Discovering Qualitative Methods Field Research, Interviews, and Analysis

by Warren, Carol A. B.; Karner, Tracy X.

• ISBN13: 9780195330380
• ISBN10: 0195330382
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Discovering Qualitative Methods guides students on a journey into the study of social interaction and culture. This highly readable text covers all the major types of qualitative research: field research or ethnography, interviews, documents, and images. Throughout the text, Warren and Karner emphasize the process of social research--from the initial idea to the final paper, journal article, or scholarly monograph. Chapter One situates the development of qualitative research in a historical and theoretical context. Chapter Two discusses ethical, political, and legal issues in qualitative research, including the development and requirements of institutional review boards. Chapters Three, Four, and Five cover field research in all its contexts, from stranger to member and from solo to team ethnography. The reader is introduced to issues of accessibility and cost in choosing a setting, entree as event and process, and the intersection of the setting with the field researcher. Chapter Four follows these processes into the establishment of roles and relationships within the setting, including intersections of gender, sex, race, and ethnicity. The task of writing fieldnotes is addressed in Chapter Five. Since thick description is the basis of good analytic description, the importance of writing timely and detailed fieldnotes is emphasized. Various technologies that can assist the student with this task are presented, together with examples and critiques of fieldnotes. Qualitative interviewing is the subject of Chapters Six and Seven, beginning with topic selection and moving into the process of developing research and interview questions. Various interview formats, from dyads to focus groups, are discussed, and face-to-face is contrasted with telephone and internet interviewing. Selection of interviewees--how many, what social types, and which individuals--is covered, together with how to deal with problems such as the inability to locate respondents and how to elicit detailed narrative answers. The process and format of the qualitative interview is also considered as a social interaction. Warren and Karner further explore the logistics of transcription, or turning a speech event into text, as well as the epistemology of the interview--how qualitative researchers interpret the interview as a source of data and sociological knowledge. Chapter Eight discusses and analyzes the use of texts and images in qualitative research, including still and moving images, the Internet, and historical documents. The creation of texts and images by the researcher and the respondent are considered methodologically--as is the use of existing documents, photographs, and films. The analysis of qualitative data and the task of writing are developed in Chapters Nine and Ten. By this time in the process of discovering qualitative methods, the researcher has the data: fieldnotes, interview transcripts, copies of texts, or images. The task of analyzing these data is discussed in detail, as are the various techniques and technologies available to facilitate this task. Chapter Ten covers the write-up of the research in the form of class papers, presentations, or publishable articles and books. Step by step, Warren and Karner take the reader through the process of crafting a well-written qualitative analysis. They include discussions and examples of outlines and drafts, titles and authors, abstracts, introductions, methods sections, literature reviews, findings, conclusions, and the relationship between methods, theory, and applied sociology. The Epilogue considers the future of qualitative sociology. Qualitative methods teaching is flourishing both at the undergraduate and graduate levels in sociology, as well as interdisciplinary areas such as education, gerontology, and evaluation research. Interdisciplinary cultural studies continue to expand theoretical research with qualitative methods. The Epilo

Table of Contents

Preface: Welcome to the Study of Qualitative Methods

Acknowledgments

Introduction to Qualitative Methods

The Logic of Qualitative Inquiry

Generalizability, Validity, and Reliability

Methods, Theory, and Representation

The Chicago School and the Development of Qualitative Methods in Sociology

Ethnography and Social Change

Autoethnography

Visual Ethnography

Qualitative Interviewing: The Collective and the Individual Story

What Is It For?

The Purposes of Qualitative Research

The Law, Politics, and Ethics of Qualitative Research

The Law and Qualitative Sociological Research

The Brajuha, Scarce, and Leo Cases

The Protection of Human Subjects

Protection From Harm

Informed Consent

Confidentiality, Publicity, and Anonymity

Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research

Deception in the Field

Covert Versus Overt Field Research

Ethical Dilemmas in the Field: Researcher Versus Citizen

Field Research: Setting and Entree

Choosing a Setting

Accessibility, Interest, and Cost'Starting Where You Are'The Embodied Researcher: The Presentation of Self in Fieldwork Entree

Gender and Fieldwork Entree

Gatekeepers

Key Informants

The Go-Along

The Researcher as Spy

Roles and Relationships in Field Research

The Embodied Self of the Field Researcher

Researchers as Mascots

Apprentices, and Dancing Daughters

Sex in the Field

Ethnographers and Violence

Incorporation: Finding a Place

The Research Bargain

Going Native

Emotions in the Field

Leaving the Field

Reincorporating the Nonstranger

Membership Roles in Field Research

Writing Fieldnotes

Fieldnotes as Inscription of Thick Description

Time and Memory in Fieldnote Writing

Computers and Audiotapes

Preparing and Labeling Fieldnotes

Keeping Track of Fieldnotes

What Fieldnotes Look Like

Reading Fieldnotes

Writing the Other, Inscribing the Self

The Interview: From Research Questions to Interview Questions

The Chicago School and the Development of the Interview

When to Use Qualitative Interviews

Face Sheets

Questions, Prompts, and Probes

The IRB Review

The Format of the Interview

Interviews With Dyads and Triads

Focus Groups

Sampling Respondents

Number and Type of Respondent

Finding Respondents

Planning for the First Interview

The Interview as Social Interaction and Speech Event

The Interview as Social Interaction

Rapports, Truths, and Telling Accounts

After the Interview

Transcribing the Interview

Epistemology of the Interview

The Textual and the Visual as Qualitative Data: Documents,Images, and the Internet

Magazine Advertisements as Data Sources

Studying Gender

Sampling From Magazines

Historical Documents: Voices From the Past

Sampling Texts

Images in Qualitative Sociology

Using Visual Images as Prompts

Sampling Visual Images

Internet Studies

E-mail and Qualitative Research

Studying 'The Amplification of Deviance' on the Internet

Analyzing Qualitative Data: Fieldnotes, Interview Transcripts, Images, and Documents

Where to Begin

The Process of Analysis

Developing Analytic Patterns

The Logistics and Technologies of Analysis

Analyzing Fieldnotes

Analyzing Interview Transcripts

Analyzing Documents and Images

Linking Themes Into Analytic Descriptions

Making Connections

Developing Interpretations

Validating Your Analysis

Writing Well

The Practice of Writing

Preparing to Write

Crafting the Qualitative Research Paper

Elements of the Qualitative Research Paper

Title

Author's Name and Affiliation

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Methods

Analysis

Representation

Conclusion

Endnotes and References

Editing and Rewriting

Epilogue: The Future of Qualitative Sociology

Interdisciplinary Directions

Applied Qualitative Research

Cultural Studies Research

Postmodern Challenges to Qualitative Research

Critiquing the Postmodern Critique of Ethnography

Critiquing the Interview Society

Feminist Reframings

References

Indexes

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