Qualitative research is a systematic approach to inquiry that seeks to understand the meaning, interpretation, and lived experience of social phenomena — rather than measuring or quantifying them. Where quantitative research asks "How many?" or "How much?", qualitative research asks "What does this mean?", "How do people experience this?", and "Why does this happen in this context?"
Qualitative research is the dominant tradition in disability studies, communication research, and social science fields that center human experience. It is inherently interpretive: the researcher is not a neutral observer but an active meaning-maker who brings perspective, positionality, and reflexivity to the work.
What qualitative research seeks to uncover:
- The subjective meanings people attach to their experiences
- How social phenomena are constructed through language, interaction, and culture
- The perspectives of marginalized or underrepresented groups whose voices are often absent from quantitative datasets
- Patterns, themes, and processes that cannot be captured by numbers alone
- Context — the "why" and "how" behind observable behavior
- Power dynamics, inequities, and structural forces that shape lived experience
Why Qualitative Research Matters — Especially for Disability Studies
Disability research has historically been dominated by medical and deficit-oriented quantitative frameworks that studied disabled people as objects of inquiry rather than subjects with agency and expertise. Qualitative approaches — especially those grounded in disability studies — center the lived experience and self-representation of disabled people.
It centers voice and experience
Qualitative methods privilege the perspectives of research participants, making them particularly appropriate for studying disability communities whose voices have historically been marginalized.
It captures complexity
Human experiences of workplace inclusion, discrimination, and accommodation are complex and context-dependent — they resist reduction to survey checkboxes or statistical averages.
It is inherently flexible
Qualitative designs allow researchers to follow emergent themes, adjust research questions mid-study, and be responsive to what the data actually shows.
It generates theory from practice
Rather than testing pre-existing theories, qualitative research can generate new frameworks grounded in actual human experience — which is critical when studying communities that have been understudied.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative — Key Distinctions
| Dimension | Qualitative | Quantitative |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Understand meaning & experience | Measure & generalize |
| Data type | Words, images, narratives, observations | Numbers, statistics |
| Sample size | Small, purposive | Large, random |
| Analysis | Interpretation, coding, themes | Statistical tests |
| Role of researcher | Active interpreter, reflexive | Objective, neutral |
| Outcome | Rich, contextual understanding | Generalizable findings |
| Question type | "What does this mean? How? Why?" | "How many? How much? Is there a relationship?" |
Major Qualitative Methods
Each method below has a distinct philosophical tradition, data collection approach, and analytical process. Researchers choose the method that best fits their research question and the kind of knowledge they want to produce.
A flexible method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within qualitative data. Particularly well-suited for social media research because it can handle large, varied datasets.
Example in disability/workplace research:
Analyzing TikTok and Reddit posts to identify recurring themes in how disabled workers describe accommodation experiences — the method at the core of our study.
Typical Steps:
A systematic methodology in which theory is developed inductively from data, rather than tested from pre-existing hypotheses. The researcher lets patterns emerge from the data rather than imposing categories beforehand.
Example in disability/workplace research:
A researcher studying how autistic workers adapt to open-plan offices might use grounded theory to develop a new framework for "sensory self-management strategies" directly from participant interviews.
Typical Steps:
The immersive, in-depth study of a group or culture from the inside. Ethnographers embed themselves in a setting over an extended period, using observation, fieldnotes, and interviews to understand lived experience from participants' perspectives. Digital ethnography (or netnography) applies these methods to online communities.
Example in disability/workplace research:
A researcher spending months observing and participating in r/disability or disability-focused TikTok communities to understand norms, language, and how members support each other around workplace issues.
Typical Steps:
Focuses on the lived experience of a phenomenon — asking "What is it like to experience this?" rather than "Why does it happen?" Phenomenology seeks the essence of an experience as described by those who have lived it.
Example in disability/workplace research:
Interviewing disabled workers about what it is like, moment-to-moment, to navigate a workplace that was not designed with them in mind — capturing the texture of daily lived experience.
Typical Steps:
Studies how people construct and tell stories about their experiences. Narrative researchers believe that stories are the primary way humans make meaning — so analyzing the structure, content, and context of personal narratives reveals how people understand their lives.
Example in disability/workplace research:
Analyzing the narrative arc of disability disclosure stories shared on TikTok — how people describe the "before," the moment of disclosure, and the "after" — to understand how workers make meaning of that experience.
Typical Steps:
A systematic approach to analyzing communication and text — identifying patterns, themes, and meanings in documents, media, or online content. Qualitative content analysis goes beyond counting words to interpreting the meaning and context of content.
Example in disability/workplace research:
Systematically coding social media posts about disability in the workplace to identify recurring categories of experience such as "accommodation barriers," "ally support," and "advocacy strategies."
Typical Steps:
Key Qualitative Scholars You Should Know
These are foundational and contemporary scholars whose work shapes how qualitative research is designed, conducted, and written. Familiarizing yourself with their contributions positions you as a more credible researcher.
Johnny Saldaña
Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers
Arizona State University professor and author of The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (4th ed., 2021) — the most widely used practical guide for coding qualitative data. Saldaña describes over 30 distinct coding methods and explains when and how to use each. Essential reading for any qualitative researcher.
Relevance to our study: Directly guides our coding process for TikTok and Reddit posts.
Virginia Braun & Victoria Clarke
Thematic Analysis
New Zealand and UK-based psychologists who developed and continuously refined Reflexive Thematic Analysis (TA). Their 2006 paper "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology" is one of the most-cited qualitative methods papers ever written. Their 2019 and 2022 work clarified key distinctions between codebook TA and reflexive TA.
Relevance to our study: The method we are using to analyze our social media data is grounded in their framework.
Kathy Charmaz
Constructivist Grounded Theory
Sociologist at Sonoma State University who transformed grounded theory by introducing a constructivist perspective. Her book Constructing Grounded Theory (2006, 2014) argues that theory is co-constructed between researcher and participant — not simply "discovered" in data. Emphasizes the researcher's role and reflexivity.
Relevance to our study: Useful for understanding how our analysis process shapes the themes we find.
Norman Denzin & Yvonna Lincoln
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research
Editors of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (5th ed., 2018), the definitive multi-volume reference for the entire field. Denzin and Lincoln are responsible for foundational frameworks including the "eight moments" of qualitative inquiry and the distinction between ontology and epistemology in research design.
Relevance to our study: Provides the philosophical and historical grounding for understanding qualitative research as a field.
Sherry Ortner
Practice Theory & Thick Description
Anthropologist and theorist known for her work on "practice theory" and her engagement with Clifford Geertz's concept of "thick description" — the idea that researchers must interpret not just what happens in a social setting but what it means within its full cultural context.
Relevance to our study: Informs how we move from describing social media posts to interpreting their meaning.
Patricia Leavy
Research Design & Arts-Based Research
Prolific methodologist and author of Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods, Arts-Based, and Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches (2017). Leavy writes accessibly about research design for newer researchers and has championed arts-based and social justice-oriented research traditions.
Relevance to our study: Excellent resource for understanding how to design and justify a qualitative study.
Catherine Riessman
Narrative Methods
Leading narrative inquiry scholar, author of Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences (2008). Riessman distinguishes between different approaches to narrative analysis — thematic, structural, dialogic/performative, and visual — and provides guidance on analyzing stories as data.
Relevance to our study: Relevant to our analysis of personal storytelling and narrative structure in disability TikTok content.
Robert Kozinets
Netnography (Online Ethnography)
York University professor who coined and developed netnography — the systematic application of ethnographic methods to online communities and social media. His book Netnography: The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research (3rd ed., 2020) is directly applicable to studying TikTok and Reddit communities.
Relevance to our study: His netnographic framework is directly applicable to how we approach TikTok and Reddit data.
Our Study's Qualitative Approach
Our project uses qualitative thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) applied to social media content — specifically TikTok videos and Reddit posts — about disability experiences in the workplace. This approach was chosen because:
- We are interested in meaning and narrative, not statistics — qualitative methods are the appropriate fit.
- Social media posts are a form of naturally-occurring data, well-suited to qualitative content and thematic analysis.
- Thematic analysis is flexible, transparent, and applicable to large datasets from multiple platforms.
- Our study is exploratory — we do not have a pre-determined hypothesis to test, but are building understanding from the ground up.
- Our research tradition (disability studies, communication) is grounded in qualitative scholarship.