A memo of qualitative research for information science: toward theory construction

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advocate for a clearer and less fragmentary use of qualitative research in the increasingly interdisciplinary research setting of information science.Design/methodology/approachThe paper performs a textual analysis of more than 500 peer‐reviewed articles to assess information science's involvement with qualitative research. The paper undertakes historical criticism to trace qualitative research in the reviews of information science for the last three decades.FindingsAuthors are unclear and lax in their uses of basic research terms. Authors do not account for qualitative research's characteristics, methods, and contributions to information science's bodies of knowledge. Only 4.3 percent of published articles mention their contributions to information science's literature whereas 5.6 percent mention qualitative method(s) in their abstracts. Publications do not show (intra‐)collaboration between areas of information science. Information science's contributions to the theoretical discussions of the wider scientific community are lacking.Originality/valueThe paper discusses afresh information science's qualitative research. The paper suggests a tighter and long‐term investment of information science in qualitative research and the formation of the information science's own theorists and theory‐illumined practitioners. The paper puts forth some practical recommendations.