The Need for Thin Description

Abstract

Qualitative researchers tout the distinctive character of their work as thickly descriptive of the subject matter. They evaluate published results in the same terms, giving high marks to the richness of the best research. This article unpacks this universal standard and discusses the influence of preinvestigative empirical purview, analytic aims, and available data in addressing the question of why there is a need for thin as well as thick description in the enterprise. Laud Humphreys’s book Tearoom Trade, its research project, and unpublished observational notes are used as case material for considering the relative effects of the latter two influences on richness. The purpose is not to devalue thick description but to turn critical attention to the various influences at play in the realization of richness.