Making Claims that Matter: Heuristics for Theoretical and Social Impact in Qualitative Research

Scholar activists draw on a variety of theoretical, methodological, and practical tools for creating and sustaining social justice. We argue that data analysis—in addition to research design, participation, and community engagement—can be leveraged to engage in scholarship for social good. This essay contributes to that effort by offering a set of data analytic heuristic devices for qualitative researchers. These heuristic devices include community cocktail party, conjecturing claims, Jeopardy research questions, phronetic claims, carrying claims, and tightening claims. We outline each heuristic device’s use, purpose, underlying philosophical commitments, and how it aids analytic thinking that serves the pursuit of justice. Using these devices provides opportunities for making claims that matter and strengthening the impact of qualitative research.

[1]  F. Baum,et al.  Participatory action research , 2006, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[2]  S. Timmermans,et al.  Theory Construction in Qualitative Research , 2012 .

[3]  Tim Huffman.  Pragmatic Fieldwork: Qualitative Research for Creative Democracy and Social Action , 2013 .

[4]  Ryan S. Bisel,et al.  Recasting the Link Between Applied and Theory Research: Using Applied Findings to Advance Communication Theory Development , 2009 .

[5]  W. Pearce,et al.  Looking for justice in all the wrong places: On a communication approach to social justice , 1996 .

[6]  유창조.  Naturalistic Inquiry , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[7]  K. Charmaz,et al.  Constructing Grounded Theory , 2014 .

[8]  Sally Maitlis,et al.  Understanding compassion capability , 2011 .

[9]  P. LaRoche.  Peirce, pragmatism, and the right way of thinking. , 2011 .

[10]  B. Flyvbjerg.  Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research , 2006, 1304.1186.

[11]  D. Rooney.  Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing , 2013 .

[12]  S. Hartnett.  Communication, Social Justice, and Joyful Commitment , 2010 .

[13]  Sarah J. Tracy.  Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact , 2012 .

[14]  John Dewey,et al.  Creative Democracy—The Task Before Us , 2011, Princeton Readings in Political Thought.

[15]  K. Seers.  Qualitative data analysis , 2011, Evidence Based Nursing.

[16]  Charles S. Peirce,et al.  Pragmatism as a Principle and Method of Right Thinking: The 1903 Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism , 1997 .

[17]  A. Huff.  Writing for scholarly publication , 1998 .

[18]  K. Burke,et al.  The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action. , 1942 .

[19]  Omar Swartz.  Reflections of a Social Justice Scholar , 2013 .

[20]  Sigal G. Barsade,et al.  Why Does Affect Matter in Organizations , 2007 .

[21]  Bent Flyvbjerg,et al.  Making Organization Research Matter: Power, Values, and Phronesis , 2006 .

[22]  Andrew Delano Abbott,et al.  Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences , 2004 .

[23]  Johnny Saldaña,et al.  The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers , 2009 .

[24]  Sarah J. Tracy,et al.  Conceptualizing Compassion as Recognizing, Relating and (Re)acting: A Qualitative Study of Compassionate Communication at Hospice , 2012 .

[25]  Tim Huffman.  Compassionate Communication, Embodied Aboutness, and Homeless Young Adults , 2017 .

[26]  K. Miller,et al.  Compassionate Communication in the Workplace: Exploring Processes of Noticing, Connecting, and Responding , 2007 .

[27]  Thomas R. Lindlof.  Qualitative Communication Research Methods , 1994 .

[28]  E. Guba,et al.  Naturalistic inquiry: Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1985, 416 pp., $25.00 (Cloth) , 1985 .

[29]  H. Frey,et al.  Introduction: More reactionary times: culture , 2007 .

[30]  S. Fineman.  Appreciating emotion at work:paradigm tensions , 2005 .

[31]  D. Smith.  Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature , 1981 .

[32]  B. Flyvbjerg.  Phronetic planning research: theoretical and methodological reflections , 2004 .

[33]  Jack Canfield,et al.  The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be , 2004 .

[34]  David Hellawell,et al.  Inside–out: analysis of the insider–outsider concept as a heuristic device to develop reflexivity in students doing qualitative research , 2006 .

[35]  David Carson,et al.  The Abduction of Sherlock Holmes , 2009 .

[36]  Sarah J. Tracy.  The Toxic and Mythical Combination of a Deductive Writing Logic for Inductive Qualitative Research , 2012 .