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Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis
Phenomenological Psychology, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative Research, and Intuitive Inquiry
Phenomenological Psychology, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative Research, and Intuitive Inquiry
Frederick J. Wertz, Kathy Charmaz, Linda M. McMullen, Ruthellen Josselson, Rosemarie Anderson, and Emalinda McSpadden
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"What was most illuminating was how each researcher offers reflective comments on one another's analysis of the data. These collegial meta-commentaries are perhaps the most unique and noteworthy feature of the entire project. These transparent assessments of one another's analysis offer the reader not just a comparison of five diverse modes of qualitative research but penetrating insights into the essence of qualitative research and the very meaning of qualitative psychology. There is no other text like this....Throughout the text we see Wertz, like a good committee chair, weaving between all five approaches, and sewing together a consensus....For advanced graduate students or seasoned professionals this material is an indispensable resource, especially for those who are seeking a qualitative method most appropriate to their research goals. There is no better book for understanding and promoting qualitative research as a general field of psychological inquiry....Serves as a virtual Rosetta stone that can bring together an unwieldly field perpetually under risk of fragmentation into a generative and disciplined research community....The style of mutual respect and careful engagement we witness in this collaborative project is itself exemplary of the attitude of scientific openness and collegiality that, more than anything will eventually transform psychology into the liberatory science it was always meant to be."
-Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
"The authors strike a balance between providing a valuable beginner's resource and staying true to the critical spirit of a complex tradition....The opening history goes from strength to strength, making a case for the legitimacy of and precedent for qualitative methods. Continuing into a story of the development of different threads of qualitative work, the authors do an excellent job showing the emergence of different methodologies in response to particular questions and circumstances....The authors offer an abundance of resources in the forms of important citations, centers for qualitative research, and online resource banks....Provides good resources and concise examples of how different theoretical perspectives would shape a project, as well as showing in its structure and style the type of discourse that makes qualitative inquiry unique....An exemplary introduction to the field and should serve as a valued reference for years to come."
-PsycCRITIQUES
"An extraordinary achievement. This is the book I will recommend to my quantitative colleagues when they ask, 'Just what is qualitative research?' Unlike other books that give steps for doing a qualitative study, Five Ways takes the reader into the thoughts and feelings involved in conducting research. The exciting, informative interactive discussions among the researchers and the participant provide unique insights. I will use Five Ways as the basic text in my qualitative courses."
-Donald E. Polkinghorne, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
"This unique work is a wholly absorbing adventure in comparative methodology. For the student, it will serve as an effective and informative introduction to a range of central qualitative methodologies. For the seasoned scholar, it provides a wonderfully nuanced view of the complex processes of decision making in qualitative inquiry. The book challenges us to grapple with major issues: the goals of our work, its functions in the social world, and its ethical implications. This is a landmark work in the development of qualitative inquiry."
-Kenneth J. Gergen, PhD, Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College
"A powerful, richly nuanced, brilliantly innovative pedagogical intervention into the field of qualitative inquiry. This book is clearly written, grounded in case materials, and very accessible to students. The narrative is driven by the voices and insights of preeminent scholars, each an expert in one of five ways of doing qualitative analysis. This book represents the most innovative approach to date for teaching qualitative analysis. It will provide a starting place for the next generation of students who want to learn how to be well-grounded qualitative inquirers."
-Norman K. Denzin, College of Communications Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"This text addresses one of the most frequently asked questions in qualitative analysis: what is the difference between phenomenology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry? The authors explain the theory that underlies each approach and illustrate its application and the resultant findings, making the book a worthy text for a qualitative methods course. As an added bonus, the authors present the participant's reaction to the results of the five different analyses and discuss the ethical implications in terms of letting the participant speak for herself, issues of confidentiality, and tensions around interpretation of data."
-Donna M. Mertens, Department of Educational Foundations and Research, Gallaudet University
"Not only do the authors look at a common data set in five different ways, but they also reflect on how all five analyses look to each of them, and these explorations are 'looked back at' by the participant from whom the data set was derived. This book provides an engaging and intimate view of the many selves it takes to bring qualitative analyses into being and the reflexive practices that contribute to the scientific and ethical integrity of research."
-Margarete Sandelowski, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"The experience of walking through the various interpretations and then seeing how experts unpack the differences and similarities among them is remarkable. Although many books are written for introductory courses on qualitative methods, very few authors attend to how the structure of a text—not just its content—might be pedagogically significant. I applaud Wertz et al. for thinking explicitly and intentionally about how to conceptualize and organize their text in a way that facilitates learning."
-Suzanne M. Wilson, Department of Teacher Education and Director, Center for the Scholarship of Teaching, Michigan State University
-Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
"The authors strike a balance between providing a valuable beginner's resource and staying true to the critical spirit of a complex tradition....The opening history goes from strength to strength, making a case for the legitimacy of and precedent for qualitative methods. Continuing into a story of the development of different threads of qualitative work, the authors do an excellent job showing the emergence of different methodologies in response to particular questions and circumstances....The authors offer an abundance of resources in the forms of important citations, centers for qualitative research, and online resource banks....Provides good resources and concise examples of how different theoretical perspectives would shape a project, as well as showing in its structure and style the type of discourse that makes qualitative inquiry unique....An exemplary introduction to the field and should serve as a valued reference for years to come."
-PsycCRITIQUES
"An extraordinary achievement. This is the book I will recommend to my quantitative colleagues when they ask, 'Just what is qualitative research?' Unlike other books that give steps for doing a qualitative study, Five Ways takes the reader into the thoughts and feelings involved in conducting research. The exciting, informative interactive discussions among the researchers and the participant provide unique insights. I will use Five Ways as the basic text in my qualitative courses."
-Donald E. Polkinghorne, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
"This unique work is a wholly absorbing adventure in comparative methodology. For the student, it will serve as an effective and informative introduction to a range of central qualitative methodologies. For the seasoned scholar, it provides a wonderfully nuanced view of the complex processes of decision making in qualitative inquiry. The book challenges us to grapple with major issues: the goals of our work, its functions in the social world, and its ethical implications. This is a landmark work in the development of qualitative inquiry."
-Kenneth J. Gergen, PhD, Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College
"A powerful, richly nuanced, brilliantly innovative pedagogical intervention into the field of qualitative inquiry. This book is clearly written, grounded in case materials, and very accessible to students. The narrative is driven by the voices and insights of preeminent scholars, each an expert in one of five ways of doing qualitative analysis. This book represents the most innovative approach to date for teaching qualitative analysis. It will provide a starting place for the next generation of students who want to learn how to be well-grounded qualitative inquirers."
-Norman K. Denzin, College of Communications Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"This text addresses one of the most frequently asked questions in qualitative analysis: what is the difference between phenomenology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry? The authors explain the theory that underlies each approach and illustrate its application and the resultant findings, making the book a worthy text for a qualitative methods course. As an added bonus, the authors present the participant's reaction to the results of the five different analyses and discuss the ethical implications in terms of letting the participant speak for herself, issues of confidentiality, and tensions around interpretation of data."
-Donna M. Mertens, Department of Educational Foundations and Research, Gallaudet University
"Not only do the authors look at a common data set in five different ways, but they also reflect on how all five analyses look to each of them, and these explorations are 'looked back at' by the participant from whom the data set was derived. This book provides an engaging and intimate view of the many selves it takes to bring qualitative analyses into being and the reflexive practices that contribute to the scientific and ethical integrity of research."
-Margarete Sandelowski, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"The experience of walking through the various interpretations and then seeing how experts unpack the differences and similarities among them is remarkable. Although many books are written for introductory courses on qualitative methods, very few authors attend to how the structure of a text—not just its content—might be pedagogically significant. I applaud Wertz et al. for thinking explicitly and intentionally about how to conceptualize and organize their text in a way that facilitates learning."
-Suzanne M. Wilson, Department of Teacher Education and Director, Center for the Scholarship of Teaching, Michigan State University
