The Craft of Qualitative Research
A Handbook
Edited by Steven W. Kleinknecht , Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott , Carrie B. Sanders
December 2018
Print ISBN: 9781773380971
Overview
An edited collection packed with advice, exercises, and anecdotes, The Craft of Qualitative Research is a practical, introductory guide that will develop students’ skills and confidence in qualitative research. Accessible in style and tone, this text equips students with the tools needed to manage and overcome challenges, emotions, biases, and power dynamics in the field. To encourage experiential learning, 45 concise chapters include real-world examples and practical exercises from scholars and professionals in varying disciplines and stages of career. Each section begins with an editors’ introduction then takes readers through the steps of successful qualitative research: from planning projects ethically and entering the field, to collecting and analyzing data, and lastly, to exiting the field and disseminating findings. Students in research-reliant disciplines, particularly sociology, anthropology, criminology, social work, and health studies, will benefit from this distinctly practical resource.
FEATURES
- offers material accessible to both inexperienced and experienced researchers
- offers readers focused, experiential case studies exploring key stages of the research process in an in-depth fashion
Related Titles
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Introduction: Invitation to the Craft of Qualitative Research 1
Steven W. Kleinknecht, Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott, and Carrie B. Sanders
SECTION I. PLANNING YOUR PROJECT
Chapter 1. “The Person Behind the Research:” Reflexivity and the Qualitative
Research Process 10
Kalyani Thurairajah
Chapter 2. The Role of Unpredictability in Ethnographic Fieldwork 17
Mark S. Dolson
Chapter 3. Collateral Damage: Preparing Your Friends and Family for Your
Ethnography 25
Tony Christensen
Chapter 4. The Story of Dr. Charles Smith: An Exercise in Rolling Thematic
Analysis 32
Chris McCormick
SECTION II. NAVIGATING ETHICAL DILEMMAS
Chapter 5. Living Your Ethics: “It’s” Not Just a Dusty Document 46
Kerstin Roger and Javier Mignone
Chapter 6. Observing Teens: Negotiating Power and Opportunity During Field
Research 53
Katherine Irwin
Chapter 7. Doing Research Undercover: Interviewing Protesters 60
Gül Çalışkan
Chapter 8. Social Regulation and Ethics in Research 67
Will van den Hoonaard
SECTION III. MANAGING INSIDER/OUTSIDER STATUS WHILE GAINING ACCESS
Chapter 9. An Insider’s Perspective on Research with Policewomen in
Canada 78
Lesley J. Bikos
Chapter 10. Politics and Tensions of Doing Transgender Research: Lessons
Learned by a Straight-White-Cisgender Man 85
Matthew S. Johnston
Chapter 11. Researching Truck Drivers: Difficult Data Collection and Proving
Oneself Amidst a Culture of Suspicious Masculinity 92
Michael A. Fleming
Chapter 12. “You’re an Alien to Us”: Autoethnographic Accounts of Two
Researchers’ Experiences in an Organizational Setting 98
Cathlene Hillier and Emily Milne
SECTION IV. EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS WHILE ESTABLISHING TRUST AND RAPPORT
Chapter 13. Using a Qualitative Approach in Applied Military Personnel
Research 107
Justin Wright
Chapter 14. Navigating Emotions While Establishing Trust and Rapport in
Autoethnography 114
Colleen McMillan
Chapter 15. Personal Reputation as an “In” to Field Research Settings 121
Steven W. Kleinknecht
Chapter 16. “You Are Not Allowed to Be Here…”: Ethnography of Rejection, Shame, and Hurt 127
Thaddeus Müller
Chapter 17. Doing Research on Behind-the-Scenes Phenomena: Entering the
Female Escort Industry 133
Magdalena Wojciechowska
SECTION V. DOING OBSERVATION
Chapter 18. “Going Through the (E)motions”: Attending to Social Location and
Emotionality in Observational Studies of Police 144
Crystal Weston and Carrie B. Sanders
Chapter 19.Reconsidering Relations in the Field: Attending to Dominance
Processes in the Ethnographic Encounter 152
Scott Grills
Chapter 20. Minding the Gap at the Limits of Observation 160
Kritee Ahmed
Chapter 21. Tips and Tricks for Writing Reflexive Field Notes When Doing Team- Based Rapid Ethnographic Research 167
Krystal Kehoe MacLeod
SECTION VI. DOING INTERVIEWS
Chapter 22. “Show and Tell”: Using Objects as Visual Interview Guides in
Qualitative Interviewing 178
Kathleen Steeves and Deana Simonetto
Chapter 23. Interactional Strategies of Interview Participants and Their Sense of
Self 185
Deborah K. van den Hoonaard
Chapter 24. “Opening Access” to Open-Access Editors: Communication
Technologies in Long Distance Interviewing 193
Taylor Price and Antony Puddephatt
Chapter 25. Conducting Phenomenological Interviews 200
Ellen Rose
Chapter 26. A Reflection on Challenges and Negotiation in the Context of
International Fieldwork 207
Abhar Rukh Husain
SECTION VII. COLLECTING OTHER FORMS OF DATA
Chapter 27.Listening to Streets and Watching Paint Dry: Collecting Other Forms of Data 218
Deborah Landry
Chapter 28. Doing Archival Research 225
Ariane Hanemaayer
Chapter 29. “Every Corner Tells a Story”: Using Neighbourhood Walks and GPS
to Understand Children’s Sense of Place 232
Bree Akesson
Chapter 30. Ethnography in Inaccessible Fields: Drawing on Visual Approaches to Understand the Private Space of the Home 237
Dawn Mannay
Chapter 31. Collecting Social Media Data in Qualitative Research 245
Meghan Lynch and Catherine Mah
SECTION VIII. ANALYZING YOUR DATA
Chapter 32. Reframing an Awkward Moment: A Comparison of Two Analytic
Strategies for Being Reflexive 256
Amber Gazso and Katherine Bischoping
Chapter 33. Making Sense of Your Data: From Paralysis to Theoretical
Engagement 263
Michael Adorjan
Chapter 34. “Dilemmas of Voice” in Community-Based HIV Research 271
Jeffrey P. Aguinaldo
Chapter 35. Analyzing Materiality 278
Carrie B. Sanders and Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott
Chapter 36. Tree Drawings: Visual Analysis and Representation of Queer Activist
Life History Research 288
Susan Diane
SECTION IX. LEAVING THE FIELD
Chapter 37. Leaving the Field/Can You Leave the Field? 304
Jeffrey van den Scott
Chapter 38. Negotiating Tensions in Exiting the Field of Critical Qualitative
Research 311
Sarah Benbow and Jodi Hall
Chapter 39. Leaving the Field Trajectories: Researching Hasidic Jews 319
William Shaffir
Chapter 40. On (Still) Being Emotionally Attached to the Field 326
Nichole Edwards
SECTION X. DISSEMINATING YOUR FINDINGS TO SCHOLARS AND OTHER AUDIENCES
Chapter 41. Communicating Your Ideas and Publishing Readable Texts 336
J. I. (Hans) Bakker
Chapter 42. Dissemination and Social Justice 342
Snežana Ratković and Bharati Sethi
Chapter 43. Promoting Qualitative Research in the Public Sphere: Lessons Learned from Online Criticisms 350
Chad Walker
Chapter 44. After the Fine Cut: Disseminating Video-Based Research 358
Sarah Abbott and Phillip Vannini
Chapter 45. Disseminating Qualitative Research in Media 365
Christopher J. Schneider
Contributors 373
Index 383
Reviews
“This collection sparkles with tales of field research as lived, not as idealized. The contributors’ candor about their experiences demystifies the research process and reveals its pleasures and problems. They acknowledge such problems as facing the uncertainties of field research, handling unsettling feelings, negotiating the dilemmas of insider research, and dealing with rejection by gatekeepers. The book will enliven any class on qualitative research. I highly recommend it for beginning and seasoned researchers alike.”
—Dr. Kathy Charmaz, Professor Emerita, Sociology Department, Sonoma State University
“As fine a collection as I have come across in quite a while. Methodological handbooks are not supposed to make for riveting reading, but this one does, perhaps because of the depth of experience among its contributors, their utter respect for the craft, and their willingness to write honestly about the challenges they have faced. More than a guide, this collection will inspire those seeking to hone their skills and empower those embarking on qualitative or ethnographic research journeys of their own.”
—Dr. Dorothy Pawluch, Department of Sociology, McMaster University
“The editors of The Craft of Qualitative Research have truly captured a rich breadth and depth of lived qualitative research experience through authors’ stories that are framed around the research enterprise, from relationship-building to research design, from ethical considerations to knowledge creation and sharing, along with provocative questions for readers to consider in their own work. It is an accessible book that should be read by any novice researcher in tandem with a ‘how to’ qualitative methods text, giving readers an intimate view of ‘what it’s like’ when you do such inquiry.”
—Dr. Heather Castleden, Canada Research Chair in Reconciling Relations for Health, Environments, and Communities, Queen’s University
