Thinking with theory in qualitative research : viewing data across multiple perspectives / Alecia Y Jackson and Lisa A Mazzei

This book shows how to use various philosophical concepts in practices of inquiry; effectively opening up the process of data analysis in qualitative research. It uses a common data set and utilizes various theoretical perspectives through which to view the data. It challenges qualitative researchers to use theory to accomplish a rigorous, analytic reading of qualitative data. Plugging in the theory and the data produces a variety of readings applying various theorists and their concepts. It pushes against traditional qualitative data analysis such as mechanistic coding, reducing data to themes, and writing up transparent narratives. These do little to critique the complexities of social life; such simplistic approaches preclude dense and multi-layered treatment of data. It shows that thinking with theory pushes research and data and theory to its exhaustion in order to produce knowledge differently.