Introduction to Special Issue: Qualitative Research Methodologies and Methods for Theory Building in Human Resource Development

Abstract

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, social science researchers have had to identify new ways of conceptualizing and conducting research (Nind et al., 2021). This has been particularly true for qualitative researchers, as many have been required to rethink how to study meaning-making practices (e.g., Rahman et al., 2021; VindrolaPadros et al., 2020). This re-thinking has led many qualitative researchers to work with new and emerging digital tools to collect and analyze data, as well as engage with new forms of data in a range of digital spaces (Paulus & Lester, 2022). Some scholars have begun to write and think about how this historical moment might shape how we envision the very doing of qualitative research in the future, while recognizing that qualitative researchers have long been engaged with digital tools and in digital spaces (e.g., Fielding et al., 2008). Indeed, the idea of historical moments shaping methodology is not new to qualitative researchers, as all methodological practices arise at particular socio-political moments and are shaped by the conditions under which they are developed. As Morse (2020) noted: