Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Social Work Knowledge Development (Guest Editorial) (Report‪)‬

Providing guidelines on qualitative and mixed methods in social work knowledge development is a daunting task. Quantitative methods also require careful consideration, but they rarely entail the degree of epistemological self-searching and ongoing consequential decision making that qualitative methods demand. As a reviewer of qualitative studies for academic journals and federal funders, and as the recipient of many such reviews (some quite negative), I have learned some lessons along the way. This editorial offers a few suggestions arising from these experiences that I hope will be of assistance to those interested in conducting qualitative research. Qualitative methods have been contributing to knowledge development for a very long time--ethnography and field observation were around a century before the 20th century rise of quantification, with its emphasis on measurement and statistical analysis (Padgett, 2008). Nevertheless, the codification of qualitative methods is a relatively recent development, beginning in the late 1970s and growing by leaps and bounds ever since. Their embrace in social work came somewhat later than in education and nursing, but qualitative studies have since become commonplace in social work research, as evidenced by publication of such studies in social work journals and by numerous presentations at the annual conferences of the Society for SocialWork and Research and the Council on Social Work Education.