Qualitative research methods explore why and how, focusing on non-numerical data like words, experiences, and meanings through techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnography, case studies, and observation to understand behaviors and perceptions deeply, offering rich, holistic insights rather than statistical generalizations. Common approaches include grounded theory (building theory from data), phenomenology (understanding lived experiences), and narrative research (analyzing stories). Qualitative research has been informed by several strands of philosophical thought and examines aspects of human life, including culture, expression, beliefs, morality, life stress, and imagination. Contemporary qualitative research has been influenced by a number of branches of philosophy, for example, positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism. The historical transitions or ‘moments’ in qualitative research, together with the notion of ‘paradigms’ have received widespread popularity over the past decades. However, some scholars have argued that the adoptions of paradigms may be counterproductive and lead to less philosophically engaged communities. Qualitative research is designed to explore the human elements of a given topic, where specific methods are used to examine how individuals see and experience the world. Although qualitative research is often described in opposition to quantitative research, many scholars and practitioners are now using mixed methods and interdisciplinary approaches in their projects. Understanding the goals, intentions, and implications of these different research paradigms is vital to developing and assessing appropriate research designs. Qualitative methods are best for addressing many of the why questions that researchers have in mind when they develop their projects. Where quantitative approaches are appropriate for examining who has engaged in a behavior or what has happened and while experiments can test particular interventions, these techniques are not designed to explain why certain behaviors occur. Qualitative approaches are typically used to explore new phenomena and to capture individuals’ thoughts, feelings, or interpretations of meaning and process. Qualitative methods are central to research conducted in education, nursing, sociology, anthropology, information studies, and other disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences. The range of methods available is very broad (e.g., inperson interviews, observation, diaries and journals) and projects are informed by various methodologies (e.g., phenomenology, discourse analysis) and theoretical frameworks (e.g., feminist epistemology). However, students, scholars, and professionals who are new to qualitative research typically need guidance in defining the boundaries of this type of work, including guidance in selecting specific methods, knowing what type
Dr. Bonny Norton (FRSC), a Sociologist whose pioneering work in developing and popularizing qualitative research methodology, is an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where her portfolio demonstrates the breadth and depth of her scholarship. In addition to qualitative methods, she loomed large in developing interpretive theory, performance studies, and the scholarly examination of media, culture and society. With Norton’s immense impacts on various fields in qualitative inquiry, her outstanding works in mentoring many of qualitative scholars, and her accomplishment in building an international community of qualitative researchers, she has been attributed as ‘the Lady of Qualitative Inquiries,’ a well-deserved distinction. Dr. Bonny Norton also worked as research professor of communications, College of Communications scholar, professor of sociology, professor of cinema studies, professor in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. Her academic interests included interpretive theory, performance studies, qualitative research methodology, and the study of media, culture and society. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2002, and joined the Sociology Department at Illinois in the same year. Later in her career, she moved to the College of Communication and founded the International Institute for Qualitative Inquiry there.
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