Abstract
Post-qualitative inquiry (PQI), the latest approach to inquiry in the social sciences and humanities, deviates from the mainstream research methodologies of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. It has completely different philosophical foundations: post-humanism, post-modernism, post-structuralism. By basing on post-onto-epistemologies rather than methodologies, it aims to promote experimentation, creativity, and difference in knowledge production. Although post-qualitative inquiry may not be able to replace the mainstream research approaches, it reveals the possibility of being more open-minded, experimental, and creative in educational research, including language education research.
TopFundamental Philosophical Concepts
An initial understanding of its philosophical foundations is necessary to understand PQI. First, a differentiation will be made between research and inquiry, humanism and post-humanism, modernism and post-modernism, structuralism and post-structuralism. Second, the post-structural concepts of plane of immanence and new materialism are introduced.
Research vs. Inquiry
To begin with, research and inquiry are commonly used interchangeably in methodology textbooks. However, they are distinguished from each other in the literature on PQI. While research refers to a more conventional and rigid form of investigation, inquiry refers to a more open and flexible form that promotes experimentation, creativity, and difference (Hartas, 2015; Creswell & Creswell, 2017). In this chapter, inquiry is intentionally used to refer to PQI.
Key Terms in this Chapter
New Materialism: While “old” materialism distinguishes between visible things (materials) and abstract things (non-materials), new materialism places them on the same plate with the assumption that the former are of no less importance than the latter.
Post-structuralism: A theoretical approach that rejects the major claims of structuralism, especially the two-tiered model of reality.
Modernism: A school of thought derived from architecture and the arts. It promotes functionality, simplicity, efficiency, and especially rationality.
Post-Humanism: A school of thought that assumes that humans cannot completely control knowledge and knowledge production because they are only one of the many forces that shape the world’s being and that humans are not limited to their rationality.
Research: A more systematic and structured process of inquiry.
Plane of Immanence: A non-hierarchical layer on which everything exists.
Post-Modernism: A school of thought that rejects modernist qualities of coherence, rationality, objectivity, linear hierarchy, and organization.
Post-Qualitative Inquiry (PQI): An inquiry approach that deconstructs, or critiques, qualitative methodology, and is based on post-humanism, post-modernism, and post-structuralism.
Structuralism: A school of thought that visualizes the world as a two-tiered reality—a messy tier and a pure one. The pure tier matters more because it can be scientifically described and analyzed.
Inquiry: A general process of seeking information and knowledge through questioning and exploration.
Humanism: An Enlightenment’s school of thought that foregrounds human’s experiences, voice, dignity, knowledge, etc. It also prioritizes human rationality.