Which One of These Is Not Like the Other? Clarifying Epistemological and Technical Distinctions Among Similar Types of Qualitative Research

• In Event: 70.066 - Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 70.066-10 - Interrogating Distinctions Between and Misconceptions of Qualitative Methods

Abstract

The purpose of this session is to clarify differences between similar types of qualitative research that are often confused. I focus on clarifying qualitative methodologies that are commonly referred to as “interpretive” and clarify what is meant by phenomenography, constructivism, symbolic interactionism, autoethnography, and narrative research as well as what “critical” and “poststructural” frameworks imply. It is still common for researchers to use theories and methodologies in ways they were not intended, or for there to be a mismatch between a stated methodology or theory and what an article focuses upon. There are important, often subtle, differences in the nature of knowledge, the focus of what is studied and written, and the elements that determine ethics, quality and validity.

Author

• Elizabeth E. Heilman, Michigan State University