creswell qualitative inquiry 2e 9.1 chapter 9 writing a qualitative study

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

9.1

Chapter 9

Writing a Qualitative Study


9.2

Key Questions

• What are the rhetorical issues associated with writing a qualitative study?

• What are the overall rhetorical structures for writing a study within each of the five approaches to inquiry?

• What are the embedded rhetorical structures for writing a study within each of the five approaches to inquiry?

• How do narrative structures for the five approaches differ?


9.3

Rhetorical Issues

• Reflexivity and representation• Writing for different audiences• Encoding• Using quotations


9.4

Reflexivity and Representation

• All writing is positioned within a cultural, gender, social, class, or personal political stance– Qualitative researchers shape their writing and

need to be open about how it is shaped– Qualitative writing contains subtexts that

position the material within a particular historical and local time and place

– Qualitative writings are co-constructed, which means they are representations of interactive processes between researchers and participants


9.5

Reflexivity and Representation

• Qualitative researchers need to be concerned with the impact their writing has on the participants

• Qualitative writing has an impact on the reader who also makes an interpretation of the account

• Qualitative researchers need to be concerned with how theories are constructed from their writing– The extent to which the participants’ words are

used to support theories– The extent to which the analysis is an

alternative viewpoint or contributes to the common discourse


9.6

Writing for Audiences

• Potential audiences are colleagues, policymakers, participants, and the general public

• If your audience is a graduate committee:– Know how knowledgeable your committee

members are about qualitative research– Look at past qualitative dissertations chaired

by your advisor– Have qualitative expertise on your committee– Have a peer review of your writing


9.7


• If your audience are participants at an academic conference or editors of a journal:– Determine if the journal publishes or the

conference supports qualitative studies– Find qualitative articles that have been

presented before and study them– Note aspects of: length, style manual, tables,

figures, approaches used, type of analysis, sophistication of methods, use of theory and the literature


9.8


• If your audience consists of policymakers– Use a more objective narrative style– Include relevant statistics– Write research objectives rather than research

questions– Write an executive summary– Use bullets to highlight results– Highlight implications for practice


9.9

Encoding Your Study

• Use the terminology associated with qualitative research and the qualitative approach you have used in your study

• This terminology appears throughout a study – the statement of the problem, the purpose, the research questions, the sampling strategies

• A glossary of terms associated with each of the five approaches is in Appendix A


9.10

Use of Quotes

• Use quotes (short, medium, long) to provide voices of participants

• Use short eye-catching quotes• Use embedded quotes• Use longer quotations – requires the

reader to be guided “into” and “out of”


9.11

Rhetorical StructuresWithin the Approaches


9.12

Narrative: Overall Rhetorical Structure

• It should read like a good story• There should be a passage that tells the

story of the individual’s life or personal experiences (typically a chronology)

• You can include epiphanies (turning points)• You can include themes that surfaced

during the individual’s story• Consider the three-dimensional narrative

space: Write about a) personal/social, b) past, present, future, and c) place


9.13

Narrative: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

(Czarniawska, 2004; and Clandinin & Connelly, 2000)

• The writing need not silence some voices and it ultimately gives more space to certain voices than others

• The spatial element of writing can be used such as the progressive-regressive method used in biographies– Writer begins with a key event and then

moves forward or backward– Writer can use zoom in or zoom out to write a

description that ranges from a narrow context to an entire site


9.14

Narrative: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

(Czarniawska, 2004; and Clandinin & Connelly, 2000)

• The writing may emphasize a key event or epiphany– A major event that touches the fabric of the

individual’s life– Cumulative or representative events that continue for

some time– A minor epiphany which is a moment in an

individual's life– Relived experiences

• Themes can be reported in narrative writing• Rhetorical devices such as transitions and

metaphors


9.15

Phenomenology: Overall Rhetorical Structure

(Moustakas, 1994)

• Write separate sections for significant statements, meaning units, textual and structural descriptions, and for the essence

• Can use tables to convey findings• Include a passage on the philosophical

assumptions of phenomenology• Be sure and describe the phenomenon and

talk about the context in which it occurs• As with all qualitative research, be reflexive

and position yourself


9.16

Phenomenology: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

• The essence of the experience is presented through a short narrative paragraph that is based on the textual and structural descriptions

• The paragraph containing the essence is enclosed in a figure


9.17

Phenomenology: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

• The reader is also educated about phenomenology and its philosophical assumptions

• At the end of the study the researcher writes a short paragraph about the essence in terms of its value and inspiration to the researcher’s life


9.18

Grounded theory: Overall Rhetorical Structure

• Present the theory that develops• Often written in a scientific way (e.g.,

questions, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion

• Include open, axial, and theoretical coding• Discuss how the theory relates to existing

knowledge


9.19

Grounded Theory: Broad Writing Parameters (Strauss & Corbin, 1990)

• Develop a clear analytic story• Write on a conceptual level with limited

description• Specify the relationship among

categories


9.20

Grounded Theory: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

• Specify variations and relevant conditions, consequences and intervening conditions that impact the theory– Variations in types of data analysis

presented: description, categories, linking categories, level of theory

– Variations in stating the relationships: discursive statements, formal propositions or hypotheses, a model, storyline

– Variations in the model or logic diagram: linear, circular


9.21

Ethnography: Overall Rhetorical Structure

• Types ethnographic tales– Realist tale: Conveys a scientific or objective

perspective– Confessional tale: Researcher focuses in on

the experiences of the fieldwork rather than on the culture

– Impressionistic tale: A personalized account of the fieldwork case in dramatic form

– Critical tale: Focuses on large social, political, symbolic, or economic issues


9.22

Ethnography: Overall Rhetorical Structure

(Van Maanen, 1998)

• Types ethnographic tales– Formalist tale: Used to build, test, generalize,

and exhibit theory– Literary tales: Ethnographers write like

journalists and borrow fiction-writing techniques from novelists

– Jointly told tales: The study is jointly authored by fieldworkers and informants that open up shared discursive narratives


9.23

Ethnography: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

• Figures of speech (e.g., troupes)• Ways of depicting scenes• Thick descriptions• Dialogue• Ways of telling a “good story”• Develop “rules” about how the culture-

sharing group works


9.24

Case Study: Overall Rhetorical Structure

(Stake, 1995)

• Writer opens with a vignette so the reader can get a feel for the time and place of the study

• The issue is identified along with the method and purpose

• Extensive description of the case• Key issues are presented so the

reader can understand the complexity of the case


9.25

Case Study: Overall Rhetorical Structure

(Stake, 1995)

• Several issues are probed further• Assertions are presented• The writer ends with a closing

vignette to remind the reader that this is one person’s encounter with a complex case


9.26

Case Study: Embedded Rhetorical Structure

• Vignettes• Description – from broad to narrow• Relative balance of description,

themes, and interpretation• Use chronologies in the description• End with “lessons that I learned” –

assertions or generalizations


9.27

Chapter 9

Writing a Qualitative Study

creswell qualitative inquiry 2e 9.1 chapter 9 writing a qualitative study

Documents

qualitative researchlook

qualitative approach

representationall writing

shapedqualitative writing

past qualitative dissertations

embedded rhetorical

overall rhetorical structures

rhetorical issuesreflexivity