NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council1

Rose WilesNCRM Hub

University of Southampton

Claims to Innovation in qualitative research methods:A narrative literature review

NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council 2

Context• Increasing interest in methodological innovation in social

sciences (and arts and humanities)• Innovation (impact) important for individuals’ careers• Expectations of funders and publishers led to increase in claims

to innovation• Innovation central to ensuring competitive and high impact

research - the future of disciplines• Importance of identifying methods to address new social and

economic challenges and patterns of social interaction• Is innovation part of ‘progress narrative’ of QR (Alasuutari, 2007)

or encouraging ‘fads’ (Travers, 2009)

NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

What is methodological innovation?

• Varying definitions but key elements:– Should be rooted in genuine attempt to improve some aspect

of the research process (not just gimmickry or innovation for innovation sake)

– Can comprise developments to established methods as well as new methods

– Should be some level of dissemination, acceptance and take-up in the research community

– (Travers, 2009; Coffey and Taylor, 2008)

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Researching Methodological Innovation

• Questions for research on methodological innovation– What is innovation? What’s the difference between

a development and an innovation?– Why innovate? What motivates innovation? – How does the social science community respond to

innovations: how are they diffused, how do they become mainstream?

– What difference do particular innovations make? What are the benefits?

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Study 1: Exploring claims of innovation

• What claims for innovation in qualitative research have been made 2000-2009?

• Where is innovation being claimed: – in what types of method, – in which disciplines and geographical locations.

• On what basis is the claim to innovation made?• What are the motivations given for developing these

‘innovations’?• To what extent are they taken up?

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Method• Systematic review of innovation claims in social science journals

2000-2009; narrative review of claims conducted• 14 journals selected • Journal contents searched using innovat*, new, novel and emerg* in

the title or abstract• Focus on authors’ self-definition of innovation• 57 papers identified• Papers reviewed and categorised • Narrative analysis of claims• Citation search to explore take-up

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Author profiles

Sociology Education PsychologyHealth care IT ArtsGeography Social Work Other UK

USA

Europe

Canada

Australasia

Africa andMiddle East

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Disciplines Locations

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Methodological AreasResearch Methods

Creative Methods

Narrative

Mixed methods

online/e-research

Software tools

Focus groups

Other

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Distribution across timeframe

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

softwareotheronlinenarrativemixedfocuscreative

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Findings: motivations for innovating

• Morally or ethically-driven motivation (n=22)• Responses to practical challenges (n=18)• Theoretically-driven motivation (n=17)

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Findings: innovation stage – are these new innovations?

• Exploring the stage of development of the innovation being claimed; what was being claimed about the ‘newness’ of the innovation?

• Three categories identified from claims– Inception (n=32)– Adaptation (n=6)– Adoption (n=19)

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Narratives of claims3 broad narratives about the nature of the innovation claims• ‘Pushing boundaries’ claim• ‘Solution’ claim• ‘Pioneering’ claim

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Narratives of claims• ‘Our claims for the validity of our methodology rely on combining

standard theoretical foundations with an explicit voice from practice … it is this combination which grounds our claim to novelty’ [Dodson et al, 2007]

• ‘our purpose in this article is to identify and suggest resolution for two core problematics of grounded theory’ [Wasserman et al, 2009]

• ‘it is generally recognised that cyberspace offers a new and exciting frontier for social research. It is yet to be seen how blogging can be utlised as a research technique. The aim of this article is to make an important first step in building this knowledge base’ [Hookway, 2008]

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Findings: benefits

• Importance of innovations being evaluated but no evidence from papers …

• In most cases, direct claims for benefits made which accorded with the motivation for the innovation

• few failures identified• Some reported additional benefits

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Take-Up• Citation search undertaken using Google Scholar.• Most papers had 0-3 citations • 9 papers had 12+ citations (highest = 40 for paper on ethnotheatre).• Higher citation rate for:

– Papers in the adoption category– Papers on online and software methods/tools– A paper on validity– 3 papers on ethnography – auto-ethnography and ethnotheatre)

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Conclusion• Supports the finding that researchers are increasingly claiming

innovation (over-claiming?)• limited evidence of wholly new methods; majority appear to be

adaptations or transfer from other disciplines (developments?)• Study highlights e-research, participatory and creative methods

as sites of innovation; innovations at interface with arts-based approaches dominate

• Evaluation of these innovations appears to be limited; what are the benefits of these methods?

• Take-up appears limited; little indication these innovation becoming mainstream

• Unanswered questions? How are innovations developed, how are they disseminated, how do they become mainstream, how do the social science community respond to them ……

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NCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research CouncilNCRM is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

ReferenceWiles, R., Crow, G. & Pain, H. (2011) Innovation in qualitative research methods: a narrative review Qualitative Research 11,5: 587-604

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