An Introduction to Qualitative Research: Learning in the Field

This popular text is a true introduction to qualitative research. Woven into the chapters are three themes that are the heart of thIS book: First, research is about learning; second, research can and should be useful; and finally, a researcher should practice the highest ethical standards to ensure that a study is trustworthy. There is a comprehensive discussion of ethics and ethical research practice, as well as an elaborate discussion of systematic inquiry-both leading to the central consideration of trustworthiness in research.

Table of Contents:
1. Qualitative Research as Learning Doing Qualitative Research: Tales of Three Characters Defining Qualitative Research Common Characteristics Typical Purposes and Overall Approaches The Characters′ Choices Ways of Using Research Dispositions and Skills Overview of the Book Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 2. The Researcher as Learner What is Learning? The Reflexivity of Qualitative Research Paradigms Perspective in Practice Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 3. The Researcher as Competent and Ethical What Does Trustworthiness Matter? What Makes a Trustworthy Study? Systematic Practice Ethical Practice Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 4. Major Qualitative Research Genres Choosing the Locus of Interest Ethnographic Genres Phenomenological Genres Sociolinguist Genres Case Studies Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 5. Conceptualizing and Planning the Research Practical Considerations What is a Research Proposal? Conceptual Framework Design and Methods Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 6. Entering the Field Preparation Intended Involvement Approach and Negotiations Expectations and Relationships Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 7. Gathering Data in the Field Decisions About Gathering Data Systematic Inquiry Generic In-Depth Interviewing Specialized In-Depth Interviewing Special Considerations Observing People, Actions, and Events Studying Material Culture Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 8. Issues That Arise in the Field How Do I Prepare to Gather Data? How Can I Get Comfortable in the Field? What are the Data? How Do I Turn Sights, Sounds, and Objects Into Data? Two Languages: Which Do I Use? How Can I Change My Research Plan? What Do I Reflect On? How Do I Leave the Field? Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 9. Our Character′s Data Anthony′s Data Marla′s Data Ruth′s Data Activities for Your Community of Practice 10. Analyzing and Interpreting Data Analysis Happens Generic Analysis Writing In-Process Analytic Memos Strategies for Analyzing Interview Data Strategies for Analyzing Field Notes From Observations Strategies for Analyzing Material Culture Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading 11. Our Characters′ Analyses Anthony′s Analysis Ruth′s Analysis Marla′s Analysis Dispositions and Skills Activities for Your Community of Practice 12. Presenting the Learnings Presentation Voice An Example Organizing the Report Using the Dispositions and Skills to Generate Useful Knowledge Activities for Your Community of Practice Further Reading

About the Author :
Gretchen B. Rossman is Professor Emerita of International Education and the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her PhD in education from the University of Pennsylvania, with a specialization in higher-education administration. She has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Prior to coming to the University of Massachusetts, she was senior research associate at Research for Better Schools in Philadelphia. With an international reputation as a qualitative methodologist, she has expertise in qualitative research design and methods, mixed-methods monitoring and evaluation, and inquiry in education. Over the past 30+ years, she has coauthored 15 books, 2 of which are editions of major qualitative research texts (Learning in the Field, third edition, with Sharon F. Rallis, and the present seventh edition of Designing Qualitative Research, with Catherine Marshall and Gerardo L. Blanco—both widely used guides for qualitative inquiry). In addition, she has published a book titled The Research Journey: An Introduction to Inquiry (with Sharon Rallis). She has also authored or coauthored more than 50 articles, book chapters, and technical reports focused on methodological issues in qualitative research synthesis, mixed-methods evaluation, and ethical research practice, as well as the analysis and evaluation of educational reform efforts both in the United States and internationally. Professor Rossman has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on several large U.S. Agency for International Development–funded projects (in Palestine, the Southern Sudan, Malawi, Tanzania, and India); as co-PI on a World Bank–funded multigrade schooling project (Senegal and Gambia); as lead trainer for a Save the Children–funded participatory monitoring and evaluation of professional training (Azerbaijan); and as external evaluator on several domestic projects, including a Department of Education–funded reform initiative, a National Science Foundation–funded middle-grades science initiative, and a number of projects implementing more inclusive practices for students with disabilities. Sharon F. Rallis is Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Reform at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Previously, she was professor of education at the University of Connecticut; lecturer on education at Harvard; and associate professor of educational leadership at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Her doctorate is from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has coauthored numerous books, including several on leadership: Principals of Dynamic Schools: Taking Charge of Change (with Ellen Goldring); Dynamic Teachers: Leaders of Change (with Gretchen Rossman); Leading Dynamic Schools: How to Create and Implement Ethical Policies (with Gretchen Rossman and others); and Leading With Inquiry and Action: How Principals Improve Teaching and Learning (with Matthew Militello and Ellen Goldring). Her numerous articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and technical reports address issues of research and evaluation methodology, ethical practice in research and evaluation, education policy and leadership, and school reform. A past-president of the American Evaluation Association (2005) and current editor of the American Journal of Evaluation, Professor Rallis has been involved with education and evaluation for more than three decades. She has been a teacher, counselor, principal, researcher, program evaluator, director of a major federal school reform initiative, and an elected school board member. Currently, her teaching includes courses on inquiry, program evaluation, qualitative methodology, and organizational theory. Her research has focused on the local implementation of programs driven by federal, state, or district policies. As external evaluator or principal investigator (PI), she has studied a variety of domestic and international policy and reform efforts, such as alternative professional development for leaders; collaborations between agencies responsible for educating incarcerated or institutionalized youth; initiatives supporting inclusive education for children and youth with disabilities; local school governance and leadership; labor-management relations in school districts; and leadership development. Her work with students on evaluation and qualitative methodology has taken her as far as Afghanistan, Turkey, and Palestine.

Review :
"This book has all the resources you need to complete your own research and become a more skilled lifelong learner." Rossman and Rallis build on their experience as researchers, teachers, and authors to update and improve what I think is simply the best available text for an introductory course on qualitative research methods.