Forum: Qualitative Social Research  

Stefan Bernhard

Market sociology has shown how markets become embedded in wider social structures. So far, however, little attention has been paid to biographies as relevant market contexts. Among other things it remains unclear how biographical experiences affect market... see more

Adèle de Jager,Anna Tewson,Bryn Ludlow,Katherine Boydell

The first recorded instance of whole-body-mapping for research purposes is a comparison of women's identity and the concept of the reproductive system in rural Jamaica and the UK. It was later developed in a structured workshop process in South Africa to ... see more

Lee-Ann Fenge,Caroline Hodges,Wendy Cutts

The Seen but Seldom Heard project was a performative social science (PSS) project which used performance poetry to illuminate the experiences of young people with physical impairments. Two performance poets, a group of young people with physical impairmen... see more

Jordana F. Garbati,Nathalie Rothschild

Researchers in the field of study abroad have focused on language, identity construction, and motivation, yet few studies have shown its lasting impact on participants. This article contains the reflections of two individuals who took part in studies abro... see more

Helmut Ittner

Empirical research which is based on "critical psychology" (HOLZKAMP, 1985) may allow a productive access to and ways to deal with the obstinacy of subjective grounds for action. This is particularly interesting for research on learning or educational pro... see more

Katharina Kindermann,Ulrich Riegel

In educational research the "Research Program Subjective Theories" (RST), following GROEBEN, WAHL, SCHLEE and SCHEELE (1988), is well received. In this article we present an overview of its application in current studies that assess and analyze subjective... see more

Geoff Kuehne

This article is based on my personal experience and understanding of conducting research interviews with farmers. It incorporates ethnographic fiction—an approach to writing that is based on first-hand accounts—to examine some of the issues that researche... see more

Andrea LaMarre,Carla Rice

Digital storytelling is as an arts-based research method that offers researchers an opportunity to engage deeply with participants, speak back to dominant discourses, and re-imagine bodily possibilities. In this article, we describe the process of develop... see more

Jeanette A. Lawrence,Ida Kaplan,Amy H. Collard

This article reports analyses of the perspectives on their wellbeing expressed by four unaccompanied minor refugees resettling in Australia. We used a computer-assisted interview (CAI) to set up a research environment to facilitate young people's expressi... see more

Caroline Lenette

Refugee photography is often used to convey situations of precariousness and urgency, as visibility can help raise awareness and elicit empathy. Critical perspectives in relation to photographic representations can provide more nuanced understandings of r... see more

Kai-Olaf Maiwald

"Padlocking" is a quite recent phenomenon observable in many major cities in Europe and throughout the world. Couples engrave their initials or names on a padlock, fix it in a public place, preferably bridges, and throw the keys away. Locations like the H... see more

Günter Mey,Marc Dietrich

Qualitative social and cultural research is increasingly engaging with visual data. Starting from the premise "all is data" in grounded theory methodology (GTM), we propose a general framework to realize a visual grounded theory methodology (VGTM). Referr... see more

Maria Norstedt,Janne Paulsen Breimo

Institutional ethnography (IE) is a method of social inquiry that sets out to explore and analyze how people's daily activities are "hooked up" into institutional arrangements and ruling relations. Using the everyday life of people and their experiences a... see more

Claudia Oetting-Roß,Charlotte Ullrich,Wilfried Schnepp,Andreas Büscher

In this article, we discuss how to incorporate the perspectives of children and adolescents with life-limiting conditions into qualitative research studies by actively involving these children; e.g., via qualitative interviews. First, an overview of livin... see more

Shannon Oltmann

Interviews are a staple method used in qualitative research. Many authors hold face-to-face interviews to be the gold standard, or the assumed best mode in which to conduct interviews. However, a large number of research projects are based on conducting i... see more

Ann Phoenix,Julia Brannen,Heather Elliott,Janet Smithson,Paulette Morris,Cordet Smart,Anne Barlow,Elaine Bauer

Working in groups is increasingly regarded as fruitful for the process of analyzing qualitative data. It has been reported to build research skills, make the analytic process visible, reduce inequalities and social distance particularly between researcher... see more

Gabriele Rosenthal

In my contribution I focus on the advantages of  rigorous interpretative or reconstructive social research in comparison to other qualitative methods. I attempt to show how we might be able to benefit from these advantages more consistently and exten... see more

Louise Ryan,Magdalena Lopez Rodriguez,Paulina Trevena

Although there is growing interest in qualitative longitudinal research as a way of taking time seriously (ADAM, 2000), this approach still holds many challenges for the social researcher. In this article we use a reflexive approach, drawing on a Goffmani... see more

Kasper Tang Vangkilde,David Brehm Sausdal

This article discusses a key methodological difficulty in conducting qualitative research close to home: the issue of overthinking. Whereas MALINOWSKI's concern regarding imponderabilia, i.e., the risk of not thinking about the subtle phenomena of everyda... see more

Mark David Webster

A qualitative study was conducted to examine the philosophy of technology of K-12 technology leaders, and explore the influence of their thinking on technology decision making. The research design aligned with CORBIN and STRAUSS grounded theory methods, a... see more

Elly Park,Vera Caine,David McConnell,Joanne Minaker

In "The Human Condition," Hannah ARENDT (1958) calls us to think deeply about our role in relationships, to be mindful of our actions and intentions. In this article, we take up the ethical tensions one of us faced while working alongside women with learn... see more

Jane Springett,Kayla Atkey,Krystyna Kongats,Rosslynn Zulla,Emma Wilkins

Participatory approaches to research are gaining popularity in health and wellness disciplines because of their potential to bridge gaps between research and practice and promote health equity. A number of guidelines have been developed to help research-p... see more

Pengfei Zhao,Peiwei Li,Karen Ross,Barbara Dennis

Qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) has become increasingly popular among researchers. However, very few discussions have developed regarding the effect of QDAS on the validity of qualitative data analysis. It is a pressing issue, especially because... see more

Howard S. Becker,Reiner Keller

In the following conversation, Howard S. BECKER talks about his lifelong travel with and between sociology and jazz music, his professional training as a sociologist, the hazards of a career, and his involvement with photography and performance. He reflec... see more

Thorsten Dresing,Thorsten Pehl,Christian Spengler

In "Grundlagen der Transkription" ["Basics of Transcription"], published in 2014, Susanne FUß and Ute KARBACH have gathered and analyzed recurring questions encountered in the course of their work in lecturing and transcription. Over nine chapters, which ... see more

Ulrike Schröder

The collection "Telecommunication Against Isolation" brings together eight contributions based on a pivotal project carried out at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (campus and clinical center) using ethnographic and empirical communications data.... see more

Alexander Antony,Michael Hubrich,Basil Wiesse,Yasemin Yilmaz

During the two-day workshop "Atmospheres and Moods—On the Background Affectivity of the Social," held in February 2015 in Erlangen (Germany), researchers from a variety of disciplines debated the relationship between sociality and "low-key" or "background... see more

Estrid Sørensen

The same video games are played by young people all over the world. All over the world these games become matters of concern. Young people's involvement with video games is of concern to families, industry, science, and regulatory bodies. However, differe... see more