This from Simon Shaw’s blog, “Changing My Mind” – a wonderfully simple but comprehensive table summarising John Chandler’s “7 Pillars of Qual”. It would be great if everyone commissioning or using qual had this one-pager on their wall. My one amendment would be on the final column to ask “Are all responses equally useful” (rather than equally valid), as you could argue that all responses are equally valid if recruitment is right, it’s just that some give you more useful meaning and insight than others. But overall, the table is a really useful contribution to practical qual. I know I’ve already come back to it for reference several times.
Jon Chandler’s article
Seven pillars of wisdom: the idea of qualitative research
made me pick up a copy of the
IMJR
for the first time
.
In a few thousand words
Chandler defines and delineates seven different ‘knowledge frameworks’ within qualitative research. He articulates the underlying assumptions inherent in day-to-day quallie practice – teasing out how what we’re doing fits into what framework, what the benefits and limitations are. It’s one to ponder, ruminate. I can see it coming in useful come proposal time.
Chandler applies three comparisons to help define the frameworks:
- Is ‘accessing data’ straightforward? Does the model assume people are self-aware, that they have easy access to their own motivations and drives?
- Is the ‘meaning’ of the data unproblematic? Does the model assume people say what they mean and mean what they say?
- Are all responses equally valid? Does the model assume all respondents are equally valuable…
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Strangers on the Shore 