In Philosophies of Qualitative Research, Svend Brinkmann explores the different philosophical paradigms and ideas that influence qualitative research today. Adopting a historical perspective, the book shows readers exactly how philosophical ideas have evolved and influenced qualitative research in both the past and present.
Today, qualitative researchers tend to report on their philosophical commitments in an altogether separate section of their research papers. However, as Philosophies of Qualitative Research asserts, the researcher's philosophical ideas influence everything from the conception of the topic to the final reporting of its results. Therefore, philosophy should not be thought of as a purely abstract discipline, disconnected from the practicalities of research, but rather as a concrete and pervasive aspect of all qualitative research practices.
In this book, Brinkmann offers readers an important introduction and discussion of the philosophical issues that are relevant today, regardless of the specific methods employed by qualitative researchers in the field.

Svend Brinkmann is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Communication and Psychology at the University of Aalborg where he serves as co-director of the Center for Qualitative Studies. His research is particularly concerned with philosophical, moral, and methodological issues in psychology and other human and social sciences.

• Preface


• 1. Introduction: Philosophy and qualitative research


• 2. The historical background: Philosophy from the Greeks to the 20th century


• 3. British philosophies of qualitative research: Positivism and realism


• 4. German philosophies of qualitative research: Phenomenology and hermeneutics


• 5. American philosophies of qualitative research: The pragmatisms


• 6. French philosophies of qualitative research: Structuralism and poststructuralism


• 7. Global influences on qualitative research: New philosophies


• 8. Discussion


• References