Five Qualitative Traditions

of Inquiry
The fve articles described in the preceding section
provide examples of the varieties of qualitative research.
Hopefully, the reader can see that research in the fve
traditions diers in form, terms, and focus. In this
chapter, I add other dimensions for distinguishing among
the fve traditions of inquiry. For each tradition, I pose a
defnition, brie!y trace its history, explore variants,
introduce procedures involved in conducting a study, and
indicate potential challenges in using the tradition.
Questions for Discussion
" Ho# is each of the fve traditions defned, #hat is its
origin, #hat variants exist in the approach, #hat
procedures are used, and #hat challenges exist in
applying it$
A BIOGRAPHY
% biographical study is the study of an individual and her or
his experiences as told to the researcher or found in
documents and archival material. &en'in ()*+*a, defnes the
biographical method as the -studied use and collection of life
documents that describe turning. point moments in an
individual/s life- (p. 0*,. These accounts explore
QUALI TATI VE I NQUI RY
lesser lives, great lives, th#arted lives, lives cut short, or lives
miraculous in their unapplauded achievement (Heilbrun,
)*++,. 1egardless of the type of life, I use the term biography
to denote the broad genre of biographical #ritings (2mith,
)**3, that includes individual biographies, autobiographies,
life histories, and oral histories. I also rely on &en'in/s ()*+*a,
approach to biography, called an interpretive biography,
because the #riter tells and inscribes the stories of others4
-5e create the persons #e #rite about, 6ust as they create
themselves #hen they engage in storytelling practices- (p.
+7,.
8iographical #riting has roots in dierent disciplines and has
found rene#ed interest in recent years. The intellectual
strands of this tradition are found in literary, historical,
anthropological, psychological, and sociological perspectives
as #ell as in interdisciplinary vie#s from feminist and cultural
thin9ing (see 2mith, )**3, #ho discusses these variants,.
:y particular interest is in exploring the sociological
perspective, and thus I rely on #riters such as ;lummer ()*+<,
and especially &en'in ()*+*a, )*+*b,. =vo9ing a -baseline-
from the humanities, ;lummer ()*+<,, for example, discusses
the evolution of -documents of life- research from the great
literary #or9s of &ostoevs9i, &ic9ens, 8al'ac, and %usten #ith
a focus on human.centered research. ;lummer ties
biographical #ritings to the early #or9s of the &epartment of
2ociology at the >niversity of ?hicago in the )*7@s and )*<@s
through #or9s such as Thomas and Ananiec9i/s ()*B+, The
Polish Peasant in Europe and America, a study of some 7,7@@
pages of ;olish immigrants to ?hicago. Cther boo9s are
instrumental across anthropology, psychology, and sociology
in laying the foundation for social science biographical #riting
such as &ollard/s ()*<B, Criteria for the Life History, the
psychological approaches in %llport/s ()*37, The Uses of
Personal Documents in Psychological cience and, more
recently, =del/s ()*+3, !riting Lives and anthropologist
Dangness/s ()*0B, The Life History in Anthropological cience"
I could mention many other authors #ho have in!uenced
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biographical #riting in the social sciences in general and in
sociology in particular (2mith, )**3,E ho#ever, in my
biographical discussions, I rely on &en'in ()*+*a,, #ho not
only constructs the classical approach to biography but also
espouses an interpretive approach.
#ive $ualitative Traditions of %n&uiry
;rocedurally, then, a qualitative researcher faces several
decisions in underta9ing a biographical type of study (and I #ould
not go so far as to imply an order to these decisions,. The frst
issue is to select the type of biographical study to be
underta9en. &en'in ()*+*a, revie#s the various types and
their characteristics. %lthough biographical forms of research
vary and the terms re!ect dierent discipline perspectives, all
forms represent an attempt to construct the history of a life.
F In a biographical study, the life story of an individual is
#ritten by someone other than the individual being studied
using archival documents and records (&en'in, )*+*a,.
2ub6ects of biographies may be living or deceased.
Throughout this boo9, I focus attention on this form because
of its popularity #ith graduate students and social and
human science #riters.
F In an autobiography, the life story is #ritten by persons
about themselves (%ngrosino, )*+*a,. This form seldom is
found in graduate student research.
F %nother form, the life history, is an approach found in the
social sciences and anthropology #here a researcher reports
on an individual/s life and ho# it re!ects cultural themes of
the society, personal themes, institutional themes, and
social histories (?ole, )**3,. The investigator collects data
primarily through intervie#s and conversations #ith the
individual (see 8ailey, )*G+E Heiger, )*+0,. For a
sociological defnition, ;lummer ()*+<, states that a life
history is -the full length boo9/s account of one person/s life
in his or her o#n #ords. >sually, it #ill be gathered over a
number of years #ith gentle guidance from the social
scientist, the sub6ect either #riting do#n episodes of life or
tape recording them. %t its best, it #ill be bac9ed up #ith
intensive observation of the sub6ect/s life, intervie#s #ith
friends and perusals of letters and photographs- (p. )3,.
F %n oral history is an approach in #hich the
researcher gathers personal recollections of events,
their causes, and their eects from an
individual or several individuals. This
information may be collected through tape recordings or
through #ritten #or9s of individuals #ho have died or #ho
are still living.
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