Qualitative Inquiry: Thematic, Narrative and Arts-Informed Perspectives

′A much needed addition to introductory courses in qualitative research.′ - Jean Clandinin, University of Alberta

Qualitative Inquiry unites the basics of research design in qualitative research with the practice of analyzing qualitative data. This textbook is about the theory and practice of choosing and designing a qualitative approach and methodological and analytical ramifications that follow from making such choices. It aims to set out the theoretical underpinnings behind different methodological choices and to help students then follow up on (and interrogate) such approaches.

Qualitative Inquiry is the ideal starting point for students on research training courses who have opted to develop a qualitative research project. In it, Butler-Kisber introduces students to theory and then demonstrates this theory in practice by showing how a project is actually designed and actually analyzed.

This book examines theory, method and interpretation in a way that is meaningful to students and new researchers, as well as discussing newer, more avant-garde, developments in qualitative research in arts-informed inquiry. It is essential reading for students who are seeking to make sense of their research and their developing theoretical standpoints.

Lynn Butler-Kisber (BEd, MEd, McGill; EdD, Harvard) is a professor of education at McGill University. Her work includes leadership, multiliteracies; professional development and qualitative research methodologies with a particular interest in arts-based methodologies, more specifically in visual and poetic inquiry on which she has written and presented extensively. She focuses on issues of marginalization, equity, and social justice. New publications include Poetic Inquiries of Reflection and Renewal: Poetry As Research (2017), which is coedited with John Guiney Yallop, Mary Stewart, and Sean Wiebe (MacIntyre Purcell), and the second edition of her book (2018), Qualitative Inquiry: Thematic, Narrative and Arts-Based Perspectives (SAGE).