Qualitative Inquiry: Tensions And Transformations

Abstract

The domain of qualitative inquiry offers some of the richest and most rewarding explorations available in contemporary social science. This bounty is the outcome of a host of historical convergences. The area has welcomed scores of scholars who have found their disciplinary traditions narrow and constraining. Despite potential peer criticism, they have entered the qualitative world brimming with energy. Other denizens have found outlets for expressing particular commitments or skills; here there is space for societal critique and political activism, just as there are clearings for literary, artistic and dramatic expressions. Further, scholars from diverse arenas -AIDS researchers, market analysts, ethnographers and more -have entered in search of ways to bring new vitality to their customary pursuits. Perhaps most significantly, the tidal wave of theoretical and metatheoretical debates sweeping across the intellectual world variably indexed as post-foundational, post-structural, postEnlightenment, and postmodern has swept into the qualitative harbor. Here these turbulent interchanges have produced profound challenges to the ways in which the social sciences are understood and practiced.