The Mindful Qualitative Researcher

This book explores the ways in which mindfulness can enhance the role of the researcher in qualitative inquiry. Many qualitative method texts discuss honing self-reflexivity, developing awareness, or bracketing pre-existing knowledge. However, few texts provide a tool to learn how to exercise reflexivity, cultivate awareness, or identify biases. This book uses a tangible practice, mindfulness meditation, as a means to train and prepare researchers across disciplines to enter into the field. It is written with the novice researcher in mind, specifically those navigating a graduate program and being introduced to qualitative methods for the first time. Each chapter presents a qualitative method along with a mindfulness practice that stems from the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) philosophy and training. The reader is encouraged to complete a writing component, Mindful Memos, alongside the practice.