1. Writing a Qualitative Study
Chapter 9
Writing a Qualitative Study
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

2. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Key Questions
What are the rhetorical issues associated with writing a qualitative study?
What are the overall rhetorical structures for writing a study within each of the five approaches to inquiry?
What are the embedded rhetorical structures for writing a study within each of the five approaches to inquiry?
How do narrative structures for the five approaches differ?
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

3. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Rhetorical Issues
Reflexivity and representation
Writing for different audiences
Encoding
Using quotations
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

4. Reflexivity and Representation
All writing is positioned within a cultural, gender, social, class, or personal political stance
Qualitative researchers shape their writing and need to be open about how it is shaped
Qualitative writing contains subtexts that position the material within a particular historical and local time and place
Qualitative writings are co-constructed, which means they are representations of interactive processes between researchers and participants
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

5. Reflexivity and Representation
Qualitative researchers need to be concerned with the impact their writing has on the participants
Qualitative writing has an impact on the reader who also makes an interpretation of the account
Qualitative researchers need to be concerned with how theories are constructed from their writing
The extent to which the participants’ words are used to support theories
The extent to which the analysis is an alternative viewpoint or contributes to the common discourse
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

6. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Writing for Audiences
Potential audiences are colleagues, policymakers, participants, and the general public
If your audience is a graduate committee:
Know how knowledgeable your committee members are about qualitative research
Look at past qualitative dissertations chaired by your advisor
Have qualitative expertise on your committee
Have a peer review of your writing
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

7. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Writing for Audiences
If your audience are participants at an academic conference or editors of a journal:
Determine if the journal publishes or the conference supports qualitative studies
Find qualitative articles that have been presented before and study them
Note aspects of: length, style manual, tables, figures, approaches used, type of analysis, sophistication of methods, use of theory and the literature
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

8. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Writing for Audiences
If your audience consists of policymakers
Use a more objective narrative style
Include relevant statistics
Write research objectives rather than research questions
Write an executive summary
Use bullets to highlight results
Highlight implications for practice
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

9. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Encoding Your Study
Use the terminology associated with qualitative research and the qualitative approach you have used in your study
This terminology appears throughout a study – the statement of the problem, the purpose, the research questions, the sampling strategies
A glossary of terms associated with each of the five approaches is in Appendix A
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

10. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Use of Quotes
Use quotes (short, medium, long) to provide voices of participants
Use short eye-catching quotes
Use embedded quotes
Use longer quotations – requires the reader to be guided “into” and “out of”
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

11. Rhetorical Structures Within the Approaches
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

12. Narrative: Overall Rhetorical Structure
It should read like a good story
There should be a passage that tells the story of the individual’s life or personal experiences (typically a chronology)
You can include epiphanies (turning points)
You can include themes that surfaced during the individual’s story
Consider the three-dimensional narrative space: Write about a) personal/social, b) past, present, future, and c) place
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

13. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Narrative: Embedded Rhetorical Structure (Czarniawska, 2004; and Clandinin & Connelly, 2000)
The writing need not silence some voices and it ultimately gives more space to certain voices than others
The spatial element of writing can be used such as the progressive-regressive method used in biographies
Writer begins with a key event and then moves forward or backward
Writer can use zoom in or zoom out to write a description that ranges from a narrow context to an entire site
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

14. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Narrative: Embedded Rhetorical Structure (Czarniawska, 2004; and Clandinin & Connelly, 2000)
The writing may emphasize a key event or epiphany
A major event that touches the fabric of the individual’s life
Cumulative or representative events that continue for some time
A minor epiphany which is a moment in an individual's life
Relived experiences
Themes can be reported in narrative writing
Rhetorical devices such as transitions and metaphors
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

15. Phenomenology: Overall Rhetorical Structure (Moustakas, 1994)
Write separate sections for significant statements, meaning units, textual and structural descriptions, and for the essence
Can use tables to convey findings
Include a passage on the philosophical assumptions of phenomenology
Be sure and describe the phenomenon and talk about the context in which it occurs
As with all qualitative research, be reflexive and position yourself
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

16. Phenomenology: Embedded Rhetorical Structure
The essence of the experience is presented through a short narrative paragraph that is based on the textual and structural descriptions
The paragraph containing the essence is enclosed in a figure
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

17. Phenomenology: Embedded Rhetorical Structure
The reader is also educated about phenomenology and its philosophical assumptions
At the end of the study the researcher writes a short paragraph about the essence in terms of its value and inspiration to the researcher’s life
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

18. Grounded theory: Overall Rhetorical Structure
Present the theory that develops
Often written in a scientific way (e.g., questions, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion
Include open, axial, and theoretical coding
Discuss how the theory relates to existing knowledge
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

19. Grounded Theory: Broad Writing Parameters (Strauss & Corbin, 1990)
Develop a clear analytic story
Write on a conceptual level with limited description
Specify the relationship among categories
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

20. Grounded Theory: Embedded Rhetorical Structure
Specify variations and relevant conditions, consequences and intervening conditions that impact the theory
Variations in types of data analysis presented: description, categories, linking categories, level of theory
Variations in stating the relationships: discursive statements, formal propositions or hypotheses, a model, storyline
Variations in the model or logic diagram: linear, circular
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

21. Ethnography: Overall Rhetorical Structure
Types ethnographic tales
Realist tale: Conveys a scientific or objective perspective
Confessional tale: Researcher focuses in on the experiences of the fieldwork rather than on the culture
Impressionistic tale: A personalized account of the fieldwork case in dramatic form
Critical tale: Focuses on large social, political, symbolic, or economic issues
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

22. Ethnography: Overall Rhetorical Structure (Van Maanen, 1998)
Types ethnographic tales
Formalist tale: Used to build, test, generalize, and exhibit theory
Literary tales: Ethnographers write like journalists and borrow fiction-writing techniques from novelists
Jointly told tales: The study is jointly authored by fieldworkers and informants that open up shared discursive narratives
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

23. Ethnography: Embedded Rhetorical Structure
Figures of speech (e.g., troupes)
Ways of depicting scenes
Thick descriptions
Dialogue
Ways of telling a “good story”
Develop “rules” about how the culture-sharing group works
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

24. Case Study: Overall Rhetorical Structure (Stake, 1995)
Writer opens with a vignette so the reader can get a feel for the time and place of the study
The issue is identified along with the method and purpose
Extensive description of the case
Key issues are presented so the reader can understand the complexity of the case
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

25. Case Study: Overall Rhetorical Structure (Stake, 1995)
Several issues are probed further
Assertions are presented
The writer ends with a closing vignette to remind the reader that this is one person’s encounter with a complex case
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

26. Case Study: Embedded Rhetorical Structure
Vignettes
Description – from broad to narrow
Relative balance of description, themes, and interpretation
Use chronologies in the description
End with “lessons that I learned” – assertions or generalizations
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

27. Writing a Qualitative Study
Chapter 9
Writing a Qualitative Study
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e