Qualitative Research - State of the Art

Abstract

The background of this article is the observation that the methodological discussions about qualitative research in German-speaking and Anglo-Saxon contexts are quite different. The article gives an overview of the state of the art of qualitative research in terms of its methodological development and its establishment in the broader field of social research. After some brief remarks about the history of the field, the major research perspectives and schools of qualitative research - grounded theory, ethnomethodology, narrative analysis, objective hermeneutics, life-world analysis, ethnography, cultural and gender studies - are outlined against the background of recent developments. The establishment of qualitative research is discussed with reference to the examples of the German and International Sociological Associations (DGS and ISA), to developments in the area of textbooks and handbooks, and to the founding of specialized journals. Methodological trends such as the move to visual and electronic data, triangulation of methods and the hybridization of qualitative procedures are discussed. In conclusion some perspectives are outlined which are expected to become more important in the future of qualitative research or which are seen as demands for further clarification. Beside the use of computers and further clarification on linking qualitative and quantitative research, and the limits and problems of such linkage, further suggestions concerning the ways of presenting appropriate and at the same time compulsory criteria for qualitative research are mentioned. Trends in building schools and developing research pragmatics, on the one hand, and a tendency towards elucidation and mystification of methodological procedures, on the other hand, are identified as tensional fields in methodological discussions in qualitative research. Finally a stronger internationalization in different directions and answering the question of indication are discussed as needs for the future of qualitative research.