In this methodological inquiry, we ask: "What are the walls that block the examination of whiteness for white women when using photo-elicitation interviewing? What are the methodological possibilities and risks of photo elicitation with white women when critically studying whiteness?" Framed by concepts of white complicity, white…

This article explores the use of the circle as a shape metaphor in qualitative and education research and particularly in research designs. Circles dominate the shape metaphors found in the literature and the paper argues that this is because circles have key features that align well with designing and conducting qualitative research. Circles…

This case study examines how to achieve trustworthiness and authenticity in qualitative research, specifically using interpretative phenomenological design. Focused on a doctoral study involving six teacher educators in Ethiopia, it outlines key strategies for maintaining credibility, including triangulating data sources, conducting member checks,…

This methods-focused article attends to the mechanics of participant drawing as a data collection tool in qualitative research. Writing studies researchers undertaking qualitative research benefit from a wealth of handbooks on how to design methodologically sound studies. However, despite interest in visual research methods, little guidance is…

Background/purpose: It revisits Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) as a robust tool for analyzing non-normal data and small samples, offering predictive modeling advantages. This study also compares the merits, practical applications, and added value of both tools in tackling complicated research issues, notably in…

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is said to be a method that can be used to uncover social complexity. However, this complexity is often 'missing in action' in actual empirical applications of the method. We aim to rearticulate the properties of social and causal complexity in their relationship to QCA. We first discuss the reasons why this…

In this collaborative autoethnographic piece, we present voices through critical incident technique replaying the same event at an academic conference, all seeking to understand how and why the disruption of voice occurs and what to do to counter it. We contextualize these experiences in the ideal of "sustainability of qualitative…

Qualitative research is valuable in medicine because of the deep insights it offers into the social and cultural dimensions of healthcare. Historically, qualitative methods have been influenced by critical theory and have shared its constructivist epistemology and orientation towards social justice. It can be challenging to teach such critical…

This study used scoping review as an approach to examine and determine the extent of studies undertaken in civic engagement roles of libraries and librarians in times of rapid growth of information disorders in the social media environment. The research identified concepts, and methods by providing a systematic examination of academic and…

Educational researchers continue to polarize into 'qualitative' and 'quantitative' camps, with these terms often functioning as global identity markers, rather than as styles of research that are available to anyone. Many scholars have lamented the drawbacks of researchers being siloed into opposing, apparently incommensurable research paradigms,…

As Twitter's (or X's) influence permeates aspects of education, researchers must consider how to ethically and effectively leverage the unique types of data that this social media platform offers. This paper provides recommended methodological practice considerations for working with qualitative Twitter data toward the advancement of education…

Purpose: This article explores challenges faced by doctoral candidates using grounded theory (GT) in their theses, focusing on coding, theory development and time constraints. It also examines the impact of doctoral committees on GT dissertations, addressing epistemological clashes and the desire for familiarity over novelty.…

Scholars of early childhood education have urged qualitative researchers to adapt their methods for use with young children. However, unjust social imaginations of childhood (e.g., who is considered a "child") play out in qualitative research, particularly for young children who are made most vulnerable by intersecting oppressions (e.g.,…

In Goffman's terms, qualitative interviews are social encounters with their own realities. Hence, the 'situational critique' holds that interviews cannot produce knowledge about the world beyond these encounters, and that other methods, ethnography in particular, render lived life more accurately. The situational critique cannot be dismissed; yet…

This article examines how rigour is achieved in the Abductive Research Strategy (ARS). It begins with a review of some of the arguments about objectivity and rigour in social sciences, which shows that quantitative and qualitative researchers hold different meanings of objectivity and therefore different ways of achieving rigour in their research.…