Writing Qualitatively: The Selected Works of Johnny Saldaña showcases the diverse range of writing styles available to qualitative researchers through the work one of the most internationally cited and referenced methodologists. The traditional academic journal article still holds its place as a convention of published scholarship, but Saldaña illustrates how a variety of approaches to research documentation can evocatively represent social life and one’s self in intriguing ways.

Writing Qualitatively assembles journal articles, book chapters, ancillary materials, texts from keynote addresses, and previously unpublished work that illustrate Saldaña’s eclectic body of inquiry. Each piece is prefaced with author comments on the selection, and how readers themselves might venture into comparable writing styles. Multiple methodologies and writing examples are included, ranging from case studies to action research; from poetry to ethnodramatic play scripts; from confessional tales to autoethnographies; and from textbook materials to classroom session designs. An introduction to the collection discusses Saldaña’s writing processes and how qualitative researchers and educators can extend their own imaginations and creativity to find new forms of scholarly presentation and representation.

Writing Qualitatively serves as a supplemental text for undergraduate and graduate courses in qualitative inquiry, educational research, ethnography, and arts-based research. This unique anthology demonstrates to students, professors, and professional researchers how academic scholarship can be reported through a breadth of literary genres, elements, and styles.

It is an unusual author who can write a basic textbook on coding data and a gripping theatrical script with equal skill. Whether pedagogy for undergraduates, reflexive autoethnography, found poetry, or reader’s theatre, Johnny Saldaña has mastered it in his voluminous writings on qualitative research. Sit down for a while with this scholarly all-star and listen to him explain his writing strategies and secrets, with examples drawn from the best of forty years of his writings in qualitative research, education, and theatre.

Mitchell Allen, University of California Berkeley, author of Essentials of Publishing Qualitative Research

Renowned scholar Johnny Saldaña is simply one of the best writers in the field of qualitative research. I love his work. Saldaña writes the way students want to read and the way professors want to teach-- with clarity, humor, and robust examples. Saldaña’s unique skills from his background in theatre arts are on full display in this comprehensive, engaging, and well-written book. Writing Qualitatively is a terrific contribution to the literature and a must-have for researchers and students alike.

Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. author of Research Design and Method Meets Art

Johnny Saldaña is Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University’s School of Film, Dance, and Theatre in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Saldaña's works have been cited and referenced in over 7,000 research studies conducted in over 130 countries in disciplines such as K-12 and higher education, medicine and health care, technology and social media, business and economics, government and social services, the fine arts, the social sciences, human development, and communication.