Qualitative Research Methods - collection, organization, and analysis strategies
This text shows novice researchers how to design, collect, and analyze qualitative data and then present their results to the scientific community.
The book stresses the importance of ethics in research and taking the time to properly design and think through any research endeavor.
Learning Goals
Upon completing this book, readers should be able to:
- Effectively design, collect, organize, and analyze data and then to present results to the scientific community
- Use the Internet as both a resource and a means for accessing qualitative data
- Explore current issues in the world of researchers, which include a serious concern about ethical behavior and protocols in research and a more reflexive and sensitive role for the researcher
- Recognize the importance of ethical concerns before they actually begin the research collection, organization, and analytic process
- Understand basic elements associated with researcher reflexivity and research voice
Table of Contents:
IN THIS SECTION:
1.) BRIEF
2.) COMPREHENSIVE
BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Designing Qualitative Research
Chapter 3: Ethical Issues
Chapter 4: A Dramaturgical Look at Interviewing
Chapter 5: Focus Group Interviewing
Chapter 6: Ethnographic Field Strategies
Chapter 7: Action Research
Chapter 8: Unobtrusive Measures in Research
Chapter 9: Social Historical Research and Oral Traditions
Chapter 10: Case Studies
Chapter 11: An Introduction to Content Analysis
Chapter 12: Writing Research Papers: Sorting the Noodles from the Soup
COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Quantitative Versus Qualitative Schools of Thought
Use of Triangulation in Research Methodology
Qualitative Strategies: Defining an Orientation
From a Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Why Use Qualitative Methods?
A Plan of Presentation
Chapter 2: Designing Qualitative Research
Theory and Concepts
Ideas and Theory
Reviewing the Literature
Evaluating Web Sites
Content versus Use
Theory, Reality, and the Social World
Framing Research Problems
Operationalization and Conceptualization
Designing Projects
Data Collection and Organization
Data Storage, Retrieval, and Analysis
Dissemination
Trying It Out
Chapter 3: Ethical Issues
Research Ethics in Historical Perspective
From Guidelines to Law: Regulations on the Research Process
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
Ethical Codes
Some Common Ethical Concerns in Behavioral Research
New Areas for Ethical Concern: Cyberspace
Informed Consent and Implied Consent
Confidentiality and Anonymity
Securing the Data
Objectivity and Careful Research Design
Trying It Out
Chapter 4: A Dramaturgical Look at Interviewing
Dramaturgy and Interviewing
Types of Interviews
The Data Collection Instrument
Guideline Development
Communicating Effectively
A Few Common Problems in Question Formulation
Pretesting the Schedule
Long Versus Short Interviews
Telephone Interviews
Computer Assisted Interviewing
Conducting an Interview: A Natural or an Unnatural Communication?
The Dramaturgical Interview
The Interviewer’s Repertoire
Know Your Audience
Analyzing Data Obtained from the Dramaturgical Interview
Trying It Out
Chapter 5: Focus Group Interviewing
What are Focus Groups?
Working With a Group
The Evolution of Focus Group Interviews
Facilitating Focus Group Dynamics: How Focus Groups Work
The Moderator’s Guide
Basic Ingredients in Focus Groups
Analyzing Focus Group Data
Confidentiality and Focus Group Interviews
Recent Trends in Focus Groups: Online Focus Groups
Trying It Out
Chapter 6: Ethnographic Field Strategies
Accessing a Field Setting: Getting In
Reflectivity and Ethnography
Critical Ethnography
Becoming Invisible
Other Dangers During Ethnographic Research
Watching, Listening, and Learning
How to Learn: What to Watch and Listen For
Computers and Ethnography
OnLine Ethnography
Analyzing Ethnographic Data
Other Analysis Strategies: Typologies, Sociograms, and Metaphors
Disengaging: Getting Out
Trying It Out
Chapter 7: Action Research
The Basics of Action Research
Identifying the Research Question(s)
Gathering the Information to Answer the Question(s)
Analyzing and Interpreting the Information
Sharing the Results with the Participants
When to Use and When Not to Use Action Research
The Action Researcher’s Role
Types of Action Research
Photovoice and Action Research
Action Research: A Reiteration
Trying It Out
Chapter 8: Unobtrusive Measures in Research
Archival Strategies
Physical Erosion and accretion: Human Traces as Data Sources
Trying It Out
Chapter 9: Social Historical Research and Oral Traditions
What Is Historical Research?
Life Histories and Social History
What Are the Sources of Data for Historical Researchers?
Doing Historiography: Tracing Written History as Data
What Are Oral Histories?
Trying It Out
Chapter 10: Case Studies
The Nature of Case Studies
Theory and Case Studies
The Individual Case Study
Intrinsic, Instrumental, and Collective Case Studies
Case Study Design Types
Designing Case Studies
The Scientific Benefit of Case Studies
Case Studies of Organizations
Case Studies of Communities
Trying It Out
Chapter 11: An Introduction to Content Analysis
What is Content Analysis?
Analysis of Qualitative Data
Content Analysis as a Technique
Content Analysis: Quantitative or Qualitative?
Communication Components
What to Count: Levels and Units of Analysis
Category Development: Building Grounded Theory
Discourse Analysis and Content Analysis
Open Coding
Coding Frames
Stages in the Content Analysis Process
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Content Analysis Process
Computers and Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative Research at the Speed of Light
Trying It Out
Chapter 12: Writing Research Papers: Sorting the Noodles from the Soup
Plagiarism: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, and How to Avoid It
Identifying the Purpose of the Writing: Arranging the Noodles
Delineating a Supportive Structure: Visual Signals for the Reader
Terms and Conditions
Presenting Research Material
A Word About the Content of Papers and Articles
Write It, Rewrite It, Then Write It Again!
A Few Writing Hints
A Final Note
About the Author :
Bruce L. Berg received his PhD from Syracuse University in 1983. His first faculty position as Assistant Professor was at Florida State University, where he also served as Internship Director. In 1986, he took a position at University of Massachusetts-Boston Harbor campus. Then from 1988 to 1996, he moved up the academic ladder at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, achieving tenure and full professor status. He served as chair of many doctoral dissertation committees and thus influenced generations of young scholars. In 1997, he moved to Southern California and took a faculty position at CSULB, where he remained until his death in 2009.
Howard Lune is an Associate Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Graduate Social Research Program at Hunter College, CUNY. He specializes in research on organizations and organizational fields, with a particular focus on nonprofit organizations. The majority of his research concerns the efforts by relatively marginal groups to organize for greater political, social and/or economic power. He has published studies of organizing in response to HIV/AIDS, the development of zero tolerance drug policies in the US, state-community relations in political policy domains, and adolescent violence in public schools.
He is presently working on a historical study of the development of the American Irish collective identity, from the founding the US to the end of the twentieth century.
Review :
Thank you to the following reviewers:
Chris Podeschi Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Janelle Wilson University of Minnesota Duluth
Kimberly Mahaffy Millersville University
Meredith Kneavel Boyd Chestnut Hill College
Paula Fernandez William Paterson University
Susan Wortmann Nebraska Wesleyan University
“This is so well written and clear for students who struggle with this type of material.”
-Meredith Kneavel Boyd, Chestnut Hill College
“The primary strength of Berg's book is the breadth of data gathering approaches covered. It is also written in a manner that is accessible to undergraduate students.”
-Chris Podeschi, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Berg’s text is organized nicely, written well, and includes helpful ideas for student projects.”
-Janelle Wilson, University of Minnesota, Duluth
