Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches

by John W. Creswell, Cheryl N. Poth

This text compares and contrasts the five major qualitative traditions: biography, case study, ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology. Five actual journal articles are reproduced in the appendix as examples of the different research designs.

Genres: Research, Nonfiction, Research Methods, Education, Academic, Qualitative Research, Textbooks

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Research books typically are not enjoyable books to read. Creswell, in Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design, did not break this mold. Yet, this was a very well written book and worth the time to read it. Creswell does a very nice job of providing an overview of the major aspects of qualitative research as well as introducing and comparing five main types of qualitative research: 1) Narrative, 2) Phenomenological, 3) Grounded Theory, 4) Ethnographic, and 5) Case Study. It should be noted, however, that the type of case study Creswell discusses is quite different from the typical case studies in clinical psychology. Overall, this is a great introductory text.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

assigned for school and i actually really liked it. so much so, that when i realized that it was on the required reading list for a second semester in a row, it made me smile. this book is so well written that i can easily learn from it, use it as a handbook, find new and interesting things in it, read it repeatedly and still learn something new or useful, and want to read it again. i have never bonded with a required text quite the way that i have bonded with this book.

[Olly de Boer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to relearn research !

[Judd Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

This methods textbook is really like a four star and two star simultaneously.

On the four star level, what I really like about it is the explicit encouragement to think about the different 'genres' of qualitative inquiry. I find this to be a very helpful exercise for students: getting them to consider the same project as executed through different methods. This helps to reveal how research questions would need to adapt to each method, what kinds of knowledge each method would produce, and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach given the context. So, this explicit effort to introduce qualitative research not as a single thing, but rather as several different kinds of inquiry, is really helpful.

However, books that risk being misleading receive two stars in my rating system, and this one falls into that category too. In particular, the authors don't just do a terrible job in - they don't even /attempt/ to - justify why they've selected the five types of qualitative inquiry they have. This is bad for the fact that there's nothing that makes these the most central or distinctive qualitative approaches; it's worse for the fact that they're totally incommensurate. 'Case studies' and 'phenomenology,' for example, aren't even remotely the same 'kinds' of things: a case study approach is a particular orientation to sampling and thinking about how to choose your examples; phenomenology is a research philosophy and theoretical paradigm. Their selection is analogous to a book on "sports" including five chapters: hockey, baseball, refereeing, how to feed athletes, and preparing a press release. Like, those are all worthy chapters with sports implications, but they hardly represent some sort of systematic introduction to the field of "sports."

There are certainly some good methodological nuggets and insights in this book, but unfortunately they can't really redeem a framework that seems haphazard at best.

[Tena Edlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I'll return to this book many times throughout my doctoral experience. I liked the graphics in this book a lot... they really aided my understanding and connections. What I didn't like is that they were often plopped on a page in a way that interrupted the flow of reading. I'm sure they did this to conserve space, but it was jarring when I was trying to make sense of complex, new text.

[Clayton Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

REad for school. It was informative. If I ever do some research for education, this book certainly is a great place to start.

[Ayşegül · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kitap değil çeviri için bu olumsuz değerlendirme ne yazık ki. Kitap orijinal dilinde çok sade, anlaşılır ve öğretici. Türkçe'ye yapılan bu çeviri ise yanına soru işareti koyduğum cümlelerle dolu. Cümledeki anlamı ortaya çıkarmaktansa kelimeler birebir çevrilmiş. Elimdeki kitap 2020'de çıkan, 'Gözden Geçirilmiş 5. Baskı' üstelik..

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing easy here; however a great annotated bibliography for conduction qualitative research will likely prove helpful when the time comes

[Venkatesh-Prasad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a good introduction to approaches to qualitative research and this book did a great job of providing it. It talks about philosophy assumptions and interpretative framework before getting into the the approaches. This provides more context for the approaches and when and where they should be applied. The book uses a comparative presentation style -- always comparing the five approaches. This really helps appreciate the similarities and differences of approaches. In fact, it helps appreciate the subtle differences between the approaches. As I was interested in grounded theory, I skimmed over other approaches when they started to go into examples.

One of my gripes with the book was the citations. I am used to simple numerical citations. On Kindle apps, at times, the author-year style citations took up half the column and this affected the flow of reading. The other was more of an annoyance due to lack of more details about coding which seems to be a common data analysis task across all approaches. Then again, an overview book can only do so much.

BTW, half of the book is appendix containing exemplar articles for each approach. Could have the publishers omitted the appendix and charged us half the price? :)

I'd strongly recommend it as the first book for researchers interested in learning about qualitative research.

[Bri (readingknitter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design is a textbook that thoroughly compares and contrasts five different qualitative approaches for research: narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, case study, and ethnography. There are many helpful charts that break down the key components of these approaches so you can digest how they are similar and different from each other. The textbook weaves through how to conceive a research question, consider which of the five approaches can best gather the data you need to answer a research question in the way its framed, how to collect the data, and finally how to write up the report. I wish it had been assigned reading in one of the qualitative courses and I imagine I will use it as a reference text in the future. However, there were some editing issues with my edition of the book (2018), with sentences that would stop without finishing in some of the charts and within actual paragraphs of text that dock it a star for me.

For more reviews, check out www.girlwithabookblog.com!

[Lynne Nunyabidness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished this bitch!

No, seriously. Those were the first words out of my mouth. This book has been my white whale since the summer. I am not a theoretical gal (my undergraduate degree was a practical one, and my graduate degree focused on the functional concepts of my profession rather than the abstract). If you’re interested in learning about the basics of qualitative research, this is a fabulous book for you. Hence, the four-star review. It’s fairly practical and full of useful tips, centering around five different research approaches—narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study—and taking you through the research process from conceptual pondering to writing the report.

I’m sure I will make use of pieces of information here over the coming year. Occasionally, I even grasped some of the more esoteric concepts, though I will probably continue to need to look up the definitions of etiology, axiology, epistemology, et al, every time I see them.

[Mary Culpepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was assigned for a qualitative research class and while I'd gotten in the habit of renting my books for the most part, I switched things up and bought this one when I figured out how helpful this one was! Luckily that was soon enough in the semester to switch from renting to buying. 😉 Creswell and Poth go beyond theoretical frameworks and start delving into methodology. They give context for understanding why each step is important and then give very actionable steps for conducting qualitative research that is narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Examples of each methodology are in the appendix as well. References are helpful so that once you choose a methodology, you have additional works to take a look at. So helpful!

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I can clearly articulate the differences between the five qualitative research designs, when one approach is more conducive than another, how data analysis and collection would vary, and how the final report should be constructed based upon the original research design. Therefore, the book accomplishes its objective. The research reports included in the Appendices and the Case study included in Chapter 11 help to reinforce the learning shared throughout the book. The textbook's design is effective.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book for the qualitative research class I took this semester was informative and a book I will continue to use as a resource as I write my dissertation. For a book on research, Creswell did a great job providing information by using many graphic organizers and tables that helped me understand important qualities of the five main forms of qualitative research. Creswell is the master of qualitative research and every doctorate student needs to read his work.

[Katie Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lol, I did not expect to find my qualitative research textbook here, but here we are!

I came with very little knowledge about the outlined approaches to qualitative research. As I wrap up my first research proposal, this book has made a significant impact. Learning methodologies and the specific use cases can be challenging, but the authors made these concepts very attainable and straightforward for even novice researchers like myself.

[Aartjan ter Haar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a comprehensive and insightful overview of contemporary qualitative research methodologies. I discovered that the underlying assumptions of narrative research do not correspond with my epistemological perspectives concerning the analysis of lived experiences associated with public representations of disability. Instead, I opted to employ Braun and Clarke's methodology for thematic analysis.

[Oscar Pettersson · Rating 3 out of 5]

How you can prescribe anyone to use transcendental phenomenology because it's metodologically more concrete even thought it's based on an assumption that it's, through bracketing of the researchers preconceptions, is possible to access the "true phenomenon" feels ontologically weak. Would have been nice with a description of hermeneutics phenomenology too. With concrete examples.

[Rachel Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly easy to read (for a textbook), this book clearly explains the differences between qualitative research methods and provides great examples for any masters or PhD level researcher, whether embarking on research for school or their own scholarly work. Creswell is a must for any social science academic.

[Donia · Rating 4 out of 5]

John W. Creswell did a really great job differentiating and comparing the five approaches and explained each one extensively.
Read for my Qualitative Research course.
Did not read Chapter 11 and Appendix A.

[J. J.]

Not exactly a page-turner, but that's not the point. Very informative and philosophically self-aware. Creswell is definitive in this space. Just wish I wasn't reading seven books on research methods all at once like this. Brutal. Required reading for one of my doctoral seminars.

[Emma Refvem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great summary of qualitative research techniques. It does not work well as a kindle book, since it is great for reference. I am, however, not made of money so it will have to live in my kindle for now.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the sort of book you read front to back. It’s more of a reference work detailing five different approaches to qualitative research. I found it very helpful. It’s easy to navigate once you understand how it works.

[Mahnoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really comprehensive and helpful resource for understanding biography, case study, ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology. I used it primarily for the qualitative traditions of ethnography and phenomenology.

[Lynn Gumert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good basic information about qualitative research, but the editing was atrocious. There were too many errors to count, which made reading go more slowly. Also, it was impossible to read many of the tables in the Kindle edition.

[Aygul A. Baghirova · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Creswell is a must-have for researchers and PhD students. It offers a concise, innovative, straightforward look into qualitative inquiry with clear, solid language. I guess it will hold a permanent place on my desk.

[Sewveryblessed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and well organized. Once you decide if your dissertation will be qualitative or quantitative, you have to choice which type within those broad categories you will use. Creswell & Poth present each type of research design quite thoroughly, along with thorough appendices of examples.

[Merkurius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pedagogisk och bra.

[Sean Halpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read that thoroughly reviews five methods of qualitative analysis.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, readable reference book for five qualitative approaches to research.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clearly written