Métodos qualitativos

T he Foundations of Qualitative
Research
Dawn

Snape

and

Liz

Spencer

D efining qualitative research
The historical d e v e l o p m e n t of qualitative research
K ey philosophical and methodological issues in qualitative research
The 'approach' within this book

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5
12
10

We begin with a brief history of qualitative research, its traditions and philosophical underpinnings. This is not intended as a comprehensive and detailed account, but rather as edited highlights of an evolutionary process.
There are several reasons why it is helpful to understand something of the background of qualitative research before going on to discuss the specifics of how to do it.
First, it is important to recognise that there is no single, accepted way of doing qualitative research. Indeed, how researchers carry it out depends upon a range of factors including: their beliefs about the nature of the social world and what can be known about it (ontology), the nature of knowledge and how it can be acquired (epistemology), the purpose(s) and goals of the research, the characteristics of the research participants, the audience for the research, the funders of the research, and the position and environment of the researchers themselves. This chapter considers how differences in the mix of these factors have led to distinctive approaches to qualitative research. Second, it has been argued that it is important to be aware of the philosophical debates and the methodological developments arising from them in order to secure the quality of the research produced (and therefore the degree to which its findings are accepted, and by whom). Although this view is widely held by researchers from a range of different backgrounds, there is some divergence over how quality can and should be ensured in qualitative research. Some writers argue that different methodological approaches are

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PRACTICE

underpinned by particular