Emergent Design

BRITTANY C. PAILTHORPE
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA

An emergent design refers to the ability to adapt to new ideas, concepts, or findings
that arise while conducting qualitative research. In contrast to more deductive and
structured approaches, an emergent design works more inductively, accommodating
changes in the conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, and composition stages
of research. Emergent designs facilitate adjustments when participants, events, or data
present unanticipated information (Davis, 2014; Davis, Powell, & Lachlan, 2013). These
emerging developments often add to the richness of the data. Although the emergent
characteristic is an important part of grounded theory, emergent design does not refer
solely to the data collection and analysis stages. Emergent design is to grounded the-
ory as is the distinction between sensitizing concepts and pre-configured codes. Emergent
research designs encourage unforeseen nuances in the data rather than the specific seek-
ing out of certain information (Creswell, 2007). The researcher takes cues from the data,
process, or conclusions, and the whole study is a reflection of varying levels of emergent
characteristics within that research process.
From conceptualization to publication, an emergent approach to qualitative research
is also embedded within every methodological and creative stage of research and varies
from project to project. In a rhetorical criticism, a new way of viewing the data may
alter the type of critique envisioned or begun. In interviews or focus groups, partic-
ipants’ communication often sparks new angles or interpretations that the researcher
incorporates in subsequent sessions. Ethnographic studies conducted by scholars
like Dawn Braithwaite, often include unpredictable connections between cultures,
individuals, and places (Davis, 2014). Regularly, previous and new literature on a topic
alters perceptions and scopes of projects. Although the revelation of new information
may happen early in the process of data collection or analysis, emergent designs are
never restricted to a certain order or timeline. As Schwandt (2015) notes, emergent
qualitative research is interactive and situational. It is the task of the researcher to eval-
uate fresh developments and accurately represent the contained and broader realities
under study. When writing qualitative research, researchers commonly highlight the
divergences and contradictions within their studies, highlighting the nonlinear process
of an emergent qualitative design.

SEE ALSO: Grounded Theory; Inductive Model; Qualitative Methodology; Research

Method Selection

The International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. Jörg Matthes (General Editor),
Christine S. Davis and Robert F. Potter (Associate Editors).
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0081
2 EMERGENT DESIGN

References

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Davis, C. S. (2014). Conversations about qualitative communication research: Behind the scenes
with leading scholars. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Davis, C. S., Powell, H., & Lachlan, K. A. (2013). Straight talk about communication research
methods (2nd ed.) Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
Schwandt, T. A. (2015). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Further reading

Croucher, S. M., & Cronn-Mills, D. (2014). Understanding communication research methods: A

theoretical and practical approach. New York: Routledge.
Leslie, L. Z. (2009). Communication research methods in postmodern culture: A revisionist
approach. New York: Routledge.
Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2010). Qualitative communication research methods (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Brittany C. Pailthorpe received her MA in communication studies from the Univer-

sity of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2015. Her research interests include authenticity,
memory, technology, rhetoric, and media. She lives in Rhode Island.