The Quality of Qualitative ResearchThis textbook is designed to help students and practicing researchers to improve the quality of their research. Practical examples and exercises demonstrate how to evaluate qualitative research, how to plan and collect good quality data, how to do thoughtful analysis, and how to write and report on qualitative research. "Apart from its inherent readability, I found three other attractive features about the book: First is the use of exemplars based on case studies from qualitative studies, including Whyte′s Street Corner Society; second, is the quotes from key methodological texts reflecting on a range of qualitative research traditions; and third, is the use of philosophical argument and reference in the book which provided an added depth to the debate, often lacking in more practically oriented books. These deliberations take readers to a higher plane, whilst still allowing the novice to philosophy to gain an insight into theory." —Forum for Qualitative Research "Seale steers a dispassionate course - both pragmatic and thoughtful - through the sometimes stormy waters of qualitative analysis. Anyone wanting an up-to-date picture of qualitative analysis will benefit from this book. It is truly a quality contribution to the field." —Nigel Fielding, University of Surrey "Clearly and engagingly written, this book covers crucially important issues such as the generalisability of findings, the grounding of theory and the validity and reliability of research reports. With frequent summaries of key points, criteria for evaluating research reports and discussions exercises, this is an extremely useful text for students and professionals alike." —Derek Layder, University of Leicester "This is a brilliant, carefully crafted, even-handed, comprehensive analysis of the multiple ways in which quality is assessed in contemporary qualitative inquiry. Clive Seale provides a balanced, subtly nuanced treatment of this key problem." —Norman Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Chanpaign "The coverage is impressive and the depth of scholarship impeccable. Both students and seasoned investigators will find the author′s pragmatic approach refreshing and helpful. It will appeal to the naturalistic researcher as well as to empirically-oriented scholars smitten by postmodern questions. I would definitely recommend it to my students. A splendid leading text for classroom adoption." —Jaber F Gubrium, University of Florida "Clive Seale has performed an important service for social science researchers by finding a sane middle ground between the twin fanaticisms of radical interpretivism and quantiative scientism. His book is practical, telling people who want to get research done how to do that in an effective and reasonable way. His explanations are clear and concise, his examples well chosen, and the practices he recommends are doable. You can learn a lot about how to approach research from this book." — Howard S Becker, University of California, Santa Barbara "For the undergraduate, or postgraduate looking for a comfortable drive through an increasingly unmanageable literature, this book provides an outstanding introduction." —Qualitative Research |
Contents
| 2 | |
| 4 | |
| 7 | |
| 9 | |
| 13 | |
Conclusion | 17 |
Chapter 3 Trust Truth and Philosophy | 19 |
Positive science | 21 |
Conclusion | 104 |
Chapter 8 Generalizing from Qualitative Research | 106 |
Naturalism and thick description | 107 |
Theoretical generalization | 109 |
Using numbers to generalize | 113 |
Sampling within the case | 115 |
Conclusion | 118 |
Chapter 9 Using Numbers | 119 |
Knowing a real world | 23 |
Constructing a research community | 29 |
Conclusion | 30 |
Chapter 4 Guiding Ideals | 32 |
Positivist criteria | 34 |
Internal validity | 38 |
Causality in qualitative research | 39 |
External validity | 40 |
Reliability and replicability | 41 |
Interpretivist criteriology | 42 |
Constructivist criteria | 45 |
Permissive criteria | 47 |
Conclusion | 49 |
Part II Research Practice | 51 |
Chapter 5 Converging on a Point? | 52 |
Triangulation | 53 |
Criticisms of triangulation | 56 |
The ethnomethodological critique | 57 |
The philosophical critique | 59 |
Member validation | 61 |
Examples of member validation | 65 |
Surgeons decision making | 66 |
member validation as rhetoric | 68 |
Member validation and discourse analysis | 69 |
Conversation analysis as selfvalidating | 70 |
Conclusion | 71 |
Chapter 6 Accounting for Contradiction | 73 |
Searching and accounting for negative instances | 74 |
Studies lacking negative instances | 75 |
Adding to textual analysis | 76 |
Studies that account for negative instances | 78 |
Deviant cases lead to modification of ideas | 80 |
Deviant cases are explainable | 81 |
Analytic induction | 83 |
Criticisms and limitations | 85 |
Chapter 7 Grounding Theory | 87 |
Grounding theoretical statements | 88 |
The discovery of grounded theory | 91 |
Theoretical sampling and theoretical saturation | 92 |
Thick description and theoretical saturation | 94 |
The historical context | 95 |
Constant comparison | 96 |
Staying on the ground | 97 |
Later development of grounded theory | 99 |
Quantitative data | 100 |
Limitations and criticisms of grounded theory | 102 |
Critique from postmodernism | 103 |
an example | 121 |
Other uses of numbers | 123 |
Combination of the two to produce a general picture | 124 |
Structure and process | 126 |
Researchers and subjects perspectives | 127 |
Simple counts | 128 |
Counting to mislead | 130 |
Counting interactions | 132 |
Facilitating the interpretation of relations between variables | 133 |
Advanced statistics and qualitative method | 136 |
Conclusion | 138 |
Chapter 10 Reliability and Replicability | 140 |
External reliability | 141 |
Replication | 142 |
Other replications | 144 |
Street Corner Society | 145 |
Internal reliability | 147 |
Lowinference descriptors | 148 |
Recording fieldnotes | 149 |
Constructing fieldnotes | 150 |
Transcription in conversation analysis | 151 |
Reliability of coding | 154 |
Showing data | 156 |
Conclusion | 157 |
Chapter 11 Reflexivity and Writing | 159 |
Confession versus reflexive accounting | 160 |
A nonfallibilistic example | 161 |
Explaining methods | 162 |
Making theories explicit | 163 |
investigating health beliefs | 165 |
Postmodern reflexivity | 169 |
Examples of textual radicalism | 170 |
examples from Moroccan ethnography | 172 |
Poetic and fictional forms | 174 |
Conclusion | 177 |
Chapter 12 Reinstating the Author | 178 |
Reporting the American city | 179 |
A night in a shooting gallery | 180 |
Aesthetics | 183 |
Humour in Goffman | 185 |
Summary and conclusion | 187 |
Criteria for the Evaluation of Qualitative Research Papers | 189 |
Discussion Exercises | 193 |
References | 198 |
| 211 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Additionally analytic induction argue argument assumptions Atkinson attempt authors Bryman causal Chapter claims coding concepts concerns conclusions constructed constructivist context conventional conversation analysis Cornerville credibility criteria criteriology critical critique cultural Denzin described deviant discourse discourse analysis discussion enhance ethnographic evidence example exercises experience external validity fact fallibilism fieldwork Geertz Glaser and Strauss grounded theory Hammersley ideas inter-rater reliability interaction interpretations interpretivist interviews involves issues judgement LeCompte and Goetz Lincoln and Guba London meaning member validation negative instances numbers observation particular patients perspectives philosophical political position positivist possible postmodern postpositivist present problems procedures qualitative data qualitative method qualitative research qualitative social research quality of research quantitative questions readers realist reflexive relevant reliability replicability research account research practice research report research studies research texts researcher's Sage schools scientific Silverman similar Sociology strategy Street Corner Society survey techniques textual theoretical sampling transcripts triangulation truth Whyte