<<
>>

Qualitative Approaches Used in Conflict Research

In conflict situations, communication can be considered as a variable, a process, an inter­pretation or meaning, and a dialectical rela­tionship (Putnam, 2006). As noted earlier, it is through qualitative inquiry that scholars seek to understand those processes, meanings, and relationships deeply.

Of importance is that these modes of inquiry transcend contexts to focus on communicative processes throughout conflicts, particularly how conflict is commu­nicatively constituted and manifested through language, that is, how conflict is recogniz­able as such and brought into being through communication, rather than how conflict is reflected in communication exchanges or regarded as an indicator of conflict style or management strategy. As such, communication is the site of meaning and realities construction in conflict on micro-, meso-, and macrolev­els. In qualitative conflict research, dynamics are often both positive and detrimental with functional, dysfunctional, unintended, and ironic consequences situated and politicized in human conditions. In this chapter, then, we define qualitative conflict communication research as that form of inquiry that delves into the gathering and analysis of rich data about how communicators construct and label phenomena as conflict and constitute conflict discursively and performatively and with what consequences. True to the benefits of rich qualitative inquiry, we seek to uncover aspects about human actions and their consequences that might otherwise go unnoticed during conflicts. We adhere to the bases of conflict in interdependent interaction and discourse but note that struggles are socially constructed and materially rooted. Despite our relatively simple definition of qualitative conflict communica­tion research, much about qualitative research is still actively and productively debated, as researchers attempt to locate optimal ways of categorizing and enriching (a) paradigms and metatheoretical traditions and (b) methods.

<< | >>
Source: Oetzel John, Ting-Toomey Stella. The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research and Practice. SAGE Publications,2013. — 912 p.. 2013

More on the topic Qualitative Approaches Used in Conflict Research:

  1. Qualitative Approaches Used in Conflict Research
  2. Mixed Methods
  3. Ways to Build On the Unique Contributions of Qualitative Communication
  4. Conflict is ubiquitous in human affairs.
  5. There is a noticeable trend in the social sciences toward doing multi-method research.
  6. Preface
  7. Oetzel John, Ting-Toomey Stella. The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research and Practice. SAGE Publications,2013. — 912 p., 2013
  8. PoststructuralistZPostmodernist
  9. References
  10. REFERENCES