Article of the month
Every month, methodology.co.uk showcases best academic articles in methods.
Articles will be taken from across the social sciences and will highlight a variety of different research methods in use in a variety of different real research contexts.
This month's article is:
Positivity in qualitative research: examples from the organized field of postmodernism/poststructuralism
Published in: Qualitative Research Journal 8:2-217
Author: Mirka Koro-Ljungberg
Publisher: SAGE
Abstract
This article emphasizes the essential role of positivity, an organized field of knowledge, in qualitative research and how positivity enables and limits qualitative data, design, and research process. First, I describe some possible objects and subjects of knowing in qualitative research and discuss potential conditions of postmodernist/poststructuralist qualitative research. I then illustrate how different systems (such as language and power) within the organized field of postmodernism/poststructuralism regulate approaches to qualitative research and possible methodological functions available to researchers. Throughout the article, I make reference to my own research process focusing on the studies of academic achievement and ‘scientific giftedness’ to produce an article that blends subjective, empirical, and theoretical ways of knowing.