Qualitative Insights into the Complexity of Calling: Moving Beyond Quantitative Boundaries

Authors

Jeannel King, Saybrook University, Pasadena, California, USAFollow

Abstract

Why are deeply personal and lived experiences often reduced to standardized measurements? Calling is one such experience. Although widely recognized as complex, personal, and contextually shaped, the concept of calling has most often been researched through quantitative methods over the past two decades. This study employed qualitative content analysis (QCA) to examine how calling was researched across 267 peer-reviewed journal articles, trace methodological patterns, and consider how those choices influence the field’s conceptualizations of the construct. The analysis integrated deductive coding of methodological features and inductive identification of conceptual themes, refined through abductive synthesis. This hybrid strategy positioned the study on a continuum between concept- and data-driven approaches, aligning with established QCA practices and allowing the analysis to move iteratively between predefined categories and emergent insights. Findings suggest that although qualitative approaches are present, quantitative methods dominate and frequently frame calling in measurable and instrumental terms. The methodological hegemony present in the field may limit how the construct is understood, shifting focus away from calling as a lived, value-driven experience and toward calling as a variable to be predicted, explained, or optimized. The article concludes by advocating for more pluralistic and reflexive approaches to studying calling. By broadening its methodological diversity, the field might fully capture the ambiguity, richness, and complexity that this construct holds for those who experience it.

Keywords

calling, qualitative content analysis (QCA), methodological pluralism, methodological hegemony, lived experience, epistemology of calling

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Jeannel King is an adjunct faculty member in humanistic psychology at Saybrook University, where she teaches qualitative research, creativity, leadership, and integrative approaches to consciousness and spirituality. A qualitative methodologist and award-winning scholar, her research explores the lived experience of meaningful work and the construct of calling. A passionate advocate for scholarly voice and an imperfect academic writer, Jeannel King hosts the Academic Writing Room with the London Writers’ Salon and mentors graduate students in writing with clarity, confidence, and creative insight. ORCID: 0000-0002-8880-9458 Please direct correspondence to jking@saybrook.edu

Publication Date

10-26-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8433

Recommended APA Citation

King, J. (2025). Qualitative insights into the complexity of calling: Moving beyond quantitative boundaries. The Qualitative Report, 30(10), 4491-4514. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8433

ORCID ID

0000-0002-8880-9458