The Identity Politics of Qualitative Research: A Discourse Analytic Inter-Text
Journal
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
ISSN
1438-5627
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2006-09-22
Author(s)
Research Team
Alexandria Link
Publikationen
Publikationen
Abstract
We intend this paper to be read as an inter-text between selected FQS articles, which in one way or another engage in the identity politics of qualitative research, and the broader discussion of quality in the social sciences. Subjecting those texts to a discursive investigation, we highlight how the semantic scope of what is called "qualitative research" is decisively delimited by the positivist associations of "good research". Our overall aim is to take issue with two binaries that are commonly employed by qualitative researchers and thus collide with the evolution of creative/aesthetic science. Simultaneously, however, we seek to enliven qualitative research by providing an (ancient and thus marginal) understanding of research and of approaches that are still outside the prevailing canon. To this end, we start by investigating the binary between quantitative and qualitative research that is perpetually reified as our colleagues invoke the positivist quality criteria, subordinating the qualitative pole to an inferior position. Second, we provide examples of the ways that qualitative research is habitually separated from "non-research" such as the arts, journalism and fiction, ostensibly to justify calling it "scientific". Pondering how these binaries endow qualitative research with a limited identity and a supplementary status, we draw on some postmodern works so as to elaborate on alternative understandings of "science" and scientific quality. Finally, we argue for a "politics of difference" which we envision as a point of origin for extending qualitative research by multiplying its genres, styles and tropes.
An online version of the journal articel is also available at:
[http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/4-06/06-4-28-e.htm http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/4-06/06-4-28-e.htm]
An online version of the journal articel is also available at:
[http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/4-06/06-4-28-e.htm http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/4-06/06-4-28-e.htm]
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Freie Univ. Berlin
Publisher place
Berlin
Volume
7
Number
4
Start page
1
End page
20
Pages
20
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
30699
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06_DeyNentwich_IdentityPoliticsQualitativeResearch_FQS.pdf
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283.72 KB
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