Approaches to Qualitative Research: Key Concepts in Qualitative Methods

This edited volume offers an accessible introduction to selected approaches to qualitative research. Featuring 22 contributions from both established and emerging scholars in the field of qualitative inquiry, this volume highlights the field’s multiplicity and ongoing evolution. The chapters trace established traditions such as grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, and case study, alongside other approaches, including action research and critical participatory action research.

This volume also features narrative, visual, and arts-based methodologies, as well as discourse-analytic and critical traditions, including conversation analysis, discursive psychology, and critical race methodologies. Each entry provides historical grounding and contemporary insights, with some including annotated bibliographies for further exploration. Collectively, the volume demonstrates the broad landscape of qualitative approaches to research, while offering some useful starting points.

This volume is intended for graduate students, scholars of qualitative methodology, instructors of qualitative methods, and qualitative researchers across disciplines. This resource is designed to inform and orient those who engage in qualitative inquiry. It provides an entry into qualitative methods and serves as a catalyst for reimagining the possibilities of inquiry in response to emerging challenges.

Jessica Nina Lester is Professor at Indiana University Bloomington.