Qualitative Research Design and Methods

“In this exceptional text, deMarrais, Roulston, and Copple masterfully weave their combined decades of expertise into a solid foundation of qualitative research. Graduate students and other newcomers to qualitative inquiry will appreciate the authors’ inviting, clear, and accessible writing. Readers will learn about various ways of qualitative thinking, ethical reasoning, engaging theoretical frameworks and perspectives, and collecting and analyzing data: each of the necessary skills to embark on their own scholarship. Additionally, readers will find an abundance of activities, resources for further reading, and real-world examples from dissertations and extant literature. It is clear that the authors—who are superstars in the field—have perfected their approach to introducing readers to qualitative inquiry. I highly recommend Qualitative Research Design and Methods: An Introduction for anyone who is hoping to learn more about qualitative research!”

Leia K. Cain, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Evaluation, Statistics, and Methodology, Coordinator, Qualitative Research Methods in Education Graduate Certificate, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Tennessee

“deMarrais, Roulston, and Copple have created an accessible, experiential, and enjoyable guide for novice qualitative researchers that not only introduces the aesthetics and pragmatics of creating quality studies, but also inspires readers to produce meaningful works of inquiry with passion. The critical quality differentiating this introductory portal from others is the author’s commitment to explain carefully why qualitative research is more important than ever to understand, question, and change our world. In doing so, the authors skillfully alert beginning researchers to the challenges they will face and the responsibilities they will need to embrace to conduct ethical and effective research.”

Ronald J. Chenail, Ph.D., Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor of Family Therapy, Nova Southeastern University

“Qualitative Research Design and Methods: An Introduction (2024) is a beautiful creation from three of our most revered members of the qualitative research community. This book provides exactly the kind of grounding novice qualitative researchers can immediately benefit from—complete with learning objectives for each chapter, engaging examples, and activities to help guide learners through the process of designing and carrying out qualitative inquiry projects.”

Thalia M. Mulvihill, Ph.D., Professor of Social Foundations of Education and Higher Education, Teachers College, Ball State University

“As someone who trains and teaches novice qualitative researchers, I have noted the need for an accessible, comprehensive, and appropriately critical introduction to qualitative methods. Qualitative Research Design and Methods is that book. deMarrais, Roulston, and Copple offer a pedagogical approach throughout, with learning objectives, reading questions, concise charts and infographics, clear explanations that engage with the “why” along with the “how” of qualitative methods, and both historical and interdisciplinary examples—all while emphasizing ethical, social justice-oriented methodological practices. This book is an important and long overdue resource for the field and for researchers at any stage.”

Stephanie Anne Shelton, Ph.D., Director of Diversity, College of Education, Associate Professor, Qualitative Research Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling, The University of Alabama

“The authors bring decades of experience in teaching and conducting qualitative research to offer an accessible, theoretically grounded, and practically oriented guide to designing and conducting qualitative studies with ethical relationships at the forefront. Sensitive to the epistemologically diverse, interdisciplinary, and ever-changing nature of the field of qualitative inquiry, the authors share multiple perspectives and examples and offer ideas and questions, rather than recipes to follow. Through such inclusive writing and questions, the authors invite readers into dialogue and learning that is situationally can culturally responsive and responsible to the people and spaces in which the reader designs and conducts their own studies. Furthermore, the book includes invitations for considering and embracing international and global perspectives, rare in other methodology textbooks.”

Audra Skukauskaitė, Ph.D., Professor, University of Central Florida

List of Figures, Tables and Text Boxes

Acknowledgments

Preface

Part I: Getting Started With Theory and Design

Chapter One: Introducing Qualitative Research

Chapter Two: Ethics and Qualitative Research

Chapter Three: The Role of Theory in Designing Qualitative Research

Chapter Four: Designing Qualitative Research

Part II: Generating Data by Talking, Observing, and Examining

Chapter Five: Designing Studies That Use Interviews

Chapter Six: Participant Observation, Ethnography and Ethnographic Designs

Chapter Seven: Designing Studies That Use Documents and Archives

Part III: Putting It All Together: Designing and Ensuring Quality Studies

Chapter Eight: Designing and Implementing Narrative Studies

Chapter Nine: Designing Autoethnography

Chapter Ten: Designing Studies Using Arts-based Methods

Chapter Eleven: Designing Quality Studies

Appendix: Examples of Dissertation Designs

About the Authors

Index

Kathleen deMarrais

Kathleen deMarrais is Professor, Emerita, Qualitative Research in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include qualitative research methods, critical qualitative research, and archival methods. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, her recent books include Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers (with K. Roulston, 2021), Conservative Philanthropies and Organizations Shaping U.S. Educational Policy and Practice (with B. Herron & J. Copple, 2020), and Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance: A Primer for Concerned Educators (with T. J. Brewer, J. C. Atkinson, B. Herron, and J. Lewis, 2019). In her spare time she enjoys gardening, raising chickens, baking pies, and exploring local community history.

Kathryn Roulston

Kathryn Roulston is Professor of Qualitative Research in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include qualitative research methods, qualitative interviewing, and analyses of talk-in-interaction. She is the author of Interviewing: A Guide to Theory and Practice (2022), Exploring the Archives: A Beginner’s Guide for Qualitative Researchers (with K. deMarrais, 2021), and editor of Interactional Studies of Qualitative Research Interviews (2019). She has contributed chapters to handbooks of qualitative research as well as articles to Qualitative Research, Qualitative Inquiry, the International Journal of Research and Method in Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Methods, among other journals. In her spare time, she enjoys textile arts, including hand-dyeing, spinning, and weaving.

Janie Copple

Janie Copple is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Her research explores qualitative research methodologies and pedagogies, specifically feminist critical materialist approaches to narrative, autoethnographic and arts-based research as well as topics on motherhood and puberty education. Janie has published works in Qualitative Inquiry and The Qualitative Report as well as book chapters and essays on qualitative research methods. She is also co-editor and contributing author of Conservative Philanthropies and Organizations Shaping U.S. Educational Policy and Practice.