Copyright ©2006, William M.K. Trochim (Cornell U.): In fact, some of the best "qualitative" research is often published in book form, often in a style that almost approaches a narrative story. One of my favorite writers (and, I daresay, one of the finest qualitative researchers) is Studs Terkel. He has written intriguing accounts of the Great Depression (Hard Times), World War II (The Good War) and socioeconomic divisions in America (The Great Divide), among others. In each book he follows a similar qualitative methodology, identifying informants who directly experienced the phenomenon in question, interviewing them at length, and then editing the interviews heavily so that they "tell a story" that is different from what any individual interviewee might tell but addresses the question of interest. If you haven't read one of Studs' works yet, I highly recommend them.
Louis "Studs" Terkel (Wikipedia) (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008)[1] was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for “The Good War”, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago...
In 2006, Terkel received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. (USA Today)
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