Qualitative Research in Malaysia

This edited volume is a systematic collection of research initiatives in the qualitative research paradigm. It showcases how researchers in Malaysia, who are often expected to acquiesce to mainstream ways of designing, conducting and disseminating research, rise above methodological hegemony to carve out a different but meaningful path in order to represent the voice of the voiceless.

In this book, accounts of paradigmatic shifts, applications of philosophical rigour and attention to values-laden inquiry demonstrate how qualitative research can be successfully conducted and reported, revealing insights which profoundly re-shape research design and address ethical sensitivities in social research. The conclusions drawn from the chapters form the rallying cry of qualitative researchers who acknowledge that it is their responsibility to enlighten those who are gatekeepers to the national research agenda, about the strength and legitimacy of the qualitative research paradigm. From a global standpoint, this book functions as a foil to show how in a context not systematically underpinned by critical dialogues of Western philosophy nor the ideology of research paradigms, significant considerations positioned within Eastern concepts of knowledge production can still thrive. The integration of both Eastern and Western perspectives at the crossroads of Asian-based qualitative research offers important lessons that are useful for supervisory, teaching and learning purposes.

This volume will be relevant to qualitative research methodology educators and researchers from across the Sciences and Humanities as well as practitioners in any industry that involves human thought and behaviour.

Su Li Chong is Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Malaysia. She is Head of UTP’s University Social Responsibility (Education Pillar). She is also President of Qualitative Research Association of Malaysia (QRAM). She obtained an MPhil and a PhD in Education from University of Cambridge, UK. Her research interests are in literacy and language education.