
Explanation and causality 274
Discourse tracing 276
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 10.2 Micro, meso, macro sources 277
A post-qualitative analysis: deconstructionism and arts-based research 279
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 281
In summary 282
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 10 Advanced data analysis/interpretation 282
11 A big tent model of qualitative quality: Creating a credible, ethical, significant study 285
Combatting positivism creep: moving beyond objectivity, reliability, and formal generalizability 286
Eight “big tent” criteria for high-quality qualitative research 288
TIPS AND TOOLS 11.1 Eight “big tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research 289
Worthy topic 291
Rich rigor 291
EXERCISE 11.1 Gauging worth and rigor 292
Sincerity 293
Critical self-reflexivity 293
Transparency 294
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 11.1 Sincerity word cloud 294
Credibility 295
Thick description 295
Crystallization or triangulation (NOT both at the same time) 295
TIPS AND TOOLS 11.2 Intercoder reliability 297
Multivocality 297
Member reflections (NOT member “checks”) 298
Resonance 299
Transferability, naturalistic generalization, and provocative generalization 300
Aesthetic merit 301
Significant contribution 301
EXERCISE 11.2 Articulating and gauging significance 304
Ethical research practice 304
Procedural ethics 304
Situational ethics 305
CONSIDER THIS 11.1 Situational and relational ethics 306
Meaningful coherence 306
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 308
In summary 309
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 11 Articulating quality practices 309
12 Theorizing and writing: Explaining, synthesizing, and crafting a tale 313
Theorizing, brainstorming, explaining 314
EXERCISE 12.1 Words push back on us: a creative analytic exercise 316
EXERCISE 12.2 Theorizing via bracketing, abduction, metaphor, and explaining 317
Types of tales: realist, impressionistic/poetic, confessional/autoethnographic 318
The realist tale 318
Creative, impressionist, and poetic tales 319
The confessional tale 321
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 12.1 Poetic inquiry 322
CONSIDER THIS 12.1 Speculative fiction 323
EXERCISE 12.3 Accidental rewrites 324
Key puzzle pieces of a qualitative essay 324
Writing the framing material: title, abstract, key words 326
Writing the introduction, the literature review, and the conceptual framework 326
Writing the research questions and purposes 327
Writing the research methodology and method(s) 328
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 12.2 Methods data display 329
Findings and analysis: choosing an organizational approach 330
Themes/topics 330
Chronology/life-story 331
Convergence/braided narrative 331
Puzzle explication strategy 332
Separated text 333
Layered/messy texts 333
EXERCISE 12.4 Which writing strategy? 334
Implications, conclusions, limitations, and future directions 334
EXERCISE 12.5 Synthesizing implications simply and meaningfully 335
In summary 339
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 12 Article format model 340
13 Drafting, polishing, and publishing 343
Writing as a method of inquiry 345
How to write and format qualitative research 346
Choosing the research materials 346
Rich, luminous, and thick representations 347
Structuring the data in sections, paragraphs, and sentences 348
EXERCISE 13.1 Writing from different perspectives and verb tenses 349
Formatting qualitative work 350
Visual representations and art 352
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 13.1 Visual representation 354
Setting yourself up for success by considering the audience first 355
Submitting, revising, and resubmitting for journal publication 356
TIPS AND TOOLS 13.1 National or international journals that have published qualitative communication research (an incomplete list) 357
Writing as practice: creating good habits and overcoming challenges 360
How to write a lot 360
Addressing common challenges in qualitative writing 362
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 366
In summary 366
PROJECT BUILDING BLOCK 13 Empirical qualitative research essay 368
14 Qualitative methodology matters: Exiting and communicating impact 369
Navigating exit and research disengagement 370
Give notice and say goodbye 371
Exits can be emotional 371
Don’t spoil the scene 372
Give back 372
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 14.1 Thank you note 373
Ethically delivering the findings 374
TIPS AND TOOLS 14.1 Best practices for returning the findings 374
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 375
Public scholarship: crafting representations that move beyond the scholarly essay 376
Public scholarship 376
Staged performances 377
RESEARCHER’S NOTEPAD 14.2 Staged performance with impact 378
Digital representations 379
White papers and translated essays 380
Grant applications and reports 381
TIPS AND TOOLS 14.2 White papers 382
Professional consulting and private-sector qualitative research 384
Media relations 384
EXERCISE 14.1 Six-word stories 385
Web presence 386
Warning: doing research that matters can be terrifying 388
Overcoming lingering obstacles to public scholarship 389
EXERCISE 14.2 Making an impact via public scholarship 391
FOLLOWING, FORGETTING, AND IMPROVISING 391
In summary 393
Appendix A Fieldnote 394
Appendix B Focus group guide 396
Appendix C Interview/focus group excerpts with different levels of transcription detail 400
References 404
Index 431
