Open AccessExtending the Conversation: Qualitative Research as Dialogic Collaborative Process
Author(s) -
Trena M. Paulus,
Marianne Woodside,
Mary Ziegler
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1596
Subject(s) - conversation , dialogic , qualitative research , empirical research , process (computing) , transparency (behavior) , meaning (existential) , sociology , epistemology , divergence (linguistics) , psychology , computer science , pedagogy , linguistics , social science , communication , philosophy , computer security , operating system
Collaborative research often refers to collaboration among the researcher and the participants. Few studies investigate the collaborative process among researchers themselves. Assumptions about the qualitative research process, particularly ways to establish rigor and transparency, are pervasive. Our experience con ducting three collaborative empirical research studies challenged and transformed our assumptions about qualitative research: (a) research planning taught as concrete and linear rather than as emergent and iterative, (b) data analysis conceptualized as individual discovery rather than collaboratively-constructed meaning, and (c) findings represented as individual product rather than as part of an ongoing conversation. We address each assumption, including how our collaborative research diverged from the assumption and how this divergence has impacted our own practice.