Approaches to Qualitative Research

Description

Qualitative research encompasses a growing set of methods that eschew strictly empirical, quantitative data in favor of information gathered through ethnography, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, and visual research. While it is an important tool in the arsenal of the researcher, there is often a large gap between the theory behind qualitative research and the actual practice of its methods. Approaches to Qualitative Research couples theoretical articles with practical research examples to help students develop a holistic understanding of the process of qualitative research.
Covering a wide range of traditional and emergent research methods, as well as techniques of analysis and writing, the book clearly explains the critical link between theory and method through carefully selected articles and in-depth introductory essays. The essays illustrate key concepts that are crucial to the understanding of qualitative methods, connecting theoretical discussions with "how-to" examples of the research process. Selected for their accessibility, the articles not only reveal the basics of qualitative research but also touch on some current practices including Internet research, computer-driven data analysis, and using still and moving data. Approaches to Qualitative Research is an exemplary text for undergraduate and graduate courses on research methods and qualitative research methods. It is also an ideal companion volume to Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Michelle Yaiser's Feminist Perspectives on Social Research (OUP, 2004).

Table of Contents

I. DISTINGUISHING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues, Egon G. Guba and Yvonna S. Lincoln
2. Overcoming Dualisms: A Feminist Agenda for Sociological Methodology, Joey Sprague and Mary Zimmerman
3. How Standpoint Methodology Informs Philosophy of Social Science, Sandra Harding
4. The Blending of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Understanding Childbearing among Welfare Recipients, Mark R. Rank
5. Dimensions of Desire: Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in a Study of Female Adolescent Sexuality, Deborah L. Tolman and Laura Szalacha
II. INTERACTION AND POSITIONALITY WITHIN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
6. Culture to Culture: Ethnography and Cultural Studies as Critical Intervention, bell hooks
7. "You Still Takin' Notes?" Fieldwork and Problems of Informed Consent, Barrie Thorne
8. Fieldwork in Lesbian and Gay Communities, Kath Weston
9. Depth Interviewing, William L. Miller and Benjamin F. Crabtree
10. "White Like Me?" Methods, Meaning, and Manipulation in the Field of White Studies, Charles A. Gallagher
11. Beginning Where We Are: Feminist Methodology in Oral History, Kathryn Anderson, Susan Armitage, Dana Jack, and Judith Wittner
12. Understanding Domestic Service through Orla History and the Census: The Case of Grand Falls, Newfoundland, Ingrid Botting
13. Focus Groups, David L. Morgan
14. Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children's Elementary Education, Peter McDermott and Julia Rothenberg
III. UNOBTRUSIVE METHODS, VISUAL RESEARCH, AND CULTURAL STUDIES
15. Following in Foucault's Footsteps: Text and Context in Qualitative Research, Lindsay Prior
16. Photographs wihtin the Sociological Research Project, Jon Prosser and Dona Schwartz
17. Analyses of Moving Images, Diana Rose
18. Introducing Online Methods, Chris Mann and Fiona Stewart
19. A Content Analysis of Internet-Accessible Written Pornographic Depictions, Denna Harmon and Scot B. Boeringer
IV. ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND THE WRITING OF QUALITATIVE DATA
20. An End to Innocence: The Ethnography of Ethnography, John Van Maanen
21. The Art and Politics of Interpretation, Norman K. Denzin
22. Writing: A Method of Inquiry, Laural Richardson
23. Grounded Theory, Kathy Charmaz
24. "That's Not What I Said": Interpretive Conflict in Oral Narrative Research, Katherine Borland
25. Unleashing Frankenstein's Monster? The Use of Computers in Qualitative Research, Sharlene Hesse-Biber