Key Themes in Qualitative Research

This is an attempt by three well-respected ethnographic researchers to present a balanced view of qualitative methodology and research. The book is structured around classic texts, written by methodological pioneers, which comprise the basic foundation of modern qualitative research. The authors examine key premises in these texts, such as intimacy, advocacy and validity and how they may be supported, redesigned or made problematic in today's field. This allows for a critical analysis of Old Guard vs. Avant-Garde ideas and provides for the reader a guide to wade through the proliferation of texts and theories available since the post-modern turn. While not designed as a primer in qualitative research methods, anyone with modest experience in the field should find this book useful.

ISBN 0759101272   Pages 272 ISBN13 9780759101272 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher AltaMira Press,U.S.   Weight (grammes) 390 Imprint AltaMira Press,U.S.   Published in California Format Paperback   Height (mm) 228 Publication date 28 Apr 2003   Width (mm) 148 Library of Congress 2002152409   Spine width (mm) 16 DEWEY 300.72   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC21

		Acknowledgments
		Preface
		Introduction: The Old Guard and the Avant Garde		1
1		Strangeness and Familiarity		25
2		From Over-Rapport to Intimacy and Autoethnography		49
3		Whose Side Are We On?		71
4		Participation Observation and Interviewing		97
5		How Do You Know If Your Informant Is Telling the Truth?		119
6		From Inference to Difference		141
7		From Styles of Reporting to Poetics and Beyond		165
		Conclusion: Continuities and Changes		187
		References		201
		Index		223
		About the Authors		231

This reading of the recent history of qualitative research from the leaders of the Cardiff school of ethnography provides a measured, useful analysis of a field now so vast as to be unwieldy, so conflicted (in part) as to be balkanized and so multi-faceted as to appear opaque when transparent, transparent when opaque. The authors present a balanced perspective in their book, referring to classic texts and themes in examining contemporary issues. Chapters such as 'Whose Side Are We On?' make this book a contender for required reading in a qualitative methods class where beginners too easily slip into an individualistic way of viewing respondents/participants. I enthusiastically recommend this book as an essential text to anyone wanting to better understand the field and literature of qualitative research.--Olesen, Virginia

 Be the first to write a customer review