Special Issue on Qualitive Methods for Theory Building in HRD: Why Now?

Over time, qualitative methods have changed, sometimes rapidly, other times slowly. Qualitative research had to edge its way into academia and is still earning its place. Initially, ethnography was prioritized because in an era of quantitative inquiry, anthropology was shamelessly qualitative and led by describing ethnographic methods from the late 19th century. Over the decades, we expanded from ethnography to grounded theory— and both methods have since matured into several “styles” or types. Many methods have emerged and been popularized, for instance, phenomenology, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, digital methods, and now, mixed and multiple methods that incorporate some form of qualitative inquiry. We have seen disciplinary support for conversational analysis, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis. Some methods have held their own perspective, but in others, shifts have occurred. Participant observation is now incorporating photovoice and video data. We have moved from using perspectives of strangers that interpret the experiences of others from the outside, to centering on the use of self as data, as in autoethnography. As a result, we use participants as equal partners in research, as in community-based participatory research.