Handbook for Team-Based Qualitative Research

This authoritative collection provides a practical and comprehensive introduction to team-based qualitative research. The authors are social scientists and health researchers with extensive experience in this rapidly expanding field. Qualitative research has become increasingly interdisciplinary and team oriented. The transition away from the lone-researcher approach to collaborative and inter-institutional research creates new challenges for designing and implementing qualitative research. The authors use examples from both American and international studies to show how working in teams affects research design, project management, data analysis, and the presentation of research findings. The book offers numerous approaches and methods for making team research more efficient and enhancing the quality of research findings throughout all stages of the research process. Topics covered include: project design and preparation; logistics; research ethics; political dimensions of collaborative research; data collection; transcription and data management; codebook development; data reduction and analysis; monitoring and quality control; and dissemination of results.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction to Team-Based Qualitative Research Chapter 2 Ethics and Team-Based Research Chapter 3 The Politics of Field Research Chapter 4 A Logistical Framework for Enhancing Team Dynamics Chapter 5 Transcribing Data for Team Research Chapter 6 Team-based Codebook Development: Structure, Process, and Agreement Chapter 7 Data Reduction Techniques for Large Qualitative Data Sets Chapter 8 Qualitative Data Management Chapter 9 A Framework for Monitoring Sociobehavioral Research 10 Re-evaluating Guidelines in Qualitative Research 11 Systematic Methods for Collecting and Analyzing Team-Based Qualitative Data

About the Author :
Greg Guest is a behavioral scientist/applied anthropologist at Family Health International. Over the past decade, Guest has managed multi-disciplinary projects in various fields of research including human ecology, human-computer interaction, consumer behavior, agricultural development, and international health. He has an ongoing interest in the integration of qualitative and quantitative methodology as well as the translation of social science research to practice. Guest is editor of Globalization, Health, and the Environment (AltaMira 2005). Kathleen M. MacQueen is Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Research Ethics and Senior Scientist with the Behavioral and Social Sciences Division at Family Health International in Durham, NC. She is also adjunct faculty with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, and in the Health Behavior and Health Education Program, School of Public Health. She has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Binghamton University and a MPH from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Review :
This handbook fills a longstanding gap. The lone wolf anthropologist is the exception in fieldwork. Today, most qualitative research is done in teams -and this comprehensive volume covers the major issues to assure well-functioning, productive teams. Conducting qualitative research can be daunting even to individual researchers, who must deal with hundreds of pages of narrative text and other sources of data. There is increasing recognition that multi-site qualitative and ethnographic research is needed to understand complex global health problems or for the evaulation of intervention programs. What is needed is a systematic approach, set of methods, and data management and analysis strategies. This book provides a clear roadmap that will guide investigators who work in team-based research, with contributions by some of the best in the field. This book is a gem. It provides a sophisticated synthesis of how to conduct team-based socio-behavioral, qualitative research. It approaches the pitfalls of multi-method, multi-site research conducted by multi-cultural and interdisciplinary teams with humor and experience-based practical guidance. In an increasingly globalized world in which real problems are interdisciplinary by their very nature, donors and local communities alike are demanding scientists who know how to think outside-the-box in terms of disciplines and methods. Guest and MacQueen's volume fills a void in the methods literature by providing a clear, practical road map for teams that need to uncover complexity while designing solutions for disadvantaged populationssss Team-based ethnography on applied projects produces masses of data. Monitoring, managing, and reducing those data - making them useful - is a challenge, but the challenge just got easier with the publication of this book... Full of practical advice from colleagues who have really walked the walk. At a time when multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research is necessary in the health field, when research ethics is under scrutiny, and when politically charged topics demand critical inquiry, there is a great need for qualitative research guides that anticipate challenges and provide an overview of methods. There are many how-to methods books for research in health and social science, but none addresses team-based qualitative research like this handbook. Written by seasoned researchers who have summarize their collective wisdom clearly and cogently, this book should be read by anyone planning a team-based qualitative research project. In an increasingly globalized world in which real problems are interdisciplinary by their very nature, donors and local communities alike are demanding scientists who know how to think outside-the-box in terms of disciplines and methods. Guest and MacQueen's volume fills a void in the methods literature by providing a clear, practical road map for teams that need to uncover complexity while designing solutions for disadvantaged populations This is a foundational work for team-based qualitative research. With this handbook the field comes of age. It is a must for all who wish to understand the problems of design, politics, ethics and analysis that are involved in team-based inquiry.