Product Overview
This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research processand helps readers conceptualize their own studiesby organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so readers can develop their own proposals or reports as they work through the book. Provided are strategies for selecting a research topic, entering and exiting sites, and navigating the complexities of ethical issues and the researcher's role. Readers learn how to use a range of data collection methodsincluding observational strategies, interviewing, focus groups, e-mail and chat rooms, and arts-based mediaand to manage, analyze, and report the resulting data.
Useful pedagogical features include:
*In-class and field activities to apply qualitative concepts.
*Discussion questions, proposal development exercises, and reflexive journal activities.
*Exemplary qualitative studies and two sample proposals.
*Cautionary notes, or Wild Cards, about possible research pitfalls.
*Tables that summarize concepts and present helpful tips.
