Abstract
Because of their close contact with the actual flow of human group life, qualitative research projects frequently have as a bonus the development of insightful concepts of generic quality that catch some essence of social interaction and/or structural conditions. Yet little attention has been paid to the way these concepts are modified and strengthenedover a series of projects. The lack of regard for this methodological issue may lead to the false impression that qualitative research is not cumulative. In this paper, I urge qualitative sociologists to be aware of cumulative concept development as a major methodological tool, and to demonstrate how concepts derived from one research project are extended and modified in subsequent projects. Additionally, I show how this approach aids in both illuminating aspects of a given research context, while at the same time drawing attention to hitherto unnoted relationships among concepts. In this way, more systematic strategies for developing generic concepts and cumulative understanding of human group life through qualitative research is possible.
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An earlier version of this paper was presented at The Conference on Qualitative Research: An Ethnographic/Interactionist Perspective, University of Waterloo, Ontario Canada, May 15–17, 1985. I am grateful to Shulamit Reinharz, Ruth Wallace, Stanley Udy, Raymond Hall, and three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
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Wiseman, J.P. The development of generic concepts in qualitative research through cumulative application. Qual Sociol 10, 318–338 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988382
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988382