Employing a Post-Qualitative Approach to Policy Research in Nepal

In this paper, I have attempted to uncover the evolving post-qualitative turn in Nepal, aiming to reimagine policy research. Conventionally, policy studies have been undertaken within the framework of positivist and interpretivist paradigms, which emphasize evidence-based logic, cause-and-effect relationships, and linear pathways. Both of these paradigms believe in prescribed structures and technical frameworks followed by specific guidelines in line with their philosophies. The existing evidence shows that even today, academicians, researchers, and policymakers in Nepal prefer these philosophical grounds in policy research. Conversely, a post-qualitative approach challenges these ideas by focusing on ontological premises and relationality to create evidence from the policy research. Guided by the interpretative paradigm, within the framework of the post-qualitative research design, I conducted conversational interviews and focused group discussions with policy stakeholders (i.e., policymakers, consumers, practitioners, and researchers) to create data. In addition, I employed thematic analysis and interpretation based on data categorization, followed by a meaning-making process to explore policy uptake. The findings indicate that policy research, which is undertaken employing a post-qualitative approach, is a living assemblage of discourses, addressing myriad sociocultural, political, and economic issues of Nepal. It also informs that intra-actions among humans (i.e., policymakers) and non-human (i.e., budgets and other resources) entities engage together to produce policies. On this note, a post-qualitative approach entangles sociocultural diversities, the availability of material conditions, and the lived experiences of communities in the policy-making process. This study tells us that this method is appropriate to create plural knowledge and reimagine policy research for policy design and implementation. Engaging a post-qualitative orientation, this study paves the way to envision policy outcomes.