The Creative Qualitative Researcher: Writing That Makes Readers Want to Read

229 Pages·2019·0.879 MB·English

by  Ronald J. Pelias

T C Q R
HE REATIVE UALITATIVE ESEARCHER
The Creative Qualitative Researcher is designed to help readers see the range
of possibilities of creative scholarship. The phrase “creative qualitative
researchers” points toward scholars who call upon their literary skills to
evoke the emotional and intellectual complexity of their subjects; who
deploy their vulnerable, relational, and reflexive selves to expose and change
problematic cultural practices; and who engage their embodied ideological
and ethical sensibilities as researchers.
Part I introduces chapters on four qualitative methods: autoethnography,
performative writing, narrative inquiry and poetic inquiry. Each of these
four method chapters presents the method written in the style it features,
provides writing prompts for exploring the chapter’s themes, and offers
written examples of the method.
Part II , divided into four chapters, aims to develop creative qualitative
research skills relevant to the methods discussed in Part I . Chapter 5 discusses
empathy and ethics; C hapter 6 is a primer on creative writing; C hapter 7
identifies some alternative ideas for using the words of others; and C hapter
8 focuses on collaborative improvisation to compose scholarly work. Each of
the chapters in P art II includes a large number of writing exercises, prompts
and strategies to assist scholars in becoming better creative researchers.
B y the end of the book, readers will know what creative research might
entail and will have a clear understanding of the methods. Working with
the various writing strategies, readers will see the potential of creative
research and gain skills for its use.
Ronald J. Pelias works on the stage primarily as a director and on the page
as a writer committed to non-traditional forms of scholarly representation.
His most recent books are If the Truth Be Told: Accounts in Literary Forms
(2016) and W riting Performance, Identity, and Everyday Life (2018).

T C Q
HE REATIVE UALITATIVE
R
ESEARCHER
Writing That Makes Readers Want to Read
Ronald J. Pelias
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Ronald J. Pelias
The right of Ronald J. Pelias to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-17547-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-17548-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-05738-0 (ebk)
Typeset in ITC Legacy Serif
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C ONTENTS
Acknowledgments vi
Prologue: An Author Begins to Play 1
PART I. QUALITATIVE METHODS 17
1 Deploying the Self: Autoethnography 19
2 Performing on the Page: Performative Writing 45
3 Telling Tales: Narrative Inquiry 62
4 Poeticizing the Everyday: Poetic Inquiry 96
PART II. QUALITATIVE WRITING STRATEGIES 129
5 Leaning In: Empathy and Ethical Research 131
6 Engaging: Language and Structure 147
7 Using the Words of Others: Citation 169
8 Generating Texts: Collaborative Improvisation 180
Epilogue: Four More Chances to Play 204
Recommended and Referenced Sources 209
Index 218
v
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would to thank the following publishers for permission to reprint, some
in revised form, the works listed below.
A CADEMIC JOURNALS
S age Publishing
“After Orlando.” Qualitative Inquiry 23.7 (2017): 257–58.
“Archiving Father and Son.” Qualitative Inquiry 18.2 (2012): 144–48.
“On Playing Cowboys and Indians: Early Lessons in Ethical Sense Making.”
Cultural Studies↔Critical Methodologies 12.6 (2012): 478–80.
“Still Here, Writing, Trying to Be a Part of the Conversation.” Cultural
Studies↔Critical Methodologies 22 (2017): 364–65.
Routledge/Taylor & Francis
“Performative Writing: The Ethics of Representation in Form and Body.”
In Norman K. Denzin and Michael D. Giardina (Eds.), E thical futures in
qualitative research: Decolonizing the politics of knowledge (Walnut Creek, CA:
Left Coast Press, 2007): 181–96.
University of California Press
“ On the Joy of Connections.” Qualitative Communication Research 1.2 (2012):
163–69.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“ Reading and Writing Research Located in the Literary.” I nternational
Review of Qualitative Research 10.3 (2017): 268–71.
L ITERARY JOURNALS
“ Rather” and “Naming.” Brickplight (August 2017): h ttps://sites.google.
com/site/brickplight/archives/issue-7/ronald-j-pelias
“Why Reading Poetry Is Unpleasant.” R iddled with Arrows: A Literary Journal
2.2 (July 2018): n.p.
“Skipping.” Storgy Magazine (April 2018): https://storgy.com/?s=Ronald+J.+Pelias
“ I Knew.” B ookends Review (January 2017): h ttp://thebookendsreview.
com/2017/01/30/i-knew/
vii

PROLOGUE
An Author Begins to Play
1 .
I wrote this book because I thought it might be of some use to people
who are first encountering qualitative methods or who feel their creative
research practices might benefit by reading another qualitative research-
er’s account of the endeavor. My aim is to help readers see the range of
possibilities of creative scholarship, a form of scholarship that I find has
considerable affective and cognitive power. I use the phrase “creative quali-
tative researchers” to identify the scholars who call upon their literary
skills to evoke the emotional and intellectual complexity of their subjects;
who deploy their vulnerable, relational, and reflexive selves to expose and
change problematic cultural practices; and who engage their embodied
ideological and ethical sensibilities as researchers and cultural members
to guide their scholarship. That’s the door I worked to open. Perhaps it
would be more accurate to say I’m walking through a door many other
creative researchers have opened. You will meet many of those scholars in
the chapters to come.
Y ou will soon see that I’m already attempting to write as a creative
scholar. I’m using this beginning, not only as an orientation to the book,
but also to establish a feel for what you might find as you turn the pages.
This prologue could also serve as a final summary of the primary qualita-
tive methods (autoethnography, performative writing, narrative inquiry, and
poetic inquiry) and writing strategies I discuss in the book. The rhetorical
choice I made to start this way feels a bit risky to me. You may wish I’d given
1