Table 2 Qualitative methods of research
Type | Description | Examples | Related Literature |
|---|---|---|---|
Discourse analysis (DA) | Focus is on language as more than just a conduit of meaning, but as powerful in and of itself; explorations of how people and things are “constructed” or “formulated”, positioned, and discussed, or understood. | Analysis of talk about recovery. | |
Linguistic analysis | Focus is on language and its power; adds an emphasis on language present in the text, with more of an emphasis on terms used, and their connotations. | Explorations of Internet message board communications about recovery. | Keski-Rhakonen and Tozzi [78] |
Narrative-discursive | Focus is on language and its power; adds a focus on social and individual stories and how these position people and constrain/open action possibilities. | Analysis of interviews about recovery using a gender lens, focusing on how gendered power is (re)enforced through social narratives and discourses and what this opens/closes for recovery. | Moulding [80] |
Narrative approaches | Emphasis is on story; either thematically (patterns of meaning related to content) or structurally (patterns of pieces of constructing stories) analyzing stories. | Interview studies exploring recovery journeys, for instance in relation to broader cultural messages about recovery and health; Analysis of participant writing about recovery; Life-history interviews and analysis of these interviews. | Dawson et al. [27], LaMarre and Rice [81], Matusek and Knudson [82], Patching and Lawler [83], Redenbach and Lawler [84] |
Phenomenological and phenomenographic approaches | Getting in close to embodied experiences, linking these to perceptions and experiences of the world, including Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). | Focusing on self-process in the experience of recovery for specific groups (e.g. men, former patients, people in recovery from Anorexia Nervosa [AN] specifically). | Björk et al. [85], Björk and Ahlström [86], Jenkins and Ogden [87] |
Grounded theory | Developing localized theory that is context-specific and “ground-up” – that is, developed on the basis of participant responses | Development of cyclical, phase, process models of recovery in or outside of treatment contexts. | D’Abundo [88], Krentz et al. [89], Lamoureux and Bottorff [90], Musolino et al. [65], Woods [91] |
Thematic analysis (TA) | Generally aimed at developing patterns based on data; variations within approaches to thematic analysis including codebook TA, reflexive TA, etc. These approaches have distinct approaches to the development of themes and understand themes differently. | Exploring patterns in representations or experiences of recovery, grounded in a number of different theoretical orientations that relate to how the person and their experiences relate to the world around them. | |
Content analysis | Describing and/or summarizing experiences amongst a particular group and/or representations in a particular context. | Describing the content of interview data related to specific groups’ (e.g. athletes, people with BN, etc.) experiences of recovery; exploring the content of a particular stage of recovery (e.g. late-stage recovery). | Arthur-Cameselle and Quatromoni [95], Lindgren et al. [96], Nilsson and Hägglöf [97], Pettersen et al. [98] |