Abstract
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We are approaching the 20th anniversary for Qualitative Inquiry, a journal founded and dedicated to conversations and dialogues about qualitative research methods and methodologies. We have tried to stay true to our original mission, and you, our authors and readers, have joined in the diverse proposals and debates.
What we hope you will join us in doing now is outlining the state of the union, the state of the art, a kind of status report. Our invitation to you is to give us a short (8-10 page) statement about where we are now. What have we taken up that could not even be imagined 20 years ago? What are the major debates now; what are the “new tasks and their meanings” that have come into being, both through Qualitative Inquiry and also through the launching of new journals in qualitative research; and the virtual explosion of new books from multiple publishers in the qualitative arena? What will we be talking about and debating for the next decade or two?
We believe we see a virtually reconfigured field for qualitative research, and its slow permeation throughout the human disciplines. We also recognize the insertion of a forceful political demand for the right to define “real science” that has attempted to relegate qualitative research—in all its various forms—to the sidelines, even as qualitative methods, paradigms, epistemologies gain in interest, sophistication, power, and interpretive insight.
So we ask you to join us to give us a statement about what you view as the major strides qualitative research has made, and the major issues, paradoxes, conundra, aporias, dilemmas, and contradictions we now face, or are likely to face in the future. What will qualitative research look like in the multiparadigmatic, post-humanist moment? What are we talking about now that will shape this complex field over the next decade? How will we confront having our voices heard in policy circles? How will we define and limn the next generation of qualitative studies?
We hope you will join us in marking where we are, how far we have come, and where our next generation of qualitative studies will be headed.