chapter 1 research parts qualitative research

Chapter 1. Introduction

“Science is in danger, and for that reason it is becoming dangerous” -Pierre Bourdieu, Science of Science and Reflexivity

Why an Open Access Textbook on Qualitative Research Methods?

I have been teaching qualitative research methods to both undergraduates and graduate students for many years.  Although there are some excellent textbooks out there, they are often costly, and none of them, to my mind, properly introduces qualitative research methods to the beginning student (whether undergraduate or graduate student).  In contrast, this open-access textbook is designed as a (free) true introduction to the subject, with helpful, practical pointers on how to conduct research and how to access more advanced instruction.  

Textbooks are typically arranged in one of two ways: (1) by technique (each chapter covers one method used in qualitative research); or (2) by process (chapters advance from research design through publication).  But both of these approaches are necessary for the beginner student.  This textbook will have sections dedicated to the process as well as the techniques of qualitative research.  This is a true “comprehensive” book for the beginning student.  In addition to covering techniques of data collection and data analysis, it provides a road map of how to get started and how to keep going and where to go for advanced instruction.  It covers aspects of research design and research communication as well as methods employed.  Along the way, it includes examples from many different disciplines in the social sciences.

The primary goal has been to create a useful, accessible, engaging textbook for use across many disciplines.  And, let’s face it.  Textbooks can be boring.  I hope readers find this to be a little different.  I have tried to write in a practical and forthright manner, with many lively examples and references to good and intellectually creative qualitative research.  Woven throughout the text are short textual asides (in colored textboxes) by professional (academic) qualitative researchers in various disciplines.  These short accounts by practitioners should help inspire students.  So, let’s begin!

What is Research?

When we use the word research , what exactly do we mean by that?  This is one of those words that everyone thinks they understand, but it is worth beginning this textbook with a short explanation.  We use the term to refer to “empirical research,” which is actually a historically specific approach to understanding the world around us.  Think about how you know things about the world. [1] You might know your mother loves you because she’s told you she does.  Or because that is what “mothers” do by tradition.  Or you might know because you’ve looked for evidence that she does, like taking care of you when you are sick or reading to you in bed or working two jobs so you can have the things you need to do OK in life.  Maybe it seems churlish to look for evidence; you just take it “on faith” that you are loved.

Only one of the above comes close to what we mean by research.  Empirical research is research (investigation) based on evidence.  Conclusions can then be drawn from observable data.  This observable data can also be “tested” or checked.  If the data cannot be tested, that is a good indication that we are not doing research.  Note that we can never “prove” conclusively, through observable data, that our mothers love us.  We might have some “disconfirming evidence” (that time she didn’t show up to your graduation, for example) that could push you to question an original hypothesis , but no amount of “confirming evidence” will ever allow us to say with 100% certainty, “my mother loves me.”  Faith and tradition and authority work differently.  Our knowledge can be 100% certain using each of those alternative methods of knowledge, but our certainty in those cases will not be based on facts or evidence.

For many periods of history, those in power have been nervous about “science” because it uses evidence and facts as the primary source of understanding the world, and facts can be at odds with what power or authority or tradition want you to believe.  That is why I say that scientific empirical research is a historically specific approach to understand the world.  You are in college or university now partly to learn how to engage in this historically specific approach.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, there was a newfound respect for empirical research, some of which was seriously challenging to the established church.  Using observations and testing them, scientists found that the earth was not at the center of the universe, for example, but rather that it was but one planet of many which circled the sun. [2]   For the next two centuries, the science of astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry emerged and became disciplines taught in universities.  All used the scientific method of observation and testing to advance knowledge.  Knowledge about people , however, and social institutions, however, was still left to faith, tradition, and authority.  Historians and philosophers and poets wrote about the human condition, but none of them used research to do so. [3]

It was not until the nineteenth century that “social science” really emerged, using the scientific method (empirical observation) to understand people and social institutions.  New fields of sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology emerged.  The first sociologists, people like Auguste Comte and Karl Marx, sought specifically to apply the scientific method of research to understand society, Engels famously claiming that Marx had done for the social world what Darwin did for the natural world, tracings its laws of development.  Today we tend to take for granted the naturalness of science here, but it is actually a pretty recent and radical development.

To return to the question, “does your mother love you?”  Well, this is actually not really how a researcher would frame the question, as it is too specific to your case.  It doesn’t tell us much about the world at large, even if it does tell us something about you and your relationship with your mother.  A social science researcher might ask, “do mothers love their children?”  Or maybe they would be more interested in how this loving relationship might change over time (e.g., “do mothers love their children more now than they did in the 18th century when so many children died before reaching adulthood?”) or perhaps they might be interested in measuring quality of love across cultures or time periods, or even establishing “what love looks like” using the mother/child relationship as a site of exploration.  All of these make good research questions because we can use observable data to answer them.

What is Qualitative Research?

“All we know is how to learn. How to study, how to listen, how to talk, how to tell.  If we don’t tell the world, we don’t know the world.  We’re lost in it, we die.” -Ursula LeGuin, The Telling

At its simplest, qualitative research is research about the social world that does not use numbers in its analyses.  All those who fear statistics can breathe a sigh of relief – there are no mathematical formulae or regression models in this book! But this definition is less about what qualitative research can be and more about what it is not.  To be honest, any simple statement will fail to capture the power and depth of qualitative research.  One way of contrasting qualitative research to quantitative research is to note that the focus of qualitative research is less about explaining and predicting relationships between variables and more about understanding the social world.  To use our mother love example, the question about “what love looks like” is a good question for the qualitative researcher while all questions measuring love or comparing incidences of love (both of which require measurement) are good questions for quantitative researchers. Patton writes,

Qualitative data describe.  They take us, as readers, into the time and place of the observation so that we know what it was like to have been there.  They capture and communicate someone else’s experience of the world in his or her own words.  Qualitative data tell a story. ( Patton 2002:47 )

Qualitative researchers are asking different questions about the world than their quantitative colleagues.  Even when researchers are employed in “mixed methods” research ( both quantitative and qualitative), they are using different methods to address different questions of the study.  I do a lot of research about first-generation and working-college college students.  Where a quantitative researcher might ask, how many first-generation college students graduate from college within four years? Or does first-generation college status predict high student debt loads?  A qualitative researcher might ask, how does the college experience differ for first-generation college students?  What is it like to carry a lot of debt, and how does this impact the ability to complete college on time?  Both sets of questions are important, but they can only be answered using specific tools tailored to those questions.  For the former, you need large numbers to make adequate comparisons.  For the latter, you need to talk to people, find out what they are thinking and feeling, and try to inhabit their shoes for a little while so you can make sense of their experiences and beliefs.

Examples of Qualitative Research

You have probably seen examples of qualitative research before, but you might not have paid particular attention to how they were produced or realized that the accounts you were reading were the result of hours, months, even years of research “in the field.”  A good qualitative researcher will present the product of their hours of work in such a way that it seems natural, even obvious, to the reader.  Because we are trying to convey what it is like answers, qualitative research is often presented as stories – stories about how people live their lives, go to work, raise their children, interact with one another.  In some ways, this can seem like reading particularly insightful novels.  But, unlike novels, there are very specific rules and guidelines that qualitative researchers follow to ensure that the “story” they are telling is accurate , a truthful rendition of what life is like for the people being studied.  Most of this textbook will be spent conveying those rules and guidelines.  Let’s take a look, first, however, at three examples of what the end product looks like.  I have chosen these three examples to showcase very different approaches to qualitative research, and I will return to these five examples throughout the book.  They were all published as whole books (not chapters or articles), and they are worth the long read, if you have the time.  I will also provide some information on how these books came to be and the length of time it takes to get them into book version.  It is important you know about this process, and the rest of this textbook will help explain why it takes so long to conduct good qualitative research!

Example 1 : The End Game (ethnography + interviews)

Corey Abramson is a sociologist who teaches at the University of Arizona.   In 2015 he published The End Game: How Inequality Shapes our Final Years ( 2015 ). This book was based on the research he did for his dissertation at the University of California-Berkeley in 2012.  Actually, the dissertation was completed in 2012 but the work that was produced that took several years.  The dissertation was entitled, “This is How We Live, This is How We Die: Social Stratification, Aging, and Health in Urban America” ( 2012 ).  You can see how the book version, which was written for a more general audience, has a more engaging sound to it, but that the dissertation version, which is what academic faculty read and evaluate, has a more descriptive title.  You can read the title and know that this is a study about aging and health and that the focus is going to be inequality and that the context (place) is going to be “urban America.”  It’s a study about “how” people do something – in this case, how they deal with aging and death.  This is the very first sentence of the dissertation, “From our first breath in the hospital to the day we die, we live in a society characterized by unequal opportunities for maintaining health and taking care of ourselves when ill.  These disparities reflect persistent racial, socio-economic, and gender-based inequalities and contribute to their persistence over time” ( 1 ).  What follows is a truthful account of how that is so.

Cory Abramson spent three years conducting his research in four different urban neighborhoods.  We call the type of research he conducted “comparative ethnographic” because he designed his study to compare groups of seniors as they went about their everyday business.  It’s comparative because he is comparing different groups (based on race, class, gender) and ethnographic because he is studying the culture/way of life of a group. [4]   He had an educated guess, rooted in what previous research had shown and what social theory would suggest, that people’s experiences of aging differ by race, class, and gender.  So, he set up a research design that would allow him to observe differences.  He chose two primarily middle-class (one was racially diverse and the other was predominantly White) and two primarily poor neighborhoods (one was racially diverse and the other was predominantly African American).  He hung out in senior centers and other places seniors congregated, watched them as they took the bus to get prescriptions filled, sat in doctor’s offices with them, and listened to their conversations with each other.  He also conducted more formal conversations, what we call in-depth interviews, with sixty seniors from each of the four neighborhoods.  As with a lot of fieldwork , as he got closer to the people involved, he both expanded and deepened his reach –

By the end of the project, I expanded my pool of general observations to include various settings frequented by seniors: apartment building common rooms, doctors’ offices, emergency rooms, pharmacies, senior centers, bars, parks, corner stores, shopping centers, pool halls, hair salons, coffee shops, and discount stores. Over the course of the three years of fieldwork, I observed hundreds of elders, and developed close relationships with a number of them. ( 2012:10 )

When Abramson rewrote the dissertation for a general audience and published his book in 2015, it got a lot of attention.  It is a beautifully written book and it provided insight into a common human experience that we surprisingly know very little about.  It won the Outstanding Publication Award by the American Sociological Association Section on Aging and the Life Course and was featured in the New York Times .  The book was about aging, and specifically how inequality shapes the aging process, but it was also about much more than that.  It helped show how inequality affects people’s everyday lives.  For example, by observing the difficulties the poor had in setting up appointments and getting to them using public transportation and then being made to wait to see a doctor, sometimes in standing-room-only situations, when they are unwell, and then being treated dismissively by hospital staff, Abramson allowed readers to feel the material reality of being poor in the US.  Comparing these examples with seniors with adequate supplemental insurance who have the resources to hire car services or have others assist them in arranging care when they need it, jolts the reader to understand and appreciate the difference money makes in the lives and circumstances of us all, and in a way that is different than simply reading a statistic (“80% of the poor do not keep regular doctor’s appointments”) does.  Qualitative research can reach into spaces and places that often go unexamined and then reports back to the rest of us what it is like in those spaces and places.

Example 2: Racing for Innocence (Interviews + Content Analysis + Fictional Stories)

Jennifer Pierce is a Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota.  Trained as a sociologist, she has written a number of books about gender, race, and power.  Her very first book, Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms, published in 1995, is a brilliant look at gender dynamics within two law firms.  Pierce was a participant observer, working as a paralegal, and she observed how female lawyers and female paralegals struggled to obtain parity with their male colleagues.

Fifteen years later, she reexamined the context of the law firm to include an examination of racial dynamics, particularly how elite white men working in these spaces created and maintained a culture that made it difficult for both female attorneys and attorneys of color to thrive. Her book, Racing for Innocence: Whiteness, Gender, and the Backlash Against Affirmative Action , published in 2012, is an interesting and creative blending of interviews with attorneys, content analyses of popular films during this period, and fictional accounts of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.  The law firm she chose to study had come under an affirmative action order and was in the process of implementing equitable policies and programs.  She wanted to understand how recipients of white privilege (the elite white male attorneys) come to deny the role they play in reproducing inequality.  Through interviews with attorneys who were present both before and during the affirmative action order, she creates a historical record of the “bad behavior” that necessitated new policies and procedures, but also, and more importantly , probed the participants ’ understanding of this behavior.  It should come as no surprise that most (but not all) of the white male attorneys saw little need for change, and that almost everyone else had accounts that were different if not sometimes downright harrowing.

I’ve used Pierce’s book in my qualitative research methods courses as an example of an interesting blend of techniques and presentation styles.  My students often have a very difficult time with the fictional accounts she includes.  But they serve an important communicative purpose here.  They are her attempts at presenting “both sides” to an objective reality – something happens (Pierce writes this something so it is very clear what it is), and the two participants to the thing that happened have very different understandings of what this means.  By including these stories, Pierce presents one of her key findings – people remember things differently and these different memories tend to support their own ideological positions.  I wonder what Pierce would have written had she studied the murder of George Floyd or the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 or any number of other historic events whose observers and participants record very different happenings.

This is not to say that qualitative researchers write fictional accounts.  In fact, the use of fiction in our work remains controversial.  When used, it must be clearly identified as a presentation device, as Pierce did.  I include Racing for Innocence here as an example of the multiple uses of methods and techniques and the way that these work together to produce better understandings by us, the readers, of what Pierce studied.  We readers come away with a better grasp of how and why advantaged people understate their own involvement in situations and structures that advantage them.  This is normal human behavior , in other words.  This case may have been about elite white men in law firms, but the general insights here can be transposed to other settings.  Indeed, Pierce argues that more research needs to be done about the role elites play in the reproduction of inequality in the workplace in general.

Example 3: Amplified Advantage (Mixed Methods: Survey Interviews + Focus Groups + Archives)

The final example comes from my own work with college students, particularly the ways in which class background affects the experience of college and outcomes for graduates.  I include it here as an example of mixed methods, and for the use of supplementary archival research.  I’ve done a lot of research over the years on first-generation, low-income, and working-class college students.  I am curious (and skeptical) about the possibility of social mobility today, particularly with the rising cost of college and growing inequality in general.  As one of the few people in my family to go to college, I didn’t grow up with a lot of examples of what college was like or how to make the most of it.  And when I entered graduate school, I realized with dismay that there were very few people like me there.  I worried about becoming too different from my family and friends back home.  And I wasn’t at all sure that I would ever be able to pay back the huge load of debt I was taking on.  And so I wrote my dissertation and first two books about working-class college students.  These books focused on experiences in college and the difficulties of navigating between family and school ( Hurst 2010a, 2012 ).  But even after all that research, I kept coming back to wondering if working-class students who made it through college had an equal chance at finding good jobs and happy lives,

What happens to students after college?  Do working-class students fare as well as their peers?  I knew from my own experience that barriers continued through graduate school and beyond, and that my debtload was higher than that of my peers, constraining some of the choices I made when I graduated.  To answer these questions, I designed a study of students attending small liberal arts colleges, the type of college that tried to equalize the experience of students by requiring all students to live on campus and offering small classes with lots of interaction with faculty.  These private colleges tend to have more money and resources so they can provide financial aid to low-income students.  They also attract some very wealthy students.  Because they enroll students across the class spectrum, I would be able to draw comparisons.  I ended up spending about four years collecting data, both a survey of more than 2000 students (which formed the basis for quantitative analyses) and qualitative data collection (interviews, focus groups, archival research, and participant observation).  This is what we call a “mixed methods” approach because we use both quantitative and qualitative data.  The survey gave me a large enough number of students that I could make comparisons of the how many kind, and to be able to say with some authority that there were in fact significant differences in experience and outcome by class (e.g., wealthier students earned more money and had little debt; working-class students often found jobs that were not in their chosen careers and were very affected by debt, upper-middle-class students were more likely to go to graduate school).  But the survey analyses could not explain why these differences existed.  For that, I needed to talk to people and ask them about their motivations and aspirations.  I needed to understand their perceptions of the world, and it is very hard to do this through a survey.

By interviewing students and recent graduates, I was able to discern particular patterns and pathways through college and beyond.  Specifically, I identified three versions of gameplay.  Upper-middle-class students, whose parents were themselves professionals (academics, lawyers, managers of non-profits), saw college as the first stage of their education and took classes and declared majors that would prepare them for graduate school.  They also spent a lot of time building their resumes, taking advantage of opportunities to help professors with their research, or study abroad.  This helped them gain admission to highly-ranked graduate schools and interesting jobs in the public sector.  In contrast, upper-class students, whose parents were wealthy and more likely to be engaged in business (as CEOs or other high-level directors), prioritized building social capital.  They did this by joining fraternities and sororities and playing club sports.  This helped them when they graduated as they called on friends and parents of friends to find them well-paying jobs.  Finally, low-income, first-generation, and working-class students were often adrift.  They took the classes that were recommended to them but without the knowledge of how to connect them to life beyond college.  They spent time working and studying rather than partying or building their resumes.  All three sets of students thought they were “doing college” the right way, the way that one was supposed to do college.   But these three versions of gameplay led to distinct outcomes that advantaged some students over others.  I titled my work “Amplified Advantage” to highlight this process.

These three examples, Cory Abramson’s The End Game , Jennifer Peirce’s Racing for Innocence, and my own Amplified Advantage, demonstrate the range of approaches and tools available to the qualitative researcher.  They also help explain why qualitative research is so important.  Numbers can tell us some things about the world, but they cannot get at the hearts and minds, motivations and beliefs of the people who make up the social worlds we inhabit.  For that, we need tools that allow us to listen and make sense of what people tell us and show us.  That is what good qualitative research offers us.

How Is This Book Organized?

This textbook is organized as a comprehensive introduction to the use of qualitative research methods.  The first half covers general topics (e.g., approaches to qualitative research, ethics) and research design (necessary steps for building a successful qualitative research study).  The second half reviews various data collection and data analysis techniques.  Of course, building a successful qualitative research study requires some knowledge of data collection and data analysis so the chapters in the first half and the chapters in the second half should be read in conversation with each other.  That said, each chapter can be read on its own for assistance with a particular narrow topic.  In addition to the chapters, a helpful glossary can be found in the back of the book.  Rummage around in the text as needed.

Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Research Design Process.  How does one begin a study? What is an appropriate research question?  How is the study to be done – with what methods ?  Involving what people and sites?  Although qualitative research studies can and often do change and develop over the course of data collection, it is important to have a good idea of what the aims and goals of your study are at the outset and a good plan of how to achieve those aims and goals.  Chapter 2 provides a road map of the process.

Chapter 3 describes and explains various ways of knowing the (social) world.  What is it possible for us to know about how other people think or why they behave the way they do?  What does it mean to say something is a “fact” or that it is “well-known” and understood?  Qualitative researchers are particularly interested in these questions because of the types of research questions we are interested in answering (the how questions rather than the how many questions of quantitative research).  Qualitative researchers have adopted various epistemological approaches.  Chapter 3 will explore these approaches, highlighting interpretivist approaches that acknowledge the subjective aspect of reality – in other words, reality and knowledge are not objective but rather influenced by (interpreted through) people.

Chapter 4 focuses on the practical matter of developing a research question and finding the right approach to data collection.  In any given study (think of Cory Abramson’s study of aging, for example), there may be years of collected data, thousands of observations , hundreds of pages of notes to read and review and make sense of.  If all you had was a general interest area (“aging”), it would be very difficult, nearly impossible, to make sense of all of that data.  The research question provides a helpful lens to refine and clarify (and simplify) everything you find and collect.  For that reason, it is important to pull out that lens (articulate the research question) before you get started.  In the case of the aging study, Cory Abramson was interested in how inequalities affected understandings and responses to aging.  It is for this reason he designed a study that would allow him to compare different groups of seniors (some middle-class, some poor).  Inevitably, he saw much more in the three years in the field than what made it into his book (or dissertation), but he was able to narrow down the complexity of the social world to provide us with this rich account linked to the original research question.  Developing a good research question is thus crucial to effective design and a successful outcome.  Chapter 4 will provide pointers on how to do this.  Chapter 4 also provides an overview of general approaches taken to doing qualitative research and various “traditions of inquiry.”

Chapter 5 explores sampling .  After you have developed a research question and have a general idea of how you will collect data (Observations?  Interviews?), how do you go about actually finding people and sites to study?  Although there is no “correct number” of people to interview , the sample should follow the research question and research design.  Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research involves nonprobability sampling.  Chapter 5 explains why this is so and what qualities instead make a good sample for qualitative research.

Chapter 6 addresses the importance of reflexivity in qualitative research.  Related to epistemological issues of how we know anything about the social world, qualitative researchers understand that we the researchers can never be truly neutral or outside the study we are conducting.  As observers, we see things that make sense to us and may entirely miss what is either too obvious to note or too different to comprehend.  As interviewers, as much as we would like to ask questions neutrally and remain in the background, interviews are a form of conversation, and the persons we interview are responding to us .  Therefore, it is important to reflect upon our social positions and the knowledges and expectations we bring to our work and to work through any blind spots that we may have.  Chapter 6 provides some examples of reflexivity in practice and exercises for thinking through one’s own biases.

Chapter 7 is a very important chapter and should not be overlooked.  As a practical matter, it should also be read closely with chapters 6 and 8.  Because qualitative researchers deal with people and the social world, it is imperative they develop and adhere to a strong ethical code for conducting research in a way that does not harm.  There are legal requirements and guidelines for doing so (see chapter 8), but these requirements should not be considered synonymous with the ethical code required of us.   Each researcher must constantly interrogate every aspect of their research, from research question to design to sample through analysis and presentation, to ensure that a minimum of harm (ideally, zero harm) is caused.  Because each research project is unique, the standards of care for each study are unique.  Part of being a professional researcher is carrying this code in one’s heart, being constantly attentive to what is required under particular circumstances.  Chapter 7 provides various research scenarios and asks readers to weigh in on the suitability and appropriateness of the research.  If done in a class setting, it will become obvious fairly quickly that there are often no absolutely correct answers, as different people find different aspects of the scenarios of greatest importance.  Minimizing the harm in one area may require possible harm in another.  Being attentive to all the ethical aspects of one’s research and making the best judgments one can, clearly and consciously, is an integral part of being a good researcher.

Chapter 8 , best to be read in conjunction with chapter 7, explains the role and importance of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) .  Under federal guidelines, an IRB is an appropriately constituted group that has been formally designated to review and monitor research involving human subjects .  Every institution that receives funding from the federal government has an IRB.  IRBs have the authority to approve, require modifications to (to secure approval), or disapprove research.  This group review serves an important role in the protection of the rights and welfare of human research subjects.  Chapter 8 reviews the history of IRBs and the work they do but also argues that IRBs’ review of qualitative research is often both over-inclusive and under-inclusive.  Some aspects of qualitative research are not well understood by IRBs, given that they were developed to prevent abuses in biomedical research.  Thus, it is important not to rely on IRBs to identify all the potential ethical issues that emerge in our research (see chapter 7).

Chapter 9 provides help for getting started on formulating a research question based on gaps in the pre-existing literature.  Research is conducted as part of a community, even if particular studies are done by single individuals (or small teams).  What any of us finds and reports back becomes part of a much larger body of knowledge.  Thus, it is important that we look at the larger body of knowledge before we actually start our bit to see how we can best contribute.  When I first began interviewing working-class college students, there was only one other similar study I could find, and it hadn’t been published (it was a dissertation of students from poor backgrounds).  But there had been a lot published by professors who had grown up working class and made it through college despite the odds.  These accounts by “working-class academics” became an important inspiration for my study and helped me frame the questions I asked the students I interviewed.  Chapter 9 will provide some pointers on how to search for relevant literature and how to use this to refine your research question.

Chapter 10 serves as a bridge between the two parts of the textbook, by introducing techniques of data collection.  Qualitative research is often characterized by the form of data collection – for example, an ethnographic study is one that employs primarily observational data collection for the purpose of documenting and presenting a particular culture or ethnos.  Techniques can be effectively combined, depending on the research question and the aims and goals of the study.   Chapter 10 provides a general overview of all the various techniques and how they can be combined.

The second part of the textbook moves into the doing part of qualitative research once the research question has been articulated and the study designed.  Chapters 11 through 17 cover various data collection techniques and approaches.  Chapters 18 and 19 provide a very simple overview of basic data analysis.  Chapter 20 covers communication of the data to various audiences, and in various formats.

Chapter 11 begins our overview of data collection techniques with a focus on interviewing , the true heart of qualitative research.  This technique can serve as the primary and exclusive form of data collection, or it can be used to supplement other forms (observation, archival).  An interview is distinct from a survey, where questions are asked in a specific order and often with a range of predetermined responses available.  Interviews can be conversational and unstructured or, more conventionally, semistructured , where a general set of interview questions “guides” the conversation.  Chapter 11 covers the basics of interviews: how to create interview guides, how many people to interview, where to conduct the interview, what to watch out for (how to prepare against things going wrong), and how to get the most out of your interviews.

Chapter 12 covers an important variant of interviewing, the focus group.  Focus groups are semistructured interviews with a group of people moderated by a facilitator (the researcher or researcher’s assistant).  Focus groups explicitly use group interaction to assist in the data collection.  They are best used to collect data on a specific topic that is non-personal and shared among the group.  For example, asking a group of college students about a common experience such as taking classes by remote delivery during the pandemic year of 2020.  Chapter 12 covers the basics of focus groups: when to use them, how to create interview guides for them, and how to run them effectively.

Chapter 13 moves away from interviewing to the second major form of data collection unique to qualitative researchers – observation .  Qualitative research that employs observation can best be understood as falling on a continuum of “fly on the wall” observation (e.g., observing how strangers interact in a doctor’s waiting room) to “participant” observation, where the researcher is also an active participant of the activity being observed.  For example, an activist in the Black Lives Matter movement might want to study the movement, using her inside position to gain access to observe key meetings and interactions.  Chapter  13 covers the basics of participant observation studies: advantages and disadvantages, gaining access, ethical concerns related to insider/outsider status and entanglement, and recording techniques.

Chapter 14 takes a closer look at “deep ethnography” – immersion in the field of a particularly long duration for the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of a particular culture or social world.  Clifford Geertz called this “deep hanging out.”  Whereas participant observation is often combined with semistructured interview techniques, deep ethnography’s commitment to “living the life” or experiencing the situation as it really is demands more conversational and natural interactions with people.  These interactions and conversations may take place over months or even years.  As can be expected, there are some costs to this technique, as well as some very large rewards when done competently.  Chapter 14 provides some examples of deep ethnographies that will inspire some beginning researchers and intimidate others.

Chapter 15 moves in the opposite direction of deep ethnography, a technique that is the least positivist of all those discussed here, to mixed methods , a set of techniques that is arguably the most positivist .  A mixed methods approach combines both qualitative data collection and quantitative data collection, commonly by combining a survey that is analyzed statistically (e.g., cross-tabs or regression analyses of large number probability samples) with semi-structured interviews.  Although it is somewhat unconventional to discuss mixed methods in textbooks on qualitative research, I think it is important to recognize this often-employed approach here.  There are several advantages and some disadvantages to taking this route.  Chapter 16 will describe those advantages and disadvantages and provide some particular guidance on how to design a mixed methods study for maximum effectiveness.

Chapter 16 covers data collection that does not involve live human subjects at all – archival and historical research (chapter 17 will also cover data that does not involve interacting with human subjects).  Sometimes people are unavailable to us, either because they do not wish to be interviewed or observed (as is the case with many “elites”) or because they are too far away, in both place and time.  Fortunately, humans leave many traces and we can often answer questions we have by examining those traces.  Special collections and archives can be goldmines for social science research.  This chapter will explain how to access these places, for what purposes, and how to begin to make sense of what you find.

Chapter 17 covers another data collection area that does not involve face-to-face interaction with humans: content analysis .  Although content analysis may be understood more properly as a data analysis technique, the term is often used for the entire approach, which will be the case here.  Content analysis involves interpreting meaning from a body of text.  This body of text might be something found in historical records (see chapter 16) or something collected by the researcher, as in the case of comment posts on a popular blog post.  I once used the stories told by student loan debtors on the website studentloanjustice.org as the content I analyzed.  Content analysis is particularly useful when attempting to define and understand prevalent stories or communication about a topic of interest.  In other words, when we are less interested in what particular people (our defined sample) are doing or believing and more interested in what general narratives exist about a particular topic or issue.  This chapter will explore different approaches to content analysis and provide helpful tips on how to collect data, how to turn that data into codes for analysis, and how to go about presenting what is found through analysis.

Where chapter 17 has pushed us towards data analysis, chapters 18 and 19 are all about what to do with the data collected, whether that data be in the form of interview transcripts or fieldnotes from observations.  Chapter 18 introduces the basics of coding , the iterative process of assigning meaning to the data in order to both simplify and identify patterns.  What is a code and how does it work?  What are the different ways of coding data, and when should you use them?  What is a codebook, and why do you need one?  What does the process of data analysis look like?

Chapter 19 goes further into detail on codes and how to use them, particularly the later stages of coding in which our codes are refined, simplified, combined, and organized.  These later rounds of coding are essential to getting the most out of the data we’ve collected.  As students are often overwhelmed with the amount of data (a corpus of interview transcripts typically runs into the hundreds of pages; fieldnotes can easily top that), this chapter will also address time management and provide suggestions for dealing with chaos and reminders that feeling overwhelmed at the analysis stage is part of the process.  By the end of the chapter, you should understand how “findings” are actually found.

The book concludes with a chapter dedicated to the effective presentation of data results.  Chapter 20 covers the many ways that researchers communicate their studies to various audiences (academic, personal, political), what elements must be included in these various publications, and the hallmarks of excellent qualitative research that various audiences will be expecting.  Because qualitative researchers are motivated by understanding and conveying meaning , effective communication is not only an essential skill but a fundamental facet of the entire research project.  Ethnographers must be able to convey a certain sense of verisimilitude , the appearance of true reality.  Those employing interviews must faithfully depict the key meanings of the people they interviewed in a way that rings true to those people, even if the end result surprises them.  And all researchers must strive for clarity in their publications so that various audiences can understand what was found and why it is important.

The book concludes with a short chapter ( chapter 21 ) discussing the value of qualitative research. At the very end of this book, you will find a glossary of terms. I recommend you make frequent use of the glossary and add to each entry as you find examples. Although the entries are meant to be simple and clear, you may also want to paraphrase the definition—make it “make sense” to you, in other words. In addition to the standard reference list (all works cited here), you will find various recommendations for further reading at the end of many chapters. Some of these recommendations will be examples of excellent qualitative research, indicated with an asterisk (*) at the end of the entry. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. A good example of qualitative research can teach you more about conducting research than any textbook can (this one included). I highly recommend you select one to three examples from these lists and read them along with the textbook.

A final note on the choice of examples – you will note that many of the examples used in the text come from research on college students.  This is for two reasons.  First, as most of my research falls in this area, I am most familiar with this literature and have contacts with those who do research here and can call upon them to share their stories with you.  Second, and more importantly, my hope is that this textbook reaches a wide audience of beginning researchers who study widely and deeply across the range of what can be known about the social world (from marine resources management to public policy to nursing to political science to sexuality studies and beyond).  It is sometimes difficult to find examples that speak to all those research interests, however. A focus on college students is something that all readers can understand and, hopefully, appreciate, as we are all now or have been at some point a college student.

Recommended Reading: Other Qualitative Research Textbooks

I’ve included a brief list of some of my favorite qualitative research textbooks and guidebooks if you need more than what you will find in this introductory text.  For each, I’ve also indicated if these are for “beginning” or “advanced” (graduate-level) readers.  Many of these books have several editions that do not significantly vary; the edition recommended is merely the edition I have used in teaching and to whose page numbers any specific references made in the text agree.

Barbour, Rosaline. 2014. Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student’s Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.  A good introduction to qualitative research, with abundant examples (often from the discipline of health care) and clear definitions.  Includes quick summaries at the ends of each chapter.  However, some US students might find the British context distracting and can be a bit advanced in some places.  Beginning .

Bloomberg, Linda Dale, and Marie F. Volpe. 2012. Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.  Specifically designed to guide graduate students through the research process. Advanced .

Creswell, John W., and Cheryl Poth. 2018 Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions .  4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.  This is a classic and one of the go-to books I used myself as a graduate student.  One of the best things about this text is its clear presentation of five distinct traditions in qualitative research.  Despite the title, this reasonably sized book is about more than research design, including both data analysis and how to write about qualitative research.  Advanced .

Lareau, Annette. 2021. Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviewing, Participant Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up .  Chicago: University of Chicago Press. A readable and personal account of conducting qualitative research by an eminent sociologist, with a heavy emphasis on the kinds of participant-observation research conducted by the author.  Despite its reader-friendliness, this is really a book targeted to graduate students learning the craft.  Advanced .

Lune, Howard, and Bruce L. Berg. 2018. 9th edition.  Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences.  Pearson . Although a good introduction to qualitative methods, the authors favor symbolic interactionist and dramaturgical approaches, which limits the appeal primarily to sociologists.  Beginning .

Marshall, Catherine, and Gretchen B. Rossman. 2016. 6th edition. Designing Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.  Very readable and accessible guide to research design by two educational scholars.  Although the presentation is sometimes fairly dry, personal vignettes and illustrations enliven the text.  Beginning .

Maxwell, Joseph A. 2013. Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach .  3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. A short and accessible introduction to qualitative research design, particularly helpful for graduate students contemplating theses and dissertations. This has been a standard textbook in my graduate-level courses for years.  Advanced .

Patton, Michael Quinn. 2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.  This is a comprehensive text that served as my “go-to” reference when I was a graduate student.  It is particularly helpful for those involved in program evaluation and other forms of evaluation studies and uses examples from a wide range of disciplines.  Advanced .

Rubin, Ashley T. 2021. Rocking Qualitative Social Science: An Irreverent Guide to Rigorous Research. Stanford : Stanford University Press.  A delightful and personal read.  Rubin uses rock climbing as an extended metaphor for learning how to conduct qualitative research.  A bit slanted toward ethnographic and archival methods of data collection, with frequent examples from her own studies in criminology. Beginning .

Weis, Lois, and Michelle Fine. 2000. Speed Bumps: A Student-Friendly Guide to Qualitative Research . New York: Teachers College Press.  Readable and accessibly written in a quasi-conversational style.  Particularly strong in its discussion of ethical issues throughout the qualitative research process.  Not comprehensive, however, and very much tied to ethnographic research.  Although designed for graduate students, this is a recommended read for students of all levels.  Beginning .

Patton’s Ten Suggestions for Doing Qualitative Research

The following ten suggestions were made by Michael Quinn Patton in his massive textbooks Qualitative Research and Evaluations Methods . This book is highly recommended for those of you who want more than an introduction to qualitative methods. It is the book I relied on heavily when I was a graduate student, although it is much easier to “dip into” when necessary than to read through as a whole. Patton is asked for “just one bit of advice” for a graduate student considering using qualitative research methods for their dissertation.  Here are his top ten responses, in short form, heavily paraphrased, and with additional comments and emphases from me:

• Make sure that a qualitative approach fits the research question. The following are the kinds of questions that call out for qualitative methods or where qualitative methods are particularly appropriate: questions about people’s experiences or how they make sense of those experiences; studying a person in their natural environment; researching a phenomenon so unknown that it would be impossible to study it with standardized instruments or other forms of quantitative data collection.
• Study qualitative research by going to the original sources for the design and analysis appropriate to the particular approach you want to take (e.g., read Glaser and Straus if you are using grounded theory )
• Find a dissertation adviser who understands or at least who will support your use of qualitative research methods. You are asking for trouble if your entire committee is populated by quantitative researchers, even if they are all very knowledgeable about the subject or focus of your study (maybe even more so if they are!)
• Really work on design. Doing qualitative research effectively takes a lot of planning.  Even if things are more flexible than in quantitative research, a good design is absolutely essential when starting out.
• Practice data collection techniques, particularly interviewing and observing. There is definitely a set of learned skills here!  Do not expect your first interview to be perfect.  You will continue to grow as a researcher the more interviews you conduct, and you will probably come to understand yourself a bit more in the process, too.  This is not easy, despite what others who don’t work with qualitative methods may assume (and tell you!)
• Have a plan for analysis before you begin data collection. This is often a requirement in IRB protocols , although you can get away with writing something fairly simple.  And even if you are taking an approach, such as grounded theory, that pushes you to remain fairly open-minded during the data collection process, you still want to know what you will be doing with all the data collected – creating a codebook? Writing analytical memos? Comparing cases?  Having a plan in hand will also help prevent you from collecting too much extraneous data.
• Be prepared to confront controversies both within the qualitative research community and between qualitative research and quantitative research. Don’t be naïve about this – qualitative research, particularly some approaches, will be derided by many more “positivist” researchers and audiences.  For example, is an “n” of 1 really sufficient?  Yes!  But not everyone will agree.
• Do not make the mistake of using qualitative research methods because someone told you it was easier, or because you are intimidated by the math required of statistical analyses. Qualitative research is difficult in its own way (and many would claim much more time-consuming than quantitative research).  Do it because you are convinced it is right for your goals, aims, and research questions.
• Find a good support network. This could be a research mentor, or it could be a group of friends or colleagues who are also using qualitative research, or it could be just someone who will listen to you work through all of the issues you will confront out in the field and during the writing process.  Even though qualitative research often involves human subjects, it can be pretty lonely.  A lot of times you will feel like you are working without a net.  You have to create one for yourself.  Take care of yourself.
• And, finally, in the words of Patton, “Prepare to be changed. Looking deeply at other people’s lives will force you to look deeply at yourself.”
• We will actually spend an entire chapter ( chapter 3 ) looking at this question in much more detail! ↵
• Note that this might have been news to Europeans at the time, but many other societies around the world had also come to this conclusion through observation.  There is often a tendency to equate “the scientific revolution” with the European world in which it took place, but this is somewhat misleading. ↵
• Historians are a special case here.  Historians have scrupulously and rigorously investigated the social world, but not for the purpose of understanding general laws about how things work, which is the point of scientific empirical research.  History is often referred to as an idiographic field of study, meaning that it studies things that happened or are happening in themselves and not for general observations or conclusions. ↵
• Don’t worry, we’ll spend more time later in this book unpacking the meaning of ethnography and other terms that are important here.  Note the available glossary ↵

An approach to research that is “multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter.  This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.  Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials – case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts – that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals’ lives." ( Denzin and Lincoln 2005:2 ). Contrast with quantitative research .

In contrast to methodology, methods are more simply the practices and tools used to collect and analyze data.  Examples of common methods in qualitative research are interviews , observations , and documentary analysis .  One’s methodology should connect to one’s choice of methods, of course, but they are distinguishable terms.  See also methodology .

A proposed explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.  The positing of a hypothesis is often the first step in quantitative research but not in qualitative research.  Even when qualitative researchers offer possible explanations in advance of conducting research, they will tend to not use the word “hypothesis” as it conjures up the kind of positivist research they are not conducting.

The foundational question to be addressed by the research study.  This will form the anchor of the research design, collection, and analysis.  Note that in qualitative research, the research question may, and probably will, alter or develop during the course of the research.

An approach to research that collects and analyzes numerical data for the purpose of finding patterns and averages, making predictions, testing causal relationships, and generalizing results to wider populations.  Contrast with qualitative research .

Data collection that takes place in real-world settings, referred to as “the field;” a key component of much Grounded Theory and ethnographic research.  Patton ( 2002 ) calls fieldwork “the central activity of qualitative inquiry” where “‘going into the field’ means having direct and personal contact with people under study in their own environments – getting close to people and situations being studied to personally understand the realities of minutiae of daily life” (48).

The people who are the subjects of a qualitative study.  In interview-based studies, they may be the respondents to the interviewer; for purposes of IRBs, they are often referred to as the human subjects of the research.

The branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge.  For researchers, it is important to recognize and adopt one of the many distinguishing epistemological perspectives as part of our understanding of what questions research can address or fully answer.  See, e.g., constructivism , subjectivism, and  objectivism .

An approach that refutes the possibility of neutrality in social science research.  All research is “guided by a set of beliefs and feelings about the world and how it should be understood and studied” (Denzin and Lincoln 2005: 13).  In contrast to positivism , interpretivism recognizes the social constructedness of reality, and researchers adopting this approach focus on capturing interpretations and understandings people have about the world rather than “the world” as it is (which is a chimera).

The cluster of data-collection tools and techniques that involve observing interactions between people, the behaviors, and practices of individuals (sometimes in contrast to what they say about how they act and behave), and cultures in context.  Observational methods are the key tools employed by ethnographers and Grounded Theory .

Research based on data collected and analyzed by the research (in contrast to secondary “library” research).

The process of selecting people or other units of analysis to represent a larger population. In quantitative research, this representation is taken quite literally, as statistically representative.  In qualitative research, in contrast, sample selection is often made based on potential to generate insight about a particular topic or phenomenon.

A method of data collection in which the researcher asks the participant questions; the answers to these questions are often recorded and transcribed verbatim. There are many different kinds of interviews - see also semistructured interview , structured interview , and unstructured interview .

The specific group of individuals that you will collect data from.  Contrast population.

The practice of being conscious of and reflective upon one’s own social location and presence when conducting research.  Because qualitative research often requires interaction with live humans, failing to take into account how one’s presence and prior expectations and social location affect the data collected and how analyzed may limit the reliability of the findings.  This remains true even when dealing with historical archives and other content.  Who we are matters when asking questions about how people experience the world because we, too, are a part of that world.

The science and practice of right conduct; in research, it is also the delineation of moral obligations towards research participants, communities to which we belong, and communities in which we conduct our research.

An administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities conducted under the auspices of the institution with which it is affiliated. The IRB is charged with the responsibility of reviewing all research involving human participants. The IRB is concerned with protecting the welfare, rights, and privacy of human subjects. The IRB has the authority to approve, disapprove, monitor, and require modifications in all research activities that fall within its jurisdiction as specified by both the federal regulations and institutional policy.

Research, according to US federal guidelines, that involves “a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research:  (1) Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens; or  (2) Obtains, uses, studies, analyzes, or generates identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens.”

One of the primary methodological traditions of inquiry in qualitative research, ethnography is the study of a group or group culture, largely through observational fieldwork supplemented by interviews. It is a form of fieldwork that may include participant-observation data collection. See chapter 14 for a discussion of deep ethnography. 

A form of interview that follows a standard guide of questions asked, although the order of the questions may change to match the particular needs of each individual interview subject, and probing “follow-up” questions are often added during the course of the interview.  The semi-structured interview is the primary form of interviewing used by qualitative researchers in the social sciences.  It is sometimes referred to as an “in-depth” interview.  See also interview and  interview guide .

A method of observational data collection taking place in a natural setting; a form of fieldwork .  The term encompasses a continuum of relative participation by the researcher (from full participant to “fly-on-the-wall” observer).  This is also sometimes referred to as ethnography , although the latter is characterized by a greater focus on the culture under observation.

A research design that employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, as in the case of a survey supplemented by interviews.

An epistemological perspective that posits the existence of reality through sensory experience similar to empiricism but goes further in denying any non-sensory basis of thought or consciousness.  In the social sciences, the term has roots in the proto-sociologist August Comte, who believed he could discern “laws” of society similar to the laws of natural science (e.g., gravity).  The term has come to mean the kinds of measurable and verifiable science conducted by quantitative researchers and is thus used pejoratively by some qualitative researchers interested in interpretation, consciousness, and human understanding.  Calling someone a “positivist” is often intended as an insult.  See also empiricism and objectivism.

A place or collection containing records, documents, or other materials of historical interest; most universities have an archive of material related to the university’s history, as well as other “special collections” that may be of interest to members of the community.

A method of both data collection and data analysis in which a given content (textual, visual, graphic) is examined systematically and rigorously to identify meanings, themes, patterns and assumptions.  Qualitative content analysis (QCA) is concerned with gathering and interpreting an existing body of material.    

A word or short phrase that symbolically assigns a summative, salient, essence-capturing, and/or evocative attribute for a portion of language-based or visual data (Saldaña 2021:5).

Usually a verbatim written record of an interview or focus group discussion.

The primary form of data for fieldwork , participant observation , and ethnography .  These notes, taken by the researcher either during the course of fieldwork or at day’s end, should include as many details as possible on what was observed and what was said.  They should include clear identifiers of date, time, setting, and names (or identifying characteristics) of participants.

The process of labeling and organizing qualitative data to identify different themes and the relationships between them; a way of simplifying data to allow better management and retrieval of key themes and illustrative passages.  See coding frame and  codebook.

A methodological tradition of inquiry and approach to analyzing qualitative data in which theories emerge from a rigorous and systematic process of induction.  This approach was pioneered by the sociologists Glaser and Strauss (1967).  The elements of theory generated from comparative analysis of data are, first, conceptual categories and their properties and, second, hypotheses or generalized relations among the categories and their properties – “The constant comparing of many groups draws the [researcher’s] attention to their many similarities and differences.  Considering these leads [the researcher] to generate abstract categories and their properties, which, since they emerge from the data, will clearly be important to a theory explaining the kind of behavior under observation.” (36).

A detailed description of any proposed research that involves human subjects for review by IRB.  The protocol serves as the recipe for the conduct of the research activity.  It includes the scientific rationale to justify the conduct of the study, the information necessary to conduct the study, the plan for managing and analyzing the data, and a discussion of the research ethical issues relevant to the research.  Protocols for qualitative research often include interview guides, all documents related to recruitment, informed consent forms, very clear guidelines on the safekeeping of materials collected, and plans for de-identifying transcripts or other data that include personal identifying information.

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods Copyright © 2023 by Allison Hurst is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• Introduction to Problem Statements, Purpose Statements, and Research Questions

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Chapter 1 introduces the research problem and the evidence supporting the existence of the problem. It outlines an initial review of the literature on the study topic and articulates the purpose of the study. The definitions of any technical terms necessary for the reader to understand are essential. Chapter 1 also presents the research questions and theoretical foundation (Ph.D.) or conceptual framework (Applied Doctorate) and provides an overview of the research methods (qualitative or quantitative) being used in the study.  

• Research Feasibility Checklist Use this checklist to make sure your study will be feasible, reasonable, justifiable, and necessary.
• Alignment Worksheet Use this worksheet to make sure your problem statement, purpose, and research questions are aligned. Alignment indicates the degree to which the purpose of the study follows logically from the problem statement; and the degree to which the research questions help address the study’s purpose. Alignment is important because it helps ensure that the research study is well-designed and based on logical arguments.
• SOBE Research Design and Chapter 1 Checklist If you are in the School of Business and Economics (SOBE), use this checklist one week before the Communication and Research Design Checkpoint. Work with your Chair to determine if you need to complete this.

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An Introduction to Qualitative Research

Student resources, chapter 1: why and how to do qualitative research.

Flick, U. (2005). Qualitative research in sociology in Germany and the US – State of the art, differences and developments

This open access article further develops the comparison of research styles in the US and Germany.

Flick, U. (2005). Qualitative research in sociology in Germany and the US – State of the art, differences and developments [47 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschunq/Forum: Qualitative Social Research , 6 (3), Art, 23. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503230

Flick, U. (2015). Qualitative inquiry—2.0 at 20?: Developments, trends, and challenges for the politics of research

In this article, a more recent balance of developments of the state and future of qualitative research is presented, also covering aspects such as the globalization and focusing on the societal relevance of qualitative research.

Flick, U. (2015). Qualitative inquiry—2.0 at 20?: Developments, trends, and challenges for the politics of research. Qualitative Inquiry , 21 (7): 599–608.

Hunt, M. R., Mehta, A., & Chan, L. S. (2009). Learning to think qualitatively: Experiences of graduate students conducting qualitative health research

In this article, the authors unfold their experiences as graduate students using qualitative approaches to conduct research in the field of health.

Hunt, M. R., Mehta, A., & Chan, L. S. (2009). Learning to think qualitatively: Experiences of graduate students conducting qualitative health research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 8 (2), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800204

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12 Power Dynamics between Researcher and Subject

• Published: March 2024
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In qualitative research, the researcher and the relationships they develop with research subjects are an integral part of generating knowledge about the social world. These relationships are imbued with power, influencing the findings of research. This chapter presents a case for “power-conscious” research, which recognizes power as an inevitable facet of social relationships. This approach seeks to understand and observe the microdynamics of power in research relationships and to create reciprocal spaces where both researchers and research subjects can exercise power and negotiate the terms of their involvement. Understanding how power operates in the process of research contributes significantly to the knowledge generated and can work toward cultivation of more just power relations in wider society.

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• Published: 29 April 2024

Pathways and identity: toward qualitative research careers in child and adolescent psychiatry

• Andrés Martin 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Madeline DiGiovanni 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Amber Acquaye 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Matthew Ponticiello 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Débora Tseng Chou 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Emilio Abelama Neto 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Alexandre Michel 2 , 3 , 5 ,
• Jordan Sibeoni 2 , 3 , 5 ,
• Marie-Aude Piot 2 , 3 , 5 ,
• Michel Spodenkiewicz 2 , 3 , 6 &
• Laelia Benoit 1 , 2 , 3  

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health volume  18 , Article number:  49 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

49 Accesses

Metrics details

Qualitative research methods are based on the analysis of words rather than numbers; they encourage self-reflection on the investigator’s part; they are attuned to social interaction and nuance; and they incorporate their subjects’ thoughts and feelings as primary sources. Despite appearing well suited for research in child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP), qualitative methods have had relatively minor uptake in the discipline. We conducted a qualitative study of CAPs involved in qualitative research to learn about these investigators’ lived experiences, and to identify modifiable factors to promote qualitative methods within the field of youth mental health.

We conducted individual, semi-structured 1-h long interviews through Zoom. Using purposive sample, we selected 23 participants drawn from the US (n = 12) and from France (n = 11), and equally divided in each country across seniority level. All participants were current or aspiring CAPs and had published at least one peer-reviewed qualitative article. Ten participants were women (44%). We recorded all interviews digitally and transcribed them for analysis. We coded the transcripts according to the principles of thematic analysis and approached data analysis, interpretation, and conceptualization informed by an interpersonal phenomenological analysis (IPA) framework.

Through iterative thematic analysis we developed a conceptual model consisting of three domains: (1) Becoming a qualitativist: embracing a different way of knowing (in turn divided into the three themes of priming factors/personal fit; discovering qualitative research; and transitioning in); (2) Being a qualitativist: immersing oneself in a different kind of research (in turn divided into quality: doing qualitative research well; and community: mentors, mentees, and teams); and (3) Nurturing : toward a higher quality future in CAP (in turn divided into current state of qualitative methods in CAP; and advocating for qualitative methods in CAP). For each domain, we go on to propose specific strategies to enhance entry into qualitative careers and research in CAP: (1) Becoming: personalizing the investigator’s research focus; balancing inward and outward views; and leveraging practical advantages; (2) Being: seeking epistemological flexibility; moving beyond bibliometrics; and the potential and risks of mixing methods; and (3) Nurturing : invigorating a quality pipeline; and building communities.

Conclusions

We have identified factors that can support or impede entry into qualitative research among CAPs. Based on these modifiable findings, we propose possible solutions to enhance entry into qualitative methods in CAP ( pathways ), and to foster longer-term commitment to this type of research ( identity ).

…we must reckon that numbers can say only so much, and that we need to better listen and better represent the voices of those under our care, especially of those who have been unheard or disenfranchised for far too long. We believe that less quantity and more quality can help us meet those aspirations [ 1 ], p.3.

Qualitative methods of research favor the analysis of words over that of numbers, which are in turn the main focus of quantitative approaches. With its preference for thoughts, ideas, feelings, and other aspects of internal life, qualitative inquiry is particularly well suited for psychiatry [ 2 ]. Moreover, with child and adolescent psychiatry’s (CAP’s) interest in exploring the interactions between groups of individuals and their role as interconnected social actors, qualitative methods are especially well suited for the discipline. The link between CAP as a subject matter and qualitative methods as a favored research approach would appear to be a natural one.

If only it were. Qualitative studies in CAP are in fact scant. For example, a search for the terms “qualitative” AND “child OR adolescent” AND “psychiatry” using Google Scholar (date of access: December 1, 2023) returned 2,588 entries, in contrast to a comparable search yielding 75,196 entries when substituting the first term with “quantitative,” representing a 29-fold difference favoring quantitative over qualitative publications. Stratifying the same analysis across decades reveals a more telling pattern: the fraction of qualitative studies from among all those published in CAP during the decade ending in 2013 was 2% (359/18,154); by the following decade, the proportion had doubled, to 4% (2,229/54,454). The number of qualitative studies increased sixfold from one decade to the next, compared to a threefold change for quantitative studies. In short, these trends reflect how even if the absolute number of qualitative studies in CAP has remained low, there has been a proportional increment in their publication, reflecting growing interest in qualitative methods in CAP research.

Glancing at the table of contents of scholarly outlets suggests yet another story. Specifically, it is not uncommon for leading CAP journals to publish no qualitative studies for years on end—when at all. Qualitative science often finds its way into different periodicals, some without any mental health focus. The point here is how spliced qualitative science remains from the more “mainstream” science and publications of CAP, which remain almost exclusively focused on quantitative methods [ 3 ]. Conferring a “second class science” status to qualitative methods [ 4 ] has implications not just for scholarship, but for patient care, including to “contribute voice to advance equity in health [ 5 ].” CAP has been slow in the uptake of qualitative methods seen in other specialties (including oncology, primary care, and medical education), in which there has been a movement toward a more collaborative person-centered approach, one with more consideration for the lived experience of patients and their caregivers [ 6 ].

Partly at the root of this tension is what has been termed epistemological unconsciousness or positivist orthodoxy [ 7 ], a worldview prevalent in medicine and the sciences that has a built-in preference for objectivist (i.e., quantitative) rather than constructivist (i.e., qualitative) views. The rise of the evidence-based movement, which continues to prioritize quantitative research, has introduced further challenges to the qualitative community [ 8 ]. Moreover, the relative scarcity of qualitative studies in CAP may not be entirely coincidental. Falissard et al. [ 1 ] have posited three likely contributors. First, a focus on children, the research agenda of whom is commonly overtaken by that of adults. Despite higher returns on earlier life stage investments, decisions on funding allocations—from education to healthcare to research—rarely prioritize children. Considered through the lens of childism [ 9 ], the systematic societal prejudice against children, CAP research priorities are commonly overshadowed by those of general psychiatry and medicine more broadly, much as qualitative methods can become lost under a quantitative hegemon.

Second, the focus of CAP on mental health has become almost interchangeable with a focus on brain disease and the particular tools for its “proper” study: genetics, brain imaging, clinical trials, and other “objective” instruments. Despite the advances in these areas, laboratory tools cannot access important aspects of mental health function, such as mind and relationships. The “decade of the brain” has left limited room for the mind, and in so doing, contributed to reifying the “brainlessness and mindlessness” that Leon Eisenberg warned against in the late 1980s [ 10 ]. A disillusionment with biomedicine and its tools has introduced an epistemological malaise into medicine, which those working under a qualitative framework are striving to address.

Finally, qualitative research’s connection to psychoanalysis may have proved a burden to its application in psychiatry, particularly CAP. With its interest in words, thoughts, feelings, and deep reflection, psychoanalysis would appear a natural precursor to qualitative methods. Psychoanalytic literature can have an uncanny resemblance to qualitative papers, such as biographical or narrative studies. Despite the similarities and shared roots in sociology, anthropology, and literature, qualitative methods in mental health research have suffered under the shortcomings of analysis, including its insularity and exclusive focus on the individual. In the end, two disciplines rooted in interpretivism drifted apart; the methodological shortcomings [ 11 ] and stigma of psychoanalysis cast a shadow on the promise of the fledgling qualitative field.

Provocative as these hypotheses are, they are speculative and not based on actual data. To our knowledge, there are no studies that have empirically investigated the reasons propelling or impeding research careers in qualitative methods, and certainly none in the field of CAP. Faced with this gap in the literature, and through what may be considered a "meta" approach, we used qualitative methods to interview CAPs actively involved in different stages of qualitative research . The overall goal of our effort was to identify factors, particularly modifiable ones, that could enhance the number and methodological rigor of this type of research in CAP, and to help enrich the pipeline of future investigators dedicated to the intersection of the two disciplines: in short, to help grow quality CAP research and those dedicated to it.

Participants and individual interviews

We conducted individual, semi-structured interviews organized around a guide consisting of 23 sensitizing questions (Additional file 1 : Appendix S1). Each of the interviews was 1 h long and conducted thorough videoconferencing using Zoom (San Jose, CA). Semi-structured interviewing is a flexible, commonly used method in qualitative research in healthcare that uses a prepared list of questions to guide researchers and participants to “co-create meaning” through an exploration of thoughts, feelings, and opinions, especially those around potentially sensitive or personal topics [ 12 , 13 ]. Interviewees were not necessarily asked all of the sensitizing questions. Using convenience and purposive sampling [ 14 ], we selected 23 participants drawn from the US (n = 12) and from France (n = 11), and equally divided in each country across seniority level. All participants had published at least one peer-reviewed qualitative article, and were classified as junior if having 5 or fewer years of post-doctoral experience; those with 6 or more years were considered senior. Ten participants were women (44%).

Data collection, qualitative analysis, theoretical framework, and reflexivity

We recorded all interviews digitally and transcribed them for analysis using Deepgram (deepgram.com, San Francisco, CA). We uploaded the collection of transcripts into software for qualitative analysis (NVivo version 12; QSR International, Melbourne, Australia). We coded the transcripts according to the principles of thematic analysis, a qualitative approach involving the active construction of overarching patterns and meaning across a dataset [ 15 , 16 ]. Thematic analysis allows the flexible and atheoretical exploration of rich text data to construct themes that “reframe, reinterpret, and/or connect elements of the data” without developing a final theory. We approached analysis, interpretation, and conceptualization informed by interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), an approach based in psychology that attends to participants’ inner realities [ 17 , 18 ]. We adopted an inductive approach, with our research questions evolving beyond the initial sensitizing questions.

Three authors coded independently throughout the study span in an iterative manner, with coding and interviewing interdigitated to allow for the inductive approach to inform subsequent interviews. They then combined and triangulated codes, and established the final codebook to eliminate redundancies, clarify domains, themes, and subthemes. In this way we ensured theoretical sufficiency [ 19 ]. Each final code was supported by quotes from more than one participant.

All authors were interviewed and took part as study participants; five authors served as interviewers, and four as data coders. We were attentive to positionality, with no instance of a hierarchical or working relationship between interviewers and interviewees. The closeness between all authors/study participants, the fact that as CAPs they were looking into their own guild and in some way into themselves, and the subject matter of the study itself, all required careful attention to everyone’s reflexivity [ 20 ] during the discussion and write-up process. The dual role as researchers and participants provided broader insights, as the resonance between the views of non-researcher-participants and those of researcher-participants improved the triangulation and comprehension of the gained insights [ 21 ]. This view is aligned with the “patient-as-partner” approach to health care, education and research, in which participants are not limited to just providing feedback on results. Instead, they are included as participants from the very beginning of the conceptualization of the project and until its end, e.g., the in-depth review of its ensuing manuscript [ 22 ]. Through involvement not only as investigators but as beneficiaries, stakeholders, and participants, our group effort exemplified the principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR) [ 23 , 24 ].

Ethics approval

We obtained ethics approval from the Yale Human Investigation Committee (Protocol # 2000035118), which considered the study exempt under 45CFR46.104 (2) (ii). We informed participants about the goals and methods of the study and provided a copy of the consent form. The form noted that participation was entirely voluntary and optional; it described in detail the study procedures and potential risks, including discomfort during the interview and a small risk of loss of confidentiality, minimized by encryption consistent with institutional policies. We recorded each participant’s consent before starting their interview. In writing our findings, we adhered to best practices in qualitative research, as articulated in the COREQ guidelines [ 25 ].

Through iterative thematic analysis we developed a conceptual model, depicted in Fig.  1 , consisting of three domains: (1) Becoming a qualitativist: embracing a different way of knowing; (2) Being a qualitativist: immersing oneself in a different kind of research; and (3) Nurturing: toward a higher quality future in CAP. We go on to describe each domain in the three subsections and corresponding tables that follow. We organized the tables following a similar rubric: (a) definition of each domain; (b) division into underlying themes and subthemes; and (c) support of constructs through representative quotations.

Concept map: domains and themes toward qualitative research careers in child and adolescent psychiatry

Becoming  a qualitativist: embracing a different way of knowing

Priming factors, personal fit.

We identified four commonalities in personal and professional characteristics among most study participants. Specifically, shared traits included ways of approaching scientific inquiry and knowledge creation, as well as struggle and unease with prevailing medical models of research (Table 1 ).

Comfort with uncertainty

Whether stating it explicitly or not, virtually all participants demonstrated an ability or interest to navigate gray zones of uncertainty. They embraced a “less rigid form of creativity,” one in which their mental pliability and freedom to be playful in solving problems were valued skills:

I found that qualitative research both fosters and demands a certain level of intellectual flexibility, like mental gymnastics, which quantitative research is not as conducive to. (French female, FF)

Participants reported feeling more at ease with relative, rather than purportedly absolute truths. They valued scientists who pursued “indeterminate spaces,” seen as role models who favored salient questions over predetermined methods: “those who go to where the science needs to go.” Participants did not decry qualitative methods and their underlying philosophy (positivism), so much as thrive under the opportunities afforded by a complementary approach (qualitative) and philosophy (constructivism).

Our societies are not only modern societies. They are also postmodern societies. And with postmodernity you are allowed to consider that universalism does not exist. Singularity exists. Identities exist. (French male, FM)

Whether established or fledgling, this group of qualitativists welcomed opportunities to change their minds and reevaluate intellectual preconceptions. They sought ways to complement their uncertain understanding of reality by entering the “narrative truths” of their subjects.

Interest in narrative and subjectivity

With qualitative methods being as reliant on words as they are, it is only natural that the approach exerts a strong pull on physicians and scientists who are drawn to the humanities, literature in particular. A plurality of participants described qualitative methods using terms not common in the sciences: “applied literature,” “humanities-adjacent,” “bridging medicine and science with humanities and art.” One participant described the qualitative interview and subsequent analysis as “capturing, curating, and sharing life stories; as if reading, rather than writing, life experiences needing to be shared.” (American male, AM).

Some participants experienced traditional medical research as too confining and prescriptive of what it valued as “real (i.e., objective.)” They felt limited by an approach that was too simplistic, linear, basic, and formulaic for their sensibilities. By contrast, in qualitative methods, they found a venue to explore political and social determinants of health more adequately, to think about philosophical principles and their applications. Participants considered their own views, however biased they may be, as also relevant and informative, partly because as full participants in the research endeavor, they saw the interdependence between the perceiver and the perceived, the revealing exchange between themselves and their subjects, for

as Merleau-Ponty puts it, in “The Flesh of the Real”: I discovered the world from the fact that I myself am in it. (FM).

From early on in their experience, several participants described a natural inclination to “think about thinking” and an appreciation for the relativity of psychological truths. For them, the qualitative approach was more than a methodology; it proved a veritable way of approaching and making sense of the world, of moving between “reality” and overarching philosophical conceptualizations:

What I liked about qualitative research was that it was a way to think about philosophical ideas from an imaginative and interpretive angle–but always based on real-life data. (American female, AF)

For a minority of participants, the road to qualitative methods could be considered escapist: less a pull towards it than a push away from quantitative approaches. For some of them, a dislike of lab work, a sense of overly delayed gratification, or a feeling of abstraction to the point of irrelevance were considerable motivators away from quantitative methods. In one or two instances, the avoidance of “real, i.e., quantitative” research fortuitously led them to qualitative research, which they perceived as “more human, more nuanced, more forgiving, and more welcoming and indeed encouraging of subjective experiences.” (FF).

Experiences with deconstruction and reconstruction

Qualitative methods are inherently deconstructive: by exploring the connections and assumptions between text and meaning, particularly by attending to the inner workings of language. Transcripts—fragments of a life transcribed—are the most common building block for the deconstruction performed by qualitative studies. More precisely, qualitative research is an intellectual endeavor of construction and deconstruction:

It’s like Penelope waiting for Ulysses: weave, reweave, unweave...it doesn’t matter that it’s iterative or that there are changes as you go along. In fact, that’s precisely where the action is. (FM)

Among over half of participants, it was not just texts that were being deconstructed: They thought of their own formative experiences source material for deconstruction. This was particularly the case for those participants who experienced themselves as “outsiders,” whether through immigration, language or culture, social disconnection, or distance from the house of medicine, “as if fighting for the legitimacy of our field.” (AM) These members saw a link between their personal experiences reconciling dualities with their academic draw to qualitative methods, to sense-making work. Qualitative deconstruction and reconstruction proved a way of putting to use their experiences navigating more than one world at once, of unlocking realities taken for granted by others. The joys of qualitative research were at times described as a paradigm shift that allowed for the “unlocking” of new and singular realities:

Quantitative methods by their very nature simplify data; every time you take an analytic step in order to find commonalities, you lose something about the subjects as individuals. In qualitative, by contrast, you highlight their uniqueness, you bring them into sharper relief. (AF)

Struggles with identity as a medical researcher

Throughout professional development, many participants had struggled to reconcile their medical or clinical selves with their research interests. After negative experiences or feeling disconnected from projects, several had gone on to avoid or become uninterested in traditional medical research. When first exposed to qualitative methods, several participants were surprised: of their existence, their relevance, and their role within medicine, where “I didn’t know that I, as an MD, was allowed in; it was something for social scientists, not for me.” (FF).

Research had meant statistics. During this time, no one ever told me there was an alternative approach. I was already reading sociology, philosophy, social science, but more as something that I was interested in than as something you could use in medical research. This is how they would do research in the humanities, good for them, but this was not research for physicians. (FF)

Quantitative methods were described by some as distant, manipulated, or divorced from real meaning; as dry and reductionistic. Perhaps more than anything, participants sensed a tension between patient-proximal vs patient-distal approaches, admiring the ability of qualitative methods to access and reveal people’s lives through the specific details and richness of shared stories. Early experiences often took novice researchers aback, with “the granularity of the qualitative stories being so intense that you cannot but pay attention.” (AM) One participant described relief on learning there was a place for their preferred aspects of research, as “qualitative is like a place where valuable and meaningful things end, things that otherwise would not have gone anywhere else.” Placing similar sentiments into a broader context of medicine within society, another participant described hope in a renewed sense of patient-centered care, one in keeping with qualitative approaches:

As we find that medicine gets more impersonal, cold, and distant, and that the doctor doesn’t know their patient, maybe that's part of the re-invigoration of qualitative approaches: To say that as physicians we care, we really care about story. About your story. (AF)

It is worth noting that over half of participants had conducted and published mixed-methods research, yet only one or two mentioned the approach during their interviews, perhaps reflecting an internalized dichotomy of two methods often seen at odds with each other. And yet, this quote captured a sentiment that would likely be endorsed by most subjects:

I think that there is a role for both. There’s a role for numerical research and I still do some of it and, you know, it's great but it’s different. And I have a very small list of mixed methods papers, and I would like over time to have more of those, because I think that when you bring the two approaches together, the science is particularly rich. (FM)

Discovering qualitative research

Participants’ first acquaintance with qualitative methods was often indirect, unexpected, or serendipitous: an encounter by virtue of relevant non-medical experiences. Several participants found themselves in qualitative territory only once immersed in a field they hadn’t realized they had fully entered. Once into qualitative methodology, several described experiences of rejuvenation, recalibration, or veritable professional reinvention.

Learning through other, non-medical fields

Most study participants reported having very limited exposure to qualitative methods or research during medical school. As such, their entry into the field was only rarely influenced by having been exposed to seminal qualitative papers or influential talks. Instead, common pathways in were through personal experiences in psychotherapy, or by a rekindling of early experiences with disciplines “outside” of medicine: anthropology, sociology, literature, or occasionally through “medicine-humanities” hybrid disciplines like medical education, history of medicine, or global health.

Interest in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, both in theory as in personal experience, led some participants to question whether there was a potentially important crosstalk between the disciplines:

I started talking to my supervisor about philosophy of science, anthropology, and the problems I saw with psychoanalysis. I wondered if there was something good in psychoanalysis that we could salvage? That’s what we were talking about, and that’s what first led to my interest in qualitative. (FM)

Classic papers in the psychoanalytic literature, with their thick descriptions, held an immediate appeal, activating an entreaty to reinvigorate contemporary approaches to medical research and writing that appeared currently dry and untextured:

We've jettisoned our whole case report culture in medicine, and maybe our qualitative research now supplants or overlaps that empty space to an extent. (AM)

A common sentiment among many was that the biopsychosocial model of medicine had given short shrift to the social component, “the last of the three, and not by coincidence.” That unintentional omission compounded the mothballing of social science skills that participants feared during their socialization as physicians. As a result, social content and skills became relegated to atrophy and disuse. By contrast, what often first opened the doors to qualitative methods was approaching social- and language-based questions in medicine, particularly in the context of knowledgeable and supportive mentors:

He told me “You are really asking yourself sociological questions; this is really good, because you think like sociologists do.” I was not shamed nor made to feel a dilettante; I was encouraged to keep trying, and I did. (FF)

Stumbling in, not knowing what it was

For some, a serendipitous path into qualitative methods occurred through a chance encounter with a mentor or research team, or through peers who identified interests and skills well suited to the methodological approach. A few others, focused and self-driven, found the path intentionally. For yet others, qualitative was more of an incidental find than an active search. “Someone names it for you. Meeting an informant or guide (a friend, a colleague), who unexpectedly tells you about qualitative research—and that you may already be in the midst of it. Unsuspecting you”:

It's almost like in Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme , in which Monsieur Jourdain speaks in prose without knowing it’s prose. This is a little bit of what I experienced: “You’re already doing it, but don’t know that you’re doing it.” (FM)

Drawn in, reinvigorated

No matter how one first enters the qualitative field, novices soon find a qualitativist peer—someone with similar ways of thinking about clinical phenomena and research. It is a discovery of a team, as much as of a method; of a social as much as of a scientific direction. People get enmeshed through the encouragement and referrals of others, and qualitative methods are social in a unique way: the research cannot be done in isolation, as.

Two people cannot triangulate, certainly not one person: you need three. That summarizes for me the inherent team-based nature of qualitative work. Being invited into a team got me started. I have not looked back since. (AF)

About half of the senior participants described arriving late in their professional careers to qualitative methods. For all of them, the new approach, the new colleagues, the new of seeing their work, was described in terms such as “reinvigoration,” “recalibration,” “renovation,” “reinvention,” or “getting me out of a career hole.” A few without prior qualitative background described the turning point as “nothing short of a mid-career renaissance.” Two participants used the word “love” in describing the experience:

I don’t regret anything. It would have been very nice to discover this back in medical school, but I eventually discovered it and it’s fine. I’ve had a very interesting, fun career, and in some ways I’m glad that I'm finding it late on because now I have like this brand new love affair with medicine. (AM)

Transitioning in

A common sentiment on entering the field was around stigma, the notion that qualitative research was somehow “less than,” that it could perhaps even hurt career prospects. This internalized bias could manifest as fear of irrelevance, of engaging in lower-quality research perhaps not worth doing, of being relegated to lower-impact journals. Some described worries about their efforts being irrelevant or self-indulgent. For those who found a home in qualitative work, its meaningfulness outweighed those considerations, even if deemed “risky” to their training or career prospects:

It's awful to say this, but there’s a certain utilitarianism, certain things that you need to do to progress in the academic ladder. Traditional approaches were okay only for a while, before I saw that those questions were not important enough to keep me going. (FM)

On finding a group of peers invested in qualitative methods, the challenge moved away from devaluation into misrepresentation: how to make others understand the role and the value of as different a way of approaching medical research. How to defend the approach confidently to others, to uphold its legitimacy, and to explain its basic tenets. One participant put it in gendered terms:

“There seems to be a gendered aspect to the type of research: qualitative research (soft/feminine) not considered as legitimate as quantitative (hard/male). It is a jaundiced view, of course, but may explain a skew to women participating in qualitative, as if there was some kind of feminization of empathy.” (AM)

A gradual settling in followed for most, through the external validation from mentors, peers, and role models, and after presenting and publishing their work. These externalities led to internal acceptance, to letting go of what had been expected as necessary to conduct “real” research (one participant stated how they had been socialized to believe how “if you don’t suffer, it’s not real research”). (FF) The more comfortable in their new qualitative selves, the more insecurities were dropped, and the focus shifted to meaning rather than external standards.

The tension between qualitative and quantitative approaches was certainly not a Manichean one. Several participants spoke of the power of mixing the two approaches; of how questions could be enhanced by combining the approaches into mixed methods designs. For some, the advantages proved not only scientific, but fiscal as well: Funding agencies looked favorably upon (when not outright expecting) a qualitative component to otherwise traditional grants. But in the final analysis, personal meaning was of utmost importance:

I'm just trying to do something that’s important and meaningful to me. I'm not going to commit to a research career that is merely strategic: “If I do x, then I'll get funding y; rinse and repeat...” I would be betraying myself. For the past ten years, I’ve become consistent with my inner compass. Qualitative research has been central to that. (AF)

Being a qualititavist: immersing oneself into a different kind of research

Quality: doing qualitative research well.

Once into the fold of qualitative methodologies and research, participants reflected on two broad areas of importance: 1) Selecting particular methodologies most suitable to their background, personality, and specific research questions; and 2) Finding and fostering a community of peers committed to qualitative work (Table 2 ).

Selecting the right methodology

In settling on the right types of methodologies for their work, participants described three general stages they had experienced or seen in others.

The first was common at the outset: learning by doing rather than through explicit teaching; practice over theory, as through an emphasis on coding. “Learning by doing” is what pulled in many novices at the outset, the ability to start coding and analyzing from the get-go, without lengthy prerequisites necessary. In this early phase of exhilarated discovery, software and small samples could make the work appear deceptively simple. The use of software could result in a pause in critical thinking, a sense that “coding is like coloring by numbers,” of simply sorting and filing away. However initially attractive, this phase represented a shortcut that participants had to unlearn with experience as their coding became more nuanced. Small samples were also appealing, both in the efficiency of data collection and in their make-up: children, families, patients, human lives in their full richness. Although these subjects were often the very reason that made qualitative methods of interest in the first place, the richness of qualitative samples could lead to getting lost in details and hyper-specificities, especially when considering the large amount of data created during qualitative analysis.

A qualitative study could theoretically require one person’s story, because one person is an entire universe within themselves. One person being enough: so much richness in the singular. (AM)

A second stage indicated growing knowledge about and ease with specific methods. For some, it required “unlearning traditional quantitative approaches,” although most participants recognized that their original skills, including around scientific rigor, collaboration, and experience with scholarly writing, transferred and generalized. Turning from quantitative to qualitative (and particularly mixed) methods was described more as supplementing and enriching research skills than as supplanting an original skillset with a newer one. Learning to do qualitative research well and gaining comfort with its specific methods reinforced interest and eased joining a new community and way of thinking. The transition had its challenges, as when navigating the degree of structure vs freedom in research, and of dealing with “hard” vs “soft” findings.

It's nice that there aren’t specific statistical tests that you have to apply based on a given dataset. No correct answers. Instead, there are many correct ways. It’s nice to have that freedom. Freeing, but also terrifying. (AF)

In selecting the methodologies of their choice, some participants identified a cautionary tale in the “overdoing” they had seen in other colleagues, even in themselves. In such instances, methodological fetishization could prevail over pragmatism and derail original goals. An over-emphasis on the right methodology could result in a tree-for-forest problem, a focus away from a project’s central question.

If I could use my magic wand, I would make a qualitative world where there are fewer “methodological churches,” but rather different ways to work, a respect for how we work with the same finality of helping kids. And in that world, every clinician would be a little bit of a researcher, and every researcher would be a little bit of a clinician, or at least know what the other one does, and take interest. We must fix this if we want to consolidate the field. (FM)

Reflexivity and triangulation

Reflexivity can be conceptualized as the awareness and incorporation of the role of oneself in a research project. It is a central feature of qualitative research, and one that distinguishes it from the “selfless” and “ego-neutral” tenets of its quantitative counterpart. Through reflexivity, personal thoughts, feelings, past history, even prejudices become a filter through which to see and conceptualize research findings; in quantitative methods, these same elements would be dismissed as bias. As a result, qualitativists engage in interpretative, reflective work as a matter of course. The ensuing challenges include being able to balance the “dose of oneself,” of being deeply reflective and attuned to one’s role in the project, while remaining able to go against personal prejudices and beliefs, of remaining humble by “being able to think against yourself.” Psychiatrists and mental health professionals may be particularly attuned to this approach: On the one hand, with few procedures or objective laboratory findings to rely on, we often practice with little more than ourselves as the tool of diagnosis and healing; on the other, our work is largely one of reflection, of thinking about others, about understanding another’s subjectivity through our own, of doing so while not centering the experience on ourselves.

The qualitative approach makes it possible to think about both the object perceived and the object that perceives it and tries to explain the structures of perception and how they can influence the result of this perception. In other words, an approach that aims to make subjectivity explicit, to make explicit the consciousness that perceives and assumes it, and to put it to work. (FF)

A cautionary note regarding over-thinking in qualitative work is warranted: Participants warned that the potential to over-interpret and pathologize can be a barrier. Psychoanalytic thinking in particular can be as helpful as it can lead astray. Reading too much theory or searching for the perfect theoretical framework can prevent the researcher from listening to the participants’ experience. Psychologizing can be a challenge for early qualitativists, “a shortcut blunting their own formulations and creativity.”

I used to “psychologize” much more. And progressively, I found a way not to fall into this psychologization or sociologization trap and remain at an experiential level and at a phenomenological descriptive level. But I think it wasn’t easy, and it’s very tempting at the beginning to also put your clinical intuition, and defense mechanisms and all of this, and it's only with time that you can clean that and really respect the qualitative methodology as it should be. (FM)

For many participants, triangulation offers the remedy for potential solipsistic thinking. Triangulation is a principal tenet of qualitative rigor, requiring confirmation between at least three sources (e.g., coders, texts, timepoints) before accepting a proposed finding. By comparing codes in an iterative fashion, and by casting light on the interview, coding, analysis, and writing stages, investigators can retain the transparency of their findings. They can also hold personal views and biases in check. Similar to clinical work, the subjective “truth” is approached only by crossing diverse subjective experiences. Qualitative work cannot be done in a social vacuum: Qualitative work is necessarily teamwork.

We already have a dimension of mutual surveillance. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but in a good way, i.e., we watch each other’s work. And that’s why I think this research is so enriching. (AF)

Community: mentors, mentees, and teams

Mentorship, supervision, and guidance were among the most fulfilling aspects of entering qualitative research—and among the most frustrating. In terms of frustration, some experienced abandonment early on, as when mentors encouraged participants to write a manuscript but then failed to follow through in email exchanges, or when participants were blindly congratulated for great teamwork despite feeling lost in a project. Some mentors had felt let down or used by students who upon graduation vanished and abandoned a paper without publishing it. In the list of discontents, there was a common theme agreed on by all: the shortage of highly skilled and knowledgeable mentors with a proven track record. Development could be stunted by the lack of senior experts available. Navigating qualitative methods without mentors could be unfulfilling, unsatisfying, even lead to premature departure from the field. For mid-career qualitativists, a lack of senior mentors had forced some to “grow up” ahead of schedule, placing them in a vulnerable position as they tried to keep developing while also breaking down barriers, leading, and carrying others on their proverbial backs. They may not have been strong enough at that stage of their careers to carry themselves and others at once.

The problem with qualitative research is that you're not always properly supervised. I think it’s sufficiently new in psychiatric research that people with little experience are put in as trainers. When I was a young researcher, I was asked to be the advisor of a resident doing qualitative research, even though I wasn’t really ready. (FF)

Notwithstanding the small number of qualitative mentors available, particularly in CAP, virtually all participants had found at least once such mentor during their professional development. Meetings had been either fortuitous (as when preassigned to someone) or by active choice, often after meeting with several candidates. Those choices were based on relational fit (or in the evocative French term, by “la resonance,” or “echo”). The “echolocation” could work as well for individuals as for groups. Indeed, group-wide mentorship, typically comprising members of different backgrounds and levels of seniority, was highly valued and sought after. People are drawn to another’s work and actively create community with them; they enjoy and benefit from diversity among reviewers and their perspectives:

We've got people doing phenomenology, grounded theory, sociology…The idea is precisely to show that everyone can work together and get around the table to move a question forward, whatever the method of the paper. Which is different, I think, from the old ways of doing research, when it was really about either being with us or against us. (FF)

Nurturing: toward a higher quality future in child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP)

Current state of qualitative methods in cap.

Participants envisioned a larger role for qualitative methods in the future of CAP, and for the contribution they could make in getting the fields to more frequently and more seamlessly come together (Table 3 ).

Advantages and opportunities

By virtue of being so inherently part of the research—through their reflexivity, subjectivity, interpretation, or contextualization—many participants conveyed a sense of ease within the qualitative realm. From an epistemological perspective, they considered the possible research questions and the specific qualitative methods as getting closer to the truth; and if not to the elusive truth, at least to meaningful moments of discovery that said something new or described new phenomena.

You get to bring yourself as the investigator, you get to bring your true self. You don’t have to hide behind anything. You bring whatever, you know, blips, limitations, liabilities, blind spots, and whatever. It’s all good. (AM) It helped me find an “ecological niche,” a term that I've taken from this work. A niche where I feel I want to be, where I feel like I fit and belong. And my existing skills, interests, and strengths naturally fit with it as well. (AF)

For some, qualitative methods permitted a view at the cracks in traditional, accepted forms of research. But rather than offering just a perch to see those limitations, it allowed entry through different ways: a range of variety, novelty, and puzzles not typically a part of medicine, and a framework through which to synthesize a range of different inputs and interests. The work led to more “existential relevance,” more resonance with personal values, to a wider lens into the world. Indeed, work with marginalized and historically excluded voices seemed especially well suited for qualitative methods, giving “the appropriate tools for this work of community epistemological justice,” all the more during this “DEI moment.”

Qualitative methods held an appeal for investigators with a more social and interpersonal approach, when interviewing different actors such as children, parents, teachers, and social workers in the case of CAP. The approach also proved a good fit for international work and collaborations, insofar as much of the work (whether international or not) had migrated to videoconferencing platforms. The low costs and high quality to interview and transcribe leveled the research playing field, making qualitative studies affordable at a distance and in resource-constrained settings. Aside from its social dimension, qualitative methods proved consistent with clinical interview skills and the refinement of reflective and empathic skills:

I sometimes try to do my clinical interviews as if they were qualitative interviews. I have learned so many things that are different from the usual stuff, from the diagnostic criteria and what not. And so, qualitative methods sanitized me to the fact that we’re far from done and have so many more things to know. (AF)

Participants also valued qualitative skills in answering the entreaty to be more spontaneous in our clinical actions:

Something that sticks out to me about child and adolescent psychiatry and about qualitative research is just how playful both of them are.

Disadvantages and limitations

Several participants described having been made to feel like second-class researchers, yet unsure how much their counterparts understood qualitative methods and their role within medicine. This sentiment was especially biting for psychiatrists, who had invariably been made to feel like “stepchildren” of medicine with a yearning to be welcome as full-fledged, legitimate doctors. One participant described the “dual stigma” compounding their identities as a CAP and as a qualitativist. Both stigmas, it needs to be said, are internalized forms of bias, the internalization of other individuals’ and communities’ negative perceptions.

A very different and very concrete disadvantage had to with funding. The ability to fund a long-term career in qualitative methods was challenging. Even if the costs are generally low, funding one’s time can be challenging, particularly through traditional federal sources. Participants shared experiences with funding through private foundations, but were generally frustrated in their attempts at larger grants. Some felt the need to include a qualitative component in proposals “as a hook to get reviewers’ attention, or to reassure them that we know how to conduct research.” Alternatively, others described a sense of “tokenization” when asked to include a (small) qualitative component as part of a larger grant.

Advocating for qualitative methods in CAP

Several of the characteristics of qualitative research make it particularly well fitting for early career researchers, regardless of specialty: Small samples and low budgets are usually sufficient, and projects can be completed in a relatively short period of time. In the case of child psychiatry, additional advantages include the interest in subjectivity and on family and social dynamics. In all instances, qualitative work resonates with clinical work in a patient-centered way that is less abstract than quantitativist research. In brief, it deepens the clinical work, and at its best can be a form of citizen science that involves patients and families in the design and interpretation of the studies, for

All qualitative research in some ways is participatory action research. Both of us are being researched as we speak. You are part of the exchange. We will honor your words as we present them, before we send the paper for publication, we will want to send it to you to make sure that we got things right, or not. That's part of the beauty of qualitative work. (AM)

Given its many advantages and the richness of its findings, a common sentiment was still having to justify qualitative methods to others as “real” science, of addressing its existence in medicine (rather than in the humanities). As member of a methodological minority, one participant stated how.

This is what they call a “minority burden.” Always explaining, justifying, “why, how?” Having to tell your story many more times than others do. (AF)

On select occasions, some were able to pivot from justifying to teaching: from having their peers ostracize the method to becoming intrigued by it. Some participants went on to implement introductory or advanced courses in qualitative methods, exposing peers to the new epistemology earlier in their professional trajectory. Regardless of its initial specialty focus, the growth of qualitative methods in a medical center or university stands to benefit all disciplines: through incorporation into curricula, research opportunities, availability of mentors, or exposure to different methodologies. In the final analysis, it may well be that.

The job of the quantitative paper is to restore meaning...but meaning runs through all qualitative research because it's based on real encounters and on clinical questions that matter. (AM)

Based on the qualitative analysis of individual interviews of CAP clinician-investigators at different stages of professional development and hailing from two different countries, we have identified pathways facilitating or impeding their interest in qualitative research. We organized our overall framework along a temporal sequence, from priming and discovery to transitioning into the field ( Becoming ); through doing, connecting, and belonging ( Being ); and into innovating, refining, mentoring others, and advocating for the discipline ( Nurturing ). We arrange the section that follows along the same three temporal domains, and complemented by the perspectives of the individual investigator (internal factors), the qualitative discipline and the scientific environment (external), and the future development of qualitative research in CAP. Along the way, we emphasize those modifiable factors that may strengthen a quality pipeline: one with more dedicated researchers and greater quality of research.

Becoming a qualitativist: the investigator

We view the transformation of a prospective scientist into a qualitative researcher as subsumed under three categories: grounding, de/centering, and practicalities.

By grounding we refer to the personalizing of the investigator’s research focus in such a way that does not jettison prior strengths and interests. To the contrary, investigators, either fledgling or seasoned, can incorporate those priors in a meaningful way. Specifically, previous interest or knowledge in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) provides a template for comfort with uncertainty, concrete tools for textual analysis and deconstruction, and an example for learning from other fields of inquiry.

An emerging literature in medical education, as well as changing practices in medical school admissions committees, suggest the benefits of HSS to medical practice beyond qualitative research. Medical students with HSS premedical education perform on par with peers on more traditional tracks [ 26 ]. The Humanities and Medicine Program (HuMed) at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine replicated the finding and found an additional trend toward residency careers in psychiatry and primary care [ 27 ]. As an added benefit, humanistic factors taken into account for admission into medical school have been found to promote the selection of physicians with stronger communication skills [ 28 ]. Supporting–and indeed encouraging—the application of students from “nontraditional” (i.e. HSS) backgrounds stands to strengthen the medical workforce [ 29 ]. A shift in the hidden curriculum (i.e., from scientific exclusivity) toward one of “epistemological inclusion” [ 29 ] (i.e. to welcoming HSS) stands to benefit child psychiatry in general, and its qualitative research portfolio in particular.

By de/centering we refer to the balance that every qualitative researcher must have between their outer and inner views. At its best, qualitative research relies on “polyocular sampling,” [ 30 ] in which multiple viewpoints are incorporated. The outward-facing view—decentering—is particularly relevant in CAP research, where the voices of children need to be incorporated together with those of their caretakers and relevant others. The compelling nature of young lives can be a major research draw, and one that needs to be carefully and ethically balanced by the precondition to conduct research “ with, rather than on children.” [ 31 ]. But the inward-facing view—centering—needs to be just as strong. Less experienced investigators may consider this posture self-serving or narcissistic, before coming to realize the centrality of their personal narrative, identity struggles, and overall reflexivity in conducting qualitative work. The degree of inward-facing view can range from minimal hovering (e.g., baseline awareness of relevant conflict), all the way to complete centering on one’s personal experience, as in the case of autoethnography [ 32 ].

In contrast to traditional quantitative studies such as randomized control trials, or in brain imaging, epidemiology, or genetics, the practicalities of conducting qualitative research are generally facilitators rather than impediments, particularly to new investigators: First, data collection can be completed in a relatively short time (weeks or months, not years); second, given the non-interventional nature of most qualitative studies, institutional review approval usually falls under expedited or exempt categories (whether involving minors or not, respectively); third, synchronized videoconferencing makes interviews and data collection simple, even at geographic remove; fourth, costs are low, additionally so since the advent of AI-supported transcription with platforms such as in Deepgram; finally, analytic methods such as thematic analysis (TA) are accessible and require a modest learning curve–as opposed to grounded theory and other more demanding approaches.

Being a qualitativist: the discipline and the scientific environment

Medicine and psychiatry at times do not welcome—and often do not understand—qualitative methods or the role they can play in advancing their respective fields. This seeming misalignment in views and scientific priorities can make for a disorienting entry into the qualitative field. Likewise, the lack of common and visible templates and role models, as well of the high flexibility and uncertainty that are inherent to the field [ 33 ], all need to be reconciled and overcome. Finding academic lodging within groups and institutions that espouse scientific openness is one way to do so: epistemological flexibility —the ability to use the right methodology for a given task, as opposed to embracing preconceived scientific notions—is not only to be sought and embraced, but indeed developed and fostered by maturing investigators and educators.

The principles of narrative medicine (NM) [ 34 ] can provide a useful bridge, particularly at a time of high patient unease and physician discontent: “Clinical practice fortified by narrative competence —the capacity to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by stories of illness” [ 35 ]—can help close the gaps between patients and providers. In the case of psychiatry, it can help close its gap with medicine; to bring mind and body closer in line. Qualitative methods can further and complement the goals of NM through scholarly work and research. Like NM, qualitative methods—beginning with their interviews and focus groups—harness the fact that we are storytelling beings eager to tell our own stories and listen to the ones of those we are interested in learning from—and with. The revitalizing force of storytelling in psychiatry is far from new and has continued to change organically with the technologies of the times, as exemplified by the Multimedia Digital Storytelling in Psychiatry project [ 36 ].

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” The possibly apocryphal line is relevant in the context of qualitative research in medicine and psychiatry, areas in which citation numbers and impact factors are consistently low for qualitative when compared to quantitative science. Despite optimistic prognostications [ 37 ] of greater acceptance and assimilation of qualitative methods into the “medical model,” the divisive current state of publication affairs is unlikely to change anytime soon, as journals compete for higher ratings, and a wider array of alternative outlets become available. Stated differently: a coming together under the banner of epistemological flexibility remains aspirational. Submissions will continue to go to separate and more specialized journals, with only a few periodicals able to straddle the field (or interested in doing so). Once again, the narrative perspective (like Einstein's words) may provide an important salve: “Before psychiatry rushes in to ‘save’ its bioscientific self, however, it seems this moment offers an opportunity for self-reflection and deeper understanding of the process of psychiatric meaning-making…The implication of narrative for psychiatry is that there are many ways to tell the story of mental health problems—not just one right way and many other wrong ways [ 38 ].”

Among the challenges identified toward the integration of qualitative methods into the medical scientific mainstream is the fact that journals and funders commonly use evaluation criteria that are incongruent with qualitative methods and constructivist epistemology. Ungar [ 30 ] offered four different proposals to address this chasm through, and which can be construed either as creative solutions or as self-defeating concessions: (i) Dressing up, in which a qualitativist is incorporated into a larger project (and funded by it), but where their contribution is seen as supplemental to the “real work” under way, invariably culminating with the quantitative analysis of a large-sample dataset; (ii) Sleeping with the elephant, which involves a practical path to funding by creating mixed-method designs that leave all parties satisfied. The challenge in mixed-method designs is to reach a detente between researchers from different paradigms; (iii) Seek but never find: accepting one’s role as a qualitativist, but only en route to a “real” yet at times elusive (quantitative) study; and (iv) Table scraps. Be satisfied with small funding requests, especially if aligned with service delivery rather than research. As noted above, table scraps may be sufficient to support a qualitative research project. Universities and foundations are commonly able to fund seed grants of smaller dollar amount; however, the longer-term challenge is that they will rarely provide salary support (Table 4 ).

Nurturing quality: the future

In our view, the longer-term success of qualitativists in CAP—their movement from pathways into identity—hinges on two main factors: Capacity building, the invigoration of a quality pipeline through education and early exposure; and Joining, the strengthening and commitment through an enduring community.

With respect to education, one of our study participants wondered why it is that the word “epistemology” is never used in the context of learning about quantitative methods: “Isn’t an objectivist epistemology just as important as a constructivist one?” The observation was telling: Qualitative methods (and their underlying epistemology) are usually defined not by themselves, but rather in contrast to quantitative methods and their underlying epistemology. These observations, which usually animate first introductory lessons, invite the question over the optimal way, timing, and curricular placement of how and when best to introduce qualitative methodology into medical and psychiatric education. As noted, qualitative methodologies are often at odds with the objectivist epistemology deeply embedded in medical school settings. The success of a qualitativist in medicine will depend on being knowledgeable about their methods, but also of being “better prepared to successfully negotiate the politics of science, the politics of evidence, and the politics of funding within their home institutions [ 39 ].”

One way of addressing the politics of “methodological conservativism” [ 40 ] is through the deliberate and organized teaching of alternative approaches to “traditional” science, such as qualitative methods within a medical context. In addition to foundational concepts such as sampling, questionnaire development, or data collection and analysis, some qualitative concepts may be hard to grasp for someone socialized under traditional medical mores. As such, additional emphasis on topics such as reflexivity (as opposed to bias), or transferability (as opposed to external validity), will be important pedagogic investments to any successful course addressing qualitative methods within medicine [ 41 ]. There is by now a broadening literature and expertise on incorporating qualitative methods into medical education [ 42 ], and specifically into mental health, where they remain underutilized [ 37 ]. Adaptations to medical science include important lessons from nursing science as well. For example, interpretive description (ID) is a qualitative approach first developed by nursing that has deliberately practical, applied, here-and-now goals [ 43 ]. Aimed at circulating research findings quickly back “to the bedside,” ID incorporates quality improvement and practical aspects at a timescale and applicability relevant to medicine and nursing in ways very different from those of sociology or anthropology, examples of two foundational sciences behind qualitative methodology.

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of like-minded individuals who share a specific interest or area of expertise. First described outside of the realm of medicine [ 44 ], the CoP construct has proven fruitful in it [ 45 , 46 ]. Medical CoPs have been organized around particular specialties, emerging areas of interest, or the refining of evolving technical skills. CoPs have the added function of bringing together different cohorts, which in turn helps with the intergenerational transmission, refinement, and preservation of skills and knowledge. CoPs provide an entry point for novice learners—being more welcoming, personalized, and less diffuse and overwhelming than large society meetings tend to be.

CoPs can be a prime way to launch into a first study accompanied, feeling support and guidance at such a critical career juncture. Education is necessary but not sufficient in pursuit of qualitative competence; Theory and learning need to come alive in practice. Members of a CoP may propose ideas, or invite a new member to participate in an ongoing project. In that spirit, we formed a qualitative CoP in 2022. Through the binational partnership between the Yale Child Study Center in the US, and the Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé des Populations in France, we developed in 2022 Qua Lab , the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Lab. Our group has since grown to include members from Canada, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. As a group, we meet twice monthly to review protocols and manuscripts under preparation. We welcome, and indeed encourage the participation of medical students along senior faculty, and are committed to the growth and generational transmission of qualitative methods. One way of fomenting such growth is through peer-near support, in which junior participants guide more recent or inexperienced members. Critically, as young mentors, they are in turn provided with senior support to assuages worries and prevent them from feeling “farmed out,” or of carrying others on their (junior) backs. In this way, our effort has resulted in a virtual cycle of qualitative development [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. We hope others will join us and create their own CoPs to support quality growth in CAP.

Limitations

We acknowledge several limitations. First, we did not interview CAP researchers with a predominant or exclusive quantitative focus. Such extreme sampling could have been informative and “kept us honest” regarding our conclusions about their research and their world views. We would also have learned about their perceptions, as “outsiders,” of qualitative work. Second, we recognize than in a polarized view of epistemologies, we failed to incorporate mixed methods research in a meaningful way. Several of the authors have conducted and published mixed methods research; some of them mentioned it during their interviews. However, the approach was difficult to isolate for analysis in this study; it may become a fruitful subject for future research. Third, through an exclusive focus on CAP clinician-investigators, we missed insights that others could provide, starting with psychiatrists, pediatricians, and physicians more broadly, as well as social workers, nurses, psychologists, and other allied professionals.

A final and noteworthy omission is worth pointing out: During their interviews, not a single one of the study participants mentioned large language models (LLMs, such as ChatGPT) and the disruption they are sure to bring into qualitative methodologies [ 56 , 57 ]. The omission could be related to a lack of knowledge (e.g., about LLMs), to a failure of imagination (e.g., of their possible applications), or perhaps even to an existential threat (e.g., “will we become the tools of our tools?”). It is clear that we are at the dawn of a methodological revolution: in an exponential way, LLMs will save time, reduce costs, and increase the throughput of coded materials. But gathering rich data through interviews, and planning and interpreting results will still require emotionally competent human researchers. LLM-assisted qualitative research may become faster and stronger, but the accuracy, novelty, and relevance of its results will still depend on humans: We shall not become obsolete.

Availability of data and materials

Supporting data will be provided by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to each of the study participants for their engaged and candid participation. They also thank other members of the QuaLab for their enthusiasm and collaboration.

Supported by the Riva Ariella Ritvo Endowment at the Yale Child Study Center.

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Martin, A., DiGiovanni, M., Acquaye, A. et al. Pathways and identity: toward qualitative research careers in child and adolescent psychiatry. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 18 , 49 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-024-00738-8

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Discrimination Experiences Shape Most Asian Americans’ Lives

1. asian americans’ experiences with discrimination in their daily lives, table of contents.

• Key findings from the survey
• Most Asian Americans have been treated as foreigners in some way, no matter where they were born
• Most Asian Americans have been subjected to ‘model minority’ stereotypes, but many haven’t heard of the term
• Experiences with other daily and race-based discrimination incidents
• In their own words: Key findings from qualitative research on Asian Americans and discrimination experiences
• Discrimination in interpersonal encounters with strangers
• Racial discrimination at security checkpoints
• Encounters with police because of race or ethnicity
• Racial discrimination in the workplace
• Quality of service in restaurants and stores
• Discrimination in neighborhoods
• Experiences with name mispronunciation
• Discrimination experiences of being treated as foreigners
• In their own words: How Asian Americans would react if their friend was told to ‘go back to their home country’
• Awareness of the term ‘model minority’
• Views of the term ‘model minority’
• How knowledge of Asian American history impacts awareness and views of the ‘model minority’ label
• Most Asian Americans have experienced ‘model minority’ stereotypes
• In their own words: Asian Americans’ experiences with the ‘model minority’ stereotype
• Asian adults who personally know an Asian person who has been threatened or attacked since COVID-19
• In their own words: Asian Americans’ experiences with discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Experiences with talking about racial discrimination while growing up
• Is enough attention being paid to anti-Asian racism in the U.S.?
• Acknowledgments
• Sample design
• Data collection
• Weighting and variance estimation
• Methodology: 2021 focus groups of Asian Americans
• Appendix: Supplemental tables

Most Asian Americans experience discrimination in many parts of their day-to-day lives. In the survey, we asked Asian American adults if they have ever experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity.

In addition to this broad question, we also asked whether they have experienced specific discrimination incidents in their everyday life. These include incidents in interpersonal encounters with strangers; at security checkpoints; with the police; in the workplace; at restaurants or stores; and in their neighborhoods.

About six-in-ten Asian adults (58%) say they have ever experienced racial discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity. This includes 53% of Asian adults who say they have experienced racial discrimination from time to time and 5% who say they experience it regularly.

Whether Asian adults say they have experienced racial discrimination varies across some demographic groups:

• Ethnic origin: 67% of Korean adults say they have experienced racial discrimination, higher than the shares among Vietnamese (57%), Filipino (55%) and Indian (50%) adults.
• Nativity: U.S.-born Asian adults are more likely than immigrants to say they have experienced racial discrimination, 65% versus 55%.
• Immigrant generation: 69% of Asian immigrants who are 1.5 generation – those who came to the U.S before they were 18 years old – say they have ever experienced racial discrimination. About half of immigrants who traveled to the U.S. as adults (first generation) say the same.
• Years in U.S.: 45% of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the last decade say they have experienced racial discrimination, compared with 60% of those who have been in the U.S. for more than 20 years. 12

In the survey, we asked Asian adults whether they have experienced discrimination incidents in their daily interpersonal encounters with strangers.

• 37% of Asian adults say strangers have called them offensive names.
• 18% say strangers have acted as if they thought they were dishonest.
• 12% say people have acted as if they were afraid of them.

Experiences with offensive name-calling

About 37% of Asian adults say that in day-to-day encounters in the U.S., strangers have called them offensive names. Whether Asian adults say they have had this experience is associated with their experiences with immigration:  

• 57% of U.S.-born Asian adults say strangers have called them offensive names. They are nearly twice as likely as Asian immigrants (30%) to say this.  
• Among immigrants, 54% of Asian adults who immigrated as children (1.5 generation) say they have been called offensive names by strangers, while 20% of those who immigrated as adults (first generation) say the same.
• 39% of immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than two decades say they have been called offensive names. By contrast, 16% of those who immigrated 10 years ago or less say the same.

Responses also vary across other demographic groups:

• Ethnic origin: 26% of Indian adults say strangers have called them offensive names, a lower share than other origin groups.
• Regional origin: This pattern is also echoed among regional origin groups. Among South Asian adults overall, 29% say they have been called offensive names, compared with higher shares of East (41%) and Southeast (39%) Asian adults.
• Age: About four-in-ten Asian adults under 50 years old say they have been called offensive names, compared with 33% of those 50 to 64 and 25% of those 65 and older.
• Race: 50% of Asian adults who identify with two or more races – that is, those who identify as Asian in addition to at least one other race – say they have been called offensive names by strangers during day-to-day encounters. In comparison, 36% of those who are single race – those who identify as Asian and no other race – say the same.

In the survey, we also asked Asian Americans whether they have ever hidden part of their heritage – including cultural customs, food, clothing or religious practices – from non-Asians. Whether Asian Americans have hidden their culture is associated with their experiences of being called offensive names:

• 60% of Asian adults who have hidden their heritage say they have also been called offensive names by strangers, compared with 32% of those who have not hidden part of their heritage.

In their own words: Asian Americans’ experiences of being called slurs and offensive names

A note to readers.

This section contains racial slurs and other terms that may be offensive to readers. Quotations have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity, but we have chosen not to censor language out of respect to those who agreed to share their personal experiences.

In the 2021 focus groups of Asian Americans, many participants talked about their experiences being bullied , harassed or called offensive names because of their race or ethnicity:

“As an Indian female, we tend to be very hairy … starting very young, so in sixth and seventh grade I was super hairy and so all the other girls would be like, ‘Oh my god, are you like shaving already? Or what’s going on with that?’ And then people would call me, ‘Sand N-word.’ A lot of just like, ‘Saddam’s daughter,’ just like those types of words.”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in late 30s

“The first time that I can ever remember experiencing racism and discrimination was when I was 3. I was on the playground … and I was playing with this White girl and then her mom came … [and] was just like, ‘Don’t play with that chink,’ and I didn’t know how to take that at the time. I didn’t think anything of it because I didn’t know what it was and then, you know, it was put in my memory for the next god knows how many years and it wasn’t until I heard that word again, ironically watching [the 2000 film] ‘The Debut’ [with Dante Basco] … and I remember they called him ‘chink’ in there and I was like – it just unlocked a memory and that’s when I really started to … understand race and prejudice and discrimination.”

–U.S.-born woman of Filipino origin in late 20s

“I remember that I first came [to my neighborhood], there were not too many Chinese [people there]. [Kids] would shout behind my back: ‘Japs, Japs.’ They were about 8, 10 years old.”

–Immigrant man of Taiwanese origin in mid-70s (translated from Mandarin)

“We just have to deal with it more than the average person. I’ve been called DJ Isis, I’ve been called terrorist. … [O]n a day-to-day basis I feel welcome [in America]. This is my country. I’m here to live; I’m here to stay. But there are just those one or two instances that just make you feel like maybe it would have been better if I was somewhere else or maybe it would have been different if I was White or whatever. I feel like the only person that’s going to be 100% fully welcome is a White male and that’s the only person that’s going to be 100% welcome 100% of the time.”

–U.S.-born man of Indian descent in late 20s

“I had my assigned parking lot, and when a White man parked his car on my spot, I told him to move his car, he said ‘Ching Chang Chong’ to me and called the guard.”

–Immigrant man of Korean descent in late 40s (translated from Korean)

“When I was in college, I had a White girlfriend and … [her family was] very kind to me … but one time, we got invited to a party at her aunt and uncle’s house and … [her mom] says to me, ‘Can you help bring this food into the house?’ so … I picked up some trays of food, walked them into the house, and her aunt comes to the door and says to me, ‘No. Bring it around the back,’ … and then I could hear her in earshot say to the girlfriend’s mother, ‘Oh, these fucking spic caterers. What’s wrong with them? Don’t they know that the service entrance is in the rear?’ … I heard her mother correct her on the spot, but … that’s just one example of many, that much racism I’ve had when I’ve interracially dated. … I just shut my mouth. I didn’t retaliate. I didn’t want to make trouble but … I regret not having spoken up for myself.”

–U.S.-born man of Filipino descent in early 40s

Experiences with people treating them like they are dishonest or afraid of them

About a quarter of Asian adults (23%) say they have had at least one encounter in which a stranger acted like they were dishonest or afraid of them. This includes 18% who say strangers have acted as if they were dishonest and 12% who say people have acted as if they were afraid of them.

There are differences across some Asian origin groups:

• Ethnic origin: 37% of those who collectively belong to less populous Asian origin groups (those categorized as some “other” origin in this report) say they have had at least one of these experiences. This is higher than the shares among the six largest Asian origin groups.
• Regional origin: 26% each of South and Southeast Asian adults say strangers have treated them at least one of these ways, compared with 18% of East Asian adults.

Among Asian adults overall, 20% say they have been held back at a security checkpoint for a secondary screening because of their race or ethnicity.

Across regional origin groups, South Asian adults are the most likely to have this experience, with 35% saying so. This is about twice the shares among Southeast (15%) and East (14%) Asian adults who say the same.

Among South Asian adults, those born in the U.S. are more likely than immigrants to say they have had this experience. 13

There are also key findings by religion among Asian Americans:

• Asian American Muslims are more likely than some other religious groups – including Asian Hindus, those who are religiously unaffiliated, Christians and Buddhists – to say that they have been stopped at a security checkpoint for a secondary screening because of their race or ethnicity.
• About a quarter of Asian Hindus also say they have had this experience.

Notably, South Asian adults make up a higher share of Asian Muslims and Hindus in the U.S. than other regional Asian origin groups.

In their own words: Asian Americans’ experiences with racial profiling at airports and other post-9/11 discrimination experiences

Some participants of South Asian origin in our 2021 focus groups of Asian Americans talked about facing discriminatory backlash after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Some participants talked about their experiences with being racially profiled by airport security:

“[Once, when I was flying back to the U.S., airport security] pulled me away from my family for three hours because I had a beard. … They didn’t believe my passport was real, [they thought] that I was trying to sneak in, and they pulled me away, no context of where they were taking me or anything and my mom was freaking out the whole time, and they interrogated me asking me a bunch of different questions … I was 17 at the time. … This happens every time I fly now, so I tell my friends to be two hours late to pick me up from an airport. I mean, this is not a joke. This is every time I travel. Every time, they do this to me.”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in early 30s

“My brother-in-law’s son was stopped because his beard had grown and they felt that he may be from some terrorist group. Hence, he was stopped for two hours and cross-questioned. When he came back home, his mother, my sister-in-law, told him to shave his beard and moustache clean as he looked exactly like ‘them.’”

–Immigrant woman of Indian origin in early 50s (translated from Hindi)

“[My family was] going to Pakistan and it was like a week after 9/11 for a wedding and … TSA or someone in a uniform looked at me like he wanted me to die. … That was one [memory] that really stood out and then the other was my schoolteacher. She was like, ‘It’s just not fair that we’re being punished for something that your people did,’ or something. … I was in first grade.”

–U.S.-born woman of Pakistani origin in mid-20s

Other participants talked about other physical attacks or ways they and their family had to change their behavior:

“When a friend of mine and I were on the way to work during the week the 9/11 incident had taken place, we were assaulted with eggs. … But other local people helped us, they chased after the car that attacked us with eggs. So, incidents like that have taken place.”

–Immigrant man of Sri Lankan origin in late 40s (translated from Sinhalese)

“After 9/11, things changed a lot. I feel like things changed for a lot of us and I remember my parents putting out American flags everywhere – outside the house, on the mailbox, like wherever they could stick them. And even now, I do get … constantly pulled over when you’re in line at the airport, by TSA and at this point I just know I’m going to get pulled over. … I make my way leisurely to that section because I know that they’re going to profile me.”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in early 30s

“[W]hen I was a kid … one of my neighbors ran their car into our house. It was just the weirdest thing ever because … their garage is aligned to the side of our house and then they crashed the side of our house and then we asked them, ‘How did this happen?’ You don’t just run into someone’s house, especially when there’s grass and like a fence in the way. They’re like, ‘Oh yeah. It’s my son. We’re just teaching him to drive. He did it by accident.’ … [T]o this day, we knew it was like more racially motivated just because we’re the only Pakistani family in the neighborhood, but they deemed it an accident.”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in early 20s

Backlash against Muslims, Sikhs, Arabs and South Asians post-9/11

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, discrimination against Muslims, Sikhs, Arabs, South Asians and others perceived to be part of these groups in the U.S. increased. Amid concern about national security among government officials and the general public alike, there were significant changes in immigration law and policy , including the formation the Department of Homeland Security, the creation of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System and the passage of the USA/PATRIOT Act , among others. 

Muslim Americans faced increased scrutiny and surveillance . Other religious and ethnic groups also became targets of discrimination incidents and hate crimes, including the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin .

Anti-Muslim sentiment and scrutiny has continued in recent years and continues to touch the lives of Muslims, Sikhs, Arabs and South Asians living in the U.S. Previous Pew Research Center surveys have found that from 2007 to 2017, increasing shares of Muslim Americans said they have personally experienced discrimination. And among the American public, people held more negative views of Muslims and Islam after the Sept. 11 attacks.

About one-in-ten Asian adults (11%) say they have been stopped, searched or questioned by the police because of their race or ethnicity. 14

Whether Asian Americans say they have had this experience varies somewhat across demographic groups:

• Ethnic origin: 17% of Asian adults who belong to less populous origin groups say they have had an encounter with the police because of their race or ethnicity. This is higher than the shares among Korean (8%), Vietnamese (7%), Chinese (7%) and Japanese (7%) adults who say the same.  
• Regional origin: 14% of South and 13% of Southeast Asian adults say they have had this experience, while about half that share of East Asian adults (7%) say the same.
• Income: 17% of Asian adults who have a family income under $30,000 say they have been stopped, searched or questioned by the police because of their race or ethnicity, compared with about one-in-ten adults with higher incomes.
• Race: 18% of Asian adults who identify with two or more races say they have had this experience, compared with 10% of Asian adults who are single race.

There are also some findings based on how others perceive Asian Americans’ racial or ethnic identity:

• About one-in-ten Asian adults who are perceived as Chinese or Asian say they have been stopped, searched or questioned by the police because of their race or ethnicity.
• A somewhat larger share of Asian adults who are perceived as some other non-White and non-Asian race or ethnicity say the same.

About one-in-five Asian adults (22%) say they have experienced at least one of three forms of workplace discrimination because of their race or ethnicity: 15

• 15% of Asian Americans say they have been turned down for a job.
• 14% say they have been denied a promotion.
• 5% say they have been fired from a job.

Asian Americans’ experiences with race-based workplace discrimination vary across some demographic groups:

• Ethnic origin: Japanese adults are the least likely to say they have experienced at least one of these three incidents of racial discrimination in the workplace. Compared with other origin groups, they are less likely to say they have been turned down for a job (5%) or denied a promotion (4%).
• Immigrant generation: Among those born in the U.S., 27% of third- or higher-generation Asian Americans say they have experienced at least one of three incidents of workplace discrimination, while 17% among the second generation say the same. About 13% of those in third or higher generations say they have been fired from a job because of their race or ethnicity, compared with 5% of second-generation Asian adults who say the same.
• Gender: Asian men are slightly more likely than Asian women to say they have been denied a promotion because of their race or ethnicity (16% vs. 11%). On the other two measures, nearly identical shares of men and women say they have had the experience.

Qualitative research findings related to Asian immigrants’ challenges with language and culture in the workplace

In a December 2022 Pew Research Center report , we explored Asian immigrants’ experiences with navigating language barriers in the United States. The following findings are related to some of the survey findings on Asian immigrants’ experiences of discrimination in the workplace:

• Many participants pointed to their difficulties speaking in English as a major reason they struggled to find employment. For example, many discussed struggling in interviews or feeling like they did not receive callbacks due to their language ability.
• Some participants shared that once employed, language barriers slowed their professional success and advancement.
• Participants also noted that their accents when speaking English affected how they were treated at work, including having their co-workers or customers treat them differently or missing out on opportunities.

Four-in-ten Asian adults say they have received poorer service than other people at restaurants or stores. This varies somewhat across demographic groups:

• Ethnic origin: 48% of those who belong to less populous origin groups say they have had this experience, compared with smaller shares of Chinese (37%) and Vietnamese (31%) adults.
• Nativity: 48% of U.S.-born adults say they have received poorer service, while 37% of immigrants say the same.
• Immigrant generation: 49% of Asian adults who are the children of immigrant parents (second generation) and 46% of Asian adults who immigrated as children (1.5 generation) say they have received poorer service at restaurants or stores. Among third- or higher-generation Asian Americans, 42% have had this experience, as have 34% of the first generation.
• Language: 46% of Asian adults who primarily speak English say they have had this experience, compared with 39% those who are bilingual and 26% of those who primarily speak their Asian origin language.
• Party: 45% of Asian adults who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party say they have received poorer service, higher than the share among Republicans and Republican leaners (32%).
• Education: More than four-in-ten Asian adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher say this has happened to them, compared with roughly one-third of those with some college experience or less.

About one-in-ten Asian adults (12%) say neighbors have made life difficult for them or their family because of their race or ethnicity. And 4% say they have been prevented from moving into a neighborhood by a landlord or realtor for the same reason. 16

Asian Americans’ experiences of housing and social discrimination in neighborhoods differs across some demographic factors:

• Nativity: 16% of U.S.-born Asian adults say neighbors have made life difficult for them or their family, compared with 10% of Asian immigrants.
• Immigrant generation: Third-generation Asian Americans (9%) are more likely than the second generation and all Asian immigrants to say they have been prevented from moving into a neighborhood by a landlord or realtor because of their race or ethnicity.
• Income: 9% of Asian adults with family incomes of less than $30,000 say they have been prevented from moving into a neighborhood by a landlord or realtor due to their race or ethnicity, compared with about 5% or fewer among those who make $30,000 or more.
• Other research suggests that place of birth, age at immigration and length of time in the U.S. are linked to perceptions of discrimination. Previous studies have found that those born in the U.S. report experiencing discrimination at higher levels than those who are foreign born; and that those who immigrated at a younger age and have lived in the U.S. for longer periods perceive discrimination at higher levels. For more, refer to Brondolo, E., R. Rahim, S. Grimaldi, A. Ashraf, N. Bui and J. Schwartz, 2015, “ Place of Birth Effects on Self-Reported Discrimination: Variations by Type of Discrimination, ” International Journal of Intercultural Relations; and Wong, J. and K. Ramakrishnan, 2021, “ Anti-Asian Hate Incidents and the Broader Landscape of Racial Bias, ” AAPI Data . ↩
• For more information on the shares of South Asian adults who have been held back at a security checkpoint for a secondary screening because of their race or ethnicity by demographic groups (including by ethnic origin, nativity, age, gender and party), refer to the Appendix . ↩
• A 2019 Pew Research Center survey asked U.S. adults across racial and ethnic groups a slightly different question about their experiences with the police because of their race or ethnicity. Across major racial and ethnic groups, Black adults were the most likely to say they have been unfairly stopped by the police because of their race or ethnicity. White adults were the least likely to say they have had this experience. ↩
• A 2019 Pew Research Center survey asked U.S. adults across racial and ethnic groups a different, but related, question about their experiences with workplace discrimination because of their race or ethnicity. Across major racial and ethnic groups, Black adults were the most likely to say they have been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotion because of their race or ethnicity. White adults were the least likely to say they have had this experience. ↩
• There is a long history of banning Asians from land ownership in the United States. Alien land laws emerged in some states in 1913. Most laws were repealed in the 1950s, though the last law was not repealed until 2018 in Florida. There has been recent legislation aiming to revive these laws in some states in 2023. ↩

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