Purpose: Transcription is an integral component to qualitative research, and as such, the ways that researchers discuss transcription in the literature matter. Scholarly discussions on the "how" and "why" of transcription not only shape discourse within interview data-based fields; they inform the ways that researchers…

This study examined current social science qualitative and mixed methods research practices in the adoption and use of data management and analysis technology with three questions: 1) who uses technology for qualitative and mixed methods data analysis? 2) what can be learned by knowing who these researchers are? and, 3) how might current…

Emotion is an integral part of the knowledge production process, yet is rarely acknowledged within research methods teaching or textbooks. As educators, preparing students for fieldwork is essential, and should go beyond skill-learning, towards building confidence in their ability to react both ethically and appropriately during fieldwork. This…

This paper reports on a study conducted as part of an action-research project--INTEGRA I&E--aiming to promote the research and teaching (R&T) nexus at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of a Research University in Lisbon, Portugal (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, ISCTE-IUL). This study set out to investigate a multi-informant…

Pluralism and creativity are inherent and important parts of the qualitative endeavour. The multiplicity of approaches and methods can, however, be confusing. We undertook a focused mapping review and synthesis to obtain a snap-shot profile of the state of qualitative research in health and social science literature. We retrieved 102 qualitative…

This article presents an overview and discussion of qualitative research in education by analyzing the roles of researchers, the history of the field, its use in policymaking, and its future influence on educational reform. The article begins by describing the unique position that qualitative educational researchers have in higher education, as…

In the wake of the crisis of representation, the qualitative approaches have gained momentum within the social sciences. This crisis has lead to a widespread awareness about the need to incorporate the subject's understanding in the research design. Yet, the validity of qualitative accounts is still regarded as a function of its representative…

This study was conducted to describe strategies used by social work researchers to enhance the rigor of their qualitative work. A template was developed and used to review a random sample of 100 articles drawn from social work journals listed in the "2005 Journal Citation Reports: Science and Social Sciences Edition." Results suggest that the most…

Social science is fundamentally about humanity and human relationships. Humans, alone and in interaction with one another, are situated--in a context, a time, and a place. Their action and interaction has potential for unpredictability, agency, growth, change. As a science, it rests uncomfortably in the positivistic framework: the social always…

In this article, the author challenges the validity and usefulness of the concept of "paradigm," as this term has been used in the social sciences generally, and specifically in the debates over research methods. He emphasizes that in criticizing what he sees as the misuse of the paradigm concept, he is not arguing for dismissing or ignoring…

Little work in the social sciences or in the field of education has fully explored the methodological issues related to the study of race and racism, yet qualitative researchers acknowledge that race plays (and should play) a role in the research process. Indeed, race frames and informs the context, practices and perspectives of everyday lived…

Issues of anonymity of place, participants, and visual images are well documented in social science research (Wiles et al., 2008). However, in this article, I move beyond issues of the immediate concerns of anonymity to a wider application that encompasses the position of research participants, the researcher, and that of individuals who are…

In this study, the author analyzes the websites of 32 universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to explore two specific issues: (a) how individual IRBs define "vulnerable populations," and (b) the guidelines those IRBs offer with respect to participants who may have limited or no English language proficiency. Analysis indicates wide…

"Constitution" is a relationship of mutual formation between people and their form of life. Neither can exist without the other. In the 1970s, proposals were made in various social sciences, including anthropology, political science, and sociology, for a new kind of inquiry that would focus squarely on constitution. It would be an explicitly…

Qualitative research is continuously evolving and expanding as researchers seek methodologies that reflect the intersubjective nature of experience. "Relational inquiry" is an approach which considers the relationships (a) between researchers and participants, (b) among multiple dimensions of the participant's lived experience, and (c) between the…