ABSTRACT
What can we accomplish with qualitative research? Qualitative research is increasingly accepted by the scientific community for initial exploration in an area where there is little known, or to gain subjective views (Borreani, Miccinesi, Brunelli, & Lina, 2004). But qualitative inquiry can be more consequential than we have been accustomed to thinking. In this chapter I will explore some of the ways that I and colleagues have used qualitative techniques in a coherent program of scholarship, in which one study follows on needs and questions developed from previous analysis. My program of research has also been grounding for theoretical development, especially of the critical concept of marginalization (Hall, 1999b; Hall & Fields, 2012; Hall, Stevens, & Meleis, 1994). I speak of knowledge development from this emancipatory perspective (Chinn & Kramer, 2008).
