Key Themes in Qualitative Research

Continuities and Changes

Paul Atkinson, Amanda Coffey, Sara Delamont

• Publisher: AltaMira Press
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN:
  9780585463889
• Edition: 1

Key Themes in Qualitative Research is an attempt by three well-respected ethnographic researchers to present a balanced view of qualitative methodology and research. The book is structured around classic texts, written by methodological pioneers, which comprise the basic foundation of modern qualitative research. The authors examine key premises in these texts, such as intimacy, advocacy, and validity, and how they may be supported, redesigned, or made problematic in today's field. This allows for a critical analysis of Old Guard vs. Avant-Garde ideas and provides for the reader a guide to wade through the proliferation of texts and theories available since the postmodern turn. While not designed as a primer in qualitative research methods, anyone with modest experience in the field should find this book extremely useful.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• PREFACE
• Introduction - THE OLD GUARD AND THE AVANT GARDE
• 1 - STRANGENESS AND FAMILIARITY
• 2 - FROM OVER-RAPPORT TO INTIMACY AND AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
• 3 - WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?
• 4 - PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND INTERVIEWING
• 5 - HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR INFORMANT IS TELLING THE TRUTH?
• 6 - FROM INFERENCE TO DIFFERENCE
• 7 - FROM STYLES OF REPORTING TO POETICS AND BEYOND
• Conclusion - CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES
• REFERENCES
• INDEX
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS