Call for Papers

Public Opinion Quarterly – 2025 Special Qualitative Issue

Public Opinion Quarterly has been publishing theoretical and methodological advances in social science research since 1937. Over the years, POQ has become “a trusted resource for a wide range of high quality research.” In recognition of the increasing relevance of qualitative approaches to the social and behavioral sciences, the editors of POQ have elected to publish the first-ever special issue devoted to qualitative research. This is an important historic event and an opportunity to shine a light on quality qualitative research being conducted across disciplines.

Please read the official Call for Papers (below) or download the pdf here and consider submitting. Also, please share this Call with your network.

Public Opinion Quarterly invites papers for a cross-disciplinary special issue on qualitative public opinion and social research, including qualitative-only designs and mixed methods designs where qualitative research forms the dominant component. The emphasis of this special issue is on articles that further the use of qualitative methods to inform and empirically advance substantive issues in the social and behavioral sciences. The special issue will be published in 2025.

We seek submissions that utilize qualitative (or qualitative-dominant) research to study substantive issues including, but not limited, to:

• Hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations
• Healthcare-related attitudes and behavior
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Elections, voting behavior, and other political issues
• Online behavior and social media
• Social and civic communication

Additionally, we welcome papers that highlight the novel contributions of particular qualitative methods to the study of public opinion and social research.

Submissions should not only demonstrate the important contribution that qualitative methods make to advancing knowledge but also discuss the quality elements of the research design, including scope (e.g., sample design and sampling), data gathering (e.g., construct validity, bias, nonresponse), and analysis (e.g., data format and tools, procedures, inter- or intra-coder reliability). In the interest of transparency and transferability, successful submissions will include data collection instrument(s), coding protocols, and other details of the research design and its implementation that would enable another scholar to conduct similar research in a different context, as required by Public Opinion Quarterly’s authorship guidelines.

Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the editorial team on three overriding factors: the demonstration of an important contribution attributed to a qualitative approach, the quality principles employed in the research design and implementation, and the level of transparency.

The deadline for manuscript submissions is December 4, 2023.  First round decisions will be made by March 4, 2024 and authors of manuscripts accepted for final publication will be notified by November 11, 2024. Public Opinion Quarterly’s “Author Guidelines” provide general instructions and information on the review process. Note that original article submissions should not exceed 6,500 words of text and notes, excluding figures, tables, references, and appendices.

Please submit papers online through Manuscript Central and include “special qualitative issue” in your cover letter.

If you have any questions, please contact Margaret Roller at rmr@rollerresearch.com and/or Zachary Smith at ZSmith@cdc.gov.

We look forward to reviewing your paper and potential contribution to this historic special issue of Public Opinion Quarterly.

Margaret R. Roller

Zachary R. Smith

Paul J. Lavrakas

Co-editors