A Case for Clinical Qualitative Research

For the most part, that which is called qualitative research has been developed, understood, and justified within scientific and quantitative contexts. Sharing common interests (e.g., description, interpretation, criticism, subjectivity, etc.) with this scientific qualitative research are two contrasting traditions of research and practice, which have originated and evolved in domains of inquiry other than science and technology, namely those methods and ways of knowing from the arts and humanities, and from the clinical fields. This latter type, clinical qualitative or practitioner-generated research, is defined and contrasted with the scientific and artistic varieties. A number of clinical qualitative research projects are presented from the field of family therapy, which demonstrate how clinical inquiry may be conducted from a therapist's way of acting and knowing, or may be focused on learning more about a therapist's way of practicing and thinking in the world. Finally, implications of conducting clinical qualitative research or practitioner-generated inquiry in traditional research environments is discussed. This article is available in The Qualitative Report: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol1/iss4/1 A Case for Clinical Qualitative Research* by Ronald J. Chenail The Qualitative Report, Volume 1, Number 4, Fall, 1992 Abstract For the most part, that which is called qualitative research has been developed, understood, and justified within scientific and quantitative contexts. Sharing common interests (e.g., description, interpretation, criticism, subjectivity, etc.) with this scientific qualitative research are two contrasting traditions of research and practice, which have originated and evolved in domains of inquiry other than science and technology, namely those methods and ways of knowing from the arts and humanities, and from the clinical fields. This latter type, clinical qualitative or practitioner-generated research, is defined and contrasted with the scientific and artistic varieties. A number of clinical qualitative research projects are presented from the field of family therapy, which demonstrate how clinical inquiry may be conducted from a therapist's way of acting and knowing, or may be focused on learning more about a therapist's way of practicing and thinking in the world. Finally, implications of conducting clinical qualitative research or practitionergenerated inquiry in traditional research environments is discussed.For the most part, that which is called qualitative research has been developed, understood, and justified within scientific and quantitative contexts. Sharing common interests (e.g., description, interpretation, criticism, subjectivity, etc.) with this scientific qualitative research are two contrasting traditions of research and practice, which have originated and evolved in domains of inquiry other than science and technology, namely those methods and ways of knowing from the arts and humanities, and from the clinical fields. This latter type, clinical qualitative or practitioner-generated research, is defined and contrasted with the scientific and artistic varieties. A number of clinical qualitative research projects are presented from the field of family therapy, which demonstrate how clinical inquiry may be conducted from a therapist's way of acting and knowing, or may be focused on learning more about a therapist's way of practicing and thinking in the world. Finally, implications of conducting clinical qualitative research or practitionergenerated inquiry in traditional research environments is discussed.