Modes of Thinking for Qualitative Data Analysis

by Melissa Freeman

Overview

Modes of Thinking for Qualitative Data Analysis offers a creative and comparative account of the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of six prominent analytical movements used by interdisciplinary qualitative researchers: Categorical thinking, narrative thinking, dialectical thinking, poetic thinking, diffractive thinking, and decolonial thinking.

Each “mode of thinking” engages in a particular process for analytical sense-making. Every chapter describes core characteristics of the focal analytical movement along with examples to illustrate what that approach might look like in practice. By presenting these analytical movements in the space of a single text, the author not only highlights their unique contributions to qualitative analysis but also creates a structure from which to understand their strengths and challenges, as well as the kind of outcomes and realities each participates in shaping.

This book is a thought-provoking resource for experienced and novice interdisciplinary qualitative researchers seeking to deepen their understanding of the variety of ways qualitative analysis is, and could be, theorized and practiced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032472386
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/20/2025
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Melissa Freeman is Professor of Qualitative Research Methodologies in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at The University of Georgia (UGA), USA

Table of Contents

1. Introduction  2. Modes of Thinking  3. Categorical Thinking  4. Narrative Thinking  5. Dialectical Thinking  6. Poetic Thinking  7. Diffractive Thinking  8. Decolonial Thinking

Editorial Reviews

"We’ve long needed this book, a book which would take students and scholars alike through the complex process of doing qualitative analysis. Melissa Freeman’s Modes of Thinking for Qualitative Data Analysis meets these needs. Its creative, comparative focus on forms of thinking, from categorical, to narrative, dialectical, poetical, diagrammatical, opens new windows on how to interpret empirical material." – Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Melissa Freeman has developed a compelling typology for understanding qualitative work... Her work counters the standard classifications which connect methods with a particular methodology or tradition and leads to confusion. Instead, she argues persuasively, and with examples, that for a truly reflexive stance and a critical understanding of research, researchers must engage in "pentimento," or must see again, to understand essences and create innovative possibilities." - Lynn Butler-Kisber, McGill University

From the Publisher