The field of qualitative research and the Underlying Discourse Unveiling Method (UDUM)

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, a qualitative "revolution" has been going on in the social and human sciences. Prompted by the need to attain deeper knowledge of new human and social phenomena, several researchers abandoned positivism and embraced qualitative methodologies. The field of qualitative research has become so vast that a discussion of the specificities of any particular method requires the identification of the similarities and differences that exist between such method and the various other methods in the field. In the present paper, this procedure is used for the discussion of the specificities of the Underlying Discourse Unveiling Method (UDUM).