1. WHAT IS QUALITATIVE INQUIRY? Martyn Hammersley The Open University NCRM Research Methods Festival, St Catherine’s College, Oxford, July 2010

2. Definitions of ‘definition’ There are three broad types of definition: Conventional definitions: designed to capture past and/or current usage. Stipulative definitions: devised for the purposes of a particular argument. Real definitions: intended to identify the true nature of the phenomenon being defined.

3. Stipulative definition `I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"’ `But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected. `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.’ (Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass, ChVI)

4. Diverse forms of qualitative inquiry For instance: Anthropological ethnography Ethnomethodological conversation analysis Foucault-inspired discourse analysis Critical action research Biographical and autobiographical work Qualitative surveys Qualitative Comparative Analysis

5. Dimensions of the Qualitative- Quantitative Divide: Method Unstructured data Data collected from ‘natural’ settings Intensive study of a relatively small number of cases Use of verbal rather than mathematical forms of analysis/words or numbers What?/How?/Why?

6. Dimensions of the Qualitative- Quantitative Divide: Methodology Focus on meanings rather than behaviour Data-driven rather than hypothesis-testing Contexts rather than variables: case-based Construction rather than causality Scepticism rather than realism Description rather than the identification of laws Rigour versus flexibility in design/execution

7. Aspects of the Research Process Question formulation Constitution/selection of cases Data collection strategies Data analysis strategies Writing formats

8. References Bryman, A. (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research, London, Unwin Hyman. Gomm, R. et al (eds.) (2000) Case Study Method, London, Sage. Hammersley, M. (1992) ‘Deconstructing the qualitative-quantitative divide’, in Brannen, J. (ed.) Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Aldershot, Avebury. Hammersley, M. (1992) ‘So, what are case studies?’, in What’s Wrong with Ethnography? London, Routledge. Hammersley, M. (2003) ‘Conversation analysis and discourse analysis: methods or paradigms?’, Discourse and Society, 14, 6, pp751-81. Jansen, Harrie (2010). ‘The Logic of Qualitative Survey Research and its Position in the Field of Social Research Methods’ [63 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 11(2), Art. 11, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114- fqs1002110. Robinson, R. (1954) Definition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. On QCA, see: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cragin/fsQCA/