• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.275-300
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• 2007

This study explores the trends and implications of social welfare qualitative research in Korea. The results are follows. At present, social welfare qualitative research is entering in the quickening period. The characteristics of configuration of social welfare qualitative research in Korea are overwhelming inferiority in post-positivism and heuristics, wide differences between universities in metropolitan area and in local area at the aspect of amounts of qualitative research products, rapid increase in the interests of qualitative research in doctoral candidates, and distinguishment of doctoral candidates as a leader group in qualitative research. The results of critics of qualitative researches are follow: 1) initiative of naturalistic interpretism 2) inclination of methodicism 3) poorness of critical themes 4) propensity in grounded theory. These trends of social welfare qualitative research in Korea, in spite of the limits, have various implications: 1) Trying to critics of social welfare knowledge based on positivism and formation of opposing discourse to positivism 2) diversification in paradigm of inquiry 3) spread of narrative thinking of social welfare phenomenon.