Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches

by John W. Creswell, Cheryl N. Poth

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Choosing Among Five Approaches.

488 pages, Spiral-bound

Published January 25, 2017

Reviews

[Katelyn Hutchins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches by Creswell & Poth for college. Overall, I found it mediocre at best. The text was unnecessarily challenging to read, and it often felt as though the authors wrote this way intentionally. Personally, I value clarity and believe that communication should be accessible to anyone who picks up a book. Unfortunately, the authors missed that mark.

That said, I did gain a great deal of valuable information from the text, which is why I ultimately rated it 4 out of 5 stars. The last chapter, in particular, was phenomenal. I appreciated how it walked the reader through a study example and then broke it down, showing how using different qualitative approaches would have fundamentally changed the study. This really emphasized the importance of nuance in qualitative research.

While I found the technical jargon excessive and, at times, unnecessary, I can see how this text would be a great fit for graduate or doctoral-level students looking to deepen their understanding of qualitative inquiry and research design. However, I would not recommend it for entry-level students who are just beginning to explore qualitative research.