The Practice of Qualitative Research - Couverture souple

Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She is founder and director of The National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education. She is coeditor of several books, including Feminist Perspectives on Social Research (Oxford University Press, 2004); Approaches to Qualitative Research (Oxford University Press, 2004); Women in Catholic Higher Education: Border Work,  Living Experiences and Social Justice ( Lexington, 2003); and Feminist Approaches to Theory and Methodology (Oxford University Press, 1999).  She is coauthor of The Practice of Qualitative Research ( Sage Publication, 2006); Emergent Methods in Social Research (Sage Publications , 2006); Working Women in America:Split Dreams ( Oxford University Press, 2005) . She is the author of  Am I Thin Enough Yet?   ( Oxford University Press, 1996) Her book, The Cult of Thinness, is forthcoming with the Oxford University Press.  She has written numerous articles in the fields of body image, qualitative methods, and computer approaches to qualitative data analysis. She is co-developer of  HyperRESEARCH,  (www.researchware.com)  a computer software program for qualitative data analysis.

This textbook presents an engaging introduction to the theory and methods of qualitative research in the social sciences. The authors employ a "holistic" approach to research by tightly linking research questions with the appropriate set of qualitative methods. They cover all the key mainstream qualitative methods, as well as a number of more unconventional ones such as oral history, visual and unobtrusive methods, and present an overview of mixed-methods approaches. As part of their discussion of the ethical issues underpinning all social research, the authors raise important issues concerning the problems and prospects novice researchers confront in researching human subjects.