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Qualitative Research as Creative and Critical Bricolage

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Qualitative research is a mode of academic inquiry through which researchers build theories about phenomena through the collection of empirical data. Theories are constructed through an iterative analysis of dialogues, observations, practices and artifacts in order to create rich descriptions of how people make meaning of and through experience. Situated primarily in the social sciences, qualitative research is often paired with quantitative research through which researchers test theories for their predictive value at the population level. In many cases, though, there are no theories to test, or it is not clear if existing theories adequately describe and predict particular dance-centric phenomena. Qualitative research, then, shines a light on phenomena (practices, practitioners, communities, histories etc.) in order to, through rigorous empiricism, answer the question: What is going on here? Similar to quantitative research, gaining proficiency as a qualitative researcher requires dedicated study of, and attention to, complex and nuanced modes of data generation, analysis and reporting. In this chapter, I expand on and exemplify this definition of qualitative research as a theory-building endeavor through a description of the interconnected components of qualitative research. I will argue that there is not one right way to do qualitative research. Rather, qualitative researchers are bricoleurs who must navigate the complex relationships between themselves as sense makers, the academic communities in which they work, and the social communities with whom they research.

Keywords: Epistemology ; Meaning Making ; Relationality ; Social World

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Qualitative Research as Creative and Critical Bricolage
Intellect , 9 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835951347_4
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References

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  51. The Open Library of the Humanities (n.d.), Journal of Embodied Research, https://jer.openlibhums.org/. Accessed September 1, 2023.
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References

  1. Anon. (n.d.), ‘Letter from our founder “Ms. Liza”’, Gabriella Charter Schools website, https://www.gabriellacharterschools.org/. Accessed September 1, 2023.
  2. Banks, Ojeya Cruz (2023), ‘Ethnography for research in dance education: Global, decolonial, and somatic aspirations’, in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 212–27.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Barone, Tom and Eisner, Elliot W. (2011), Arts Based Research, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  4. Beach, Dennis, Bagley, Carl and da Silva, Sofia Marques (2018), The Wiley Handbook of Ethnography of Education, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
  5. Blee, Kathleen M. and Currier, Ashley (2011), ‘Ethics beyond the IRB: An introductory essay’, Qualitative Sociology, 34, pp. 401–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Boser, Susan (2007), ‘Power, ethics, and the IRB: Dissonance over human participant review of participatory research’, Qualitative Inquiry, 13:8, pp. 1060–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Brinkmann, Svend, Jacobsen, Michael Hviid and Kristiansen, Søren (2014), ‘Historical overview of qualitative research in the social sciences’, in P. Leavey (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 17–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Cajete, Gregory (2000), Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence, 1st ed., Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers.
  9. Candelario, Rosemary and Henley, Matthew (2023a), ‘A creative workbook for rehearsing ethics, orientations, and practices’, in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 403–25.
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  10. Candelario, Rosemary and Henley, Matthew (2023b), ‘Dance research in/as communities of practice’, in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 3–19.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Candelario, Rosemary and Henley, Matthew (2023c), ‘Research ethics, orientations, and practices’, in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 20–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Castaldi, Francesca (2006), Choreographies of African Identities: Négritude, Dance, and the National Ballet of Senegal, Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
  13. Charmaz, Kathy (2014), Constructing Grounded Theory, London: Sage.
  14. Chilisa, Bagele (2020), Indigenous Research Methodologies, 2nd ed., Los Angeles: Sage.
  15. Cho, Jeasik and Trent, Allen (2020), ‘Evaluating qualitative research 2.0’, in P. Leavy (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1094–122.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Clandinin, D. Jean (2006), ‘Narrative inquiry: A methodology for studying lived experience’, Research Studies in Music Education, 27:1, pp. 44–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Creely, Edwin, Southcott, Jane, Carabott, Kelly and Lyons, Damien (2020), Phenomenological Inquiry in Education: Theories, Practices, Provocations and Directions, Abingdon: Routledge.
  18. Creswell, John W. and Poth, Cheryl N. (2016), Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  19. Cruz Banks, Ojeya (2020), ‘Fare ra lankhi: The circle is an indigenous pedagogical and choreographic space for West African dance’, Journal of Dance Education, 20:4, pp. 205–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Davis, Crystal U., Carter, Selene and Koff, Susan R. (2023), ‘Troubling the frame: Laban Movement Analysis as critical dialogue’, Journal of Dance Education, 23:4, pp. 320–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Denzin, Norman K. and Lincoln, Yvonna S. (2011), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th ed., Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  22. Erickson, Frederick (2011), ‘A history of qualitative inquiry in social and educational research’, in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th ed., Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 33–59.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Gabriele, Edward F. (2003), ‘The Belmont ethos: The meaning of the Belmont principles for human subject protections’, Journal of Research Administration, 34:2, pp. 19–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Green, Jill (2015), ‘Somatic sensitivity and reflexivity as validity tools in qualitative research’, Research in Dance Education, 16:1, pp. 67–79.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Green, Jill and Stinson, Susan W. (1999), ‘Postpositivist research in dance’, in S. H. Fraleigh and P. Hanstein (eds), Researching Dance: Evolving Modes of Inquiry, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 91–123.
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  26. Hanstein, Penelope (1999), ‘Models and metaphors: Theory making and the creation of new knowledge’, in S. H. Fraleigh and P. Hanstein (eds), Researching Dance: Evolving Modes of Inquiry, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 62–88.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Heiland, Teresa and Megill, Beth (2019), ‘Africanist aesthetics, jazz dance, and notation walk into a barre’, Journal of Dance Education, 19:1, pp. 10–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Heimer, Carol A. and Petty, JuLeigh (2010), ‘Bureaucratic ethics: IRBs and the legal regulation of human subjects research’, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 6, pp. 601–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Henley, Matthew (2023), ‘Mixing methods and approaches in dance education research’ in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics Orientations and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 259–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Jovanović, Gordana (2011), ‘Toward a social history of qualitative research’, History of the Human Sciences, 24:2, https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695111399334.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Kagan, Jerome (2009), The Three Cultures: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Humanities in the 21st Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  32. Lather, Patti (1992), ‘Critical frames in educational research: Feminist and post‐structural perspectives’, Theory Into Practice, 31:2, https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543529.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Leavy, Patricia (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  34. Leavy, Patricia (2020), ‘Introduction’, in P. Leavy (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–16.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Levin, Morten and Greenwood, Davydd (2011), ‘Revitalizing universities by reinventing the social sciences’, in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th ed., Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 27–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Mabingo, Alfdaniels (2023), ‘Toward a decolonial dance research paradigm: Ubuntu as qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology’, in R. Candelario and M. Henley (eds), Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics Orientations and Practices, London: Routledge, pp. 191–211.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Machi, Lawrence A. and McEvoy, Brenda T. (2021), The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success, 6th ed., Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  38. McIntyre, Alice (2007), Participatory Action Research, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  39. McNiff, Jean (2013), Action Research: Principles and Practice, London: Routledge.
  40. Merriam, Sharan B. and Tisdell, Elizabeth J. (2015), Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
  41. Mingon, McArthur and Sutton, John (2021), ‘Why robots can’t haka: Skilled performance and embodied knowledge in the Māori haka’, Synthese, 199:1–2, pp. 4337–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Morse, Janice (2020), ‘The changing face of qualitative inquiry’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920909938.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Nordin-Bates, Sanna M. and Kuylser, Sofia (2021), ‘High striving, high costs? A qualitative examination of perfectionism in high-level dance’, Journal of Dance Education, 21:4, pp. 212–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Oliver, Kyle Matthew (2022), Becoming Tapestry: A Dissertation Podcast by Kyle Matthew Oliver, https://becomingtapestry.net/. Accessed September 1, 2023.
  45. Ritchhart, Ron, Church, Mark and Morrison, Karin (2011), Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners, 1st ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  46. Saldaña, Johnny (2016), The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, 3rd ed., London: Sage.
  47. Sousanis, Nick (2015), Unflattening, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  48. St. Pierre, Elizabeth Adams (2021), ‘Post qualitative inquiry, the refusal of method, and the risk of the new’, Qualitative Inquiry, 27:1, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800419863005.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Stinson, Susan W., Blumenfield-Jones, Donald and Van Dyke, Jan (1990), ‘Voices of young women dance students: An interpretive study of meaning in dance’, Dance Research Journal, 22:2, https://doi.org/10.2307/1477780.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Swauger, Melissa (2009), ‘No kids allowed!!!: How IRB ethics undermine qualitative researchers from achieving socially responsible ethical standards’, Race, Gender & Class, 16:1/2, pp. 63–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. The Open Library of the Humanities (n.d.), Journal of Embodied Research, https://jer.openlibhums.org/. Accessed September 1, 2023.
  52. Tracy, Sarah J. (2010), ‘Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research’, Qualitative Inquiry, 16:10, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Wilson, Shawn (2008), Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
  54. Yin, Robert K. (2017), Case Study Research and Applications, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  55. Henley, Matthew (2025), ‘Qualitative research as creative and critical bricolage’, The Intellect Handbook of Dance Education Research, Bristol: Intellect, pp. 9–26.

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