Toward Methodological Precision: Linking Qualitative Meta-theories and Methods to Environmental Justice Research Design

Abstract

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, various qualitative methods have been extensively used in environmental justice (EJ) research. However, majority of the studies fail to explain in rich detail how particular qualitative method(s) of data collection and analysis have been used and what epistemological stance(s) inform their research design. This article underscores the need to attain methodological precision in EJ studies by demonstrating how the meta-theories of critical realism and social constructionism can be linked to forms of discourse analysis to understand different dimensions of a fundamental EJ concern—the process of environmental inequality formation in hazardous workplaces.