Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods

The issues of soundness of qualitative research are examined in this book. Contributors discuss how a researcher does qualitative research, considering such questions as: whether one deviates from the developer′s protocol and what the ramifications are of such deviation, how students learn to acquire the conceptual skills necessary to conduct qualitative inquiry, and how theory "emerges" from the data.

The book discusses group effect in focus groups and describes an observational method using videotaped data. The various schools of phenomenology and their major characteristics of excellence are explained, and the Glasserian and Straussian methods of grounded theory are compared. Issues of ethics and scientific integrity are also raised. Each chapter, dealing with a matter that has not yet been resolved or addressed in the literature, is preceded by a dialogue in which contributors raise questions and comment upon the concept presented.

An American Journal of Nursing 1994 Book of the Year

Theoretically rich and stimulating, Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods targets matters inherent in qualitative research. It addresses some of the lesser-known or explicated qualitative research methods (such as ethology), the essential concepts of rigor and evaluation, dilemmas in data collection, and issues of scientific misconduct. The various schools of phenomenology and their major characteristics of excellence are described. In addition, ethical issues and concerns of scientific integrity are raised: Which set of ethics should a researcher use? Should one divulge their research purposes? Are there potential risks to informants? Each chapter in this volume deals with a matter that has not yet been resolved or addressed in existing literature. The chapters begin with a joint dialogue in which the contributors raise questions and comment upon the concept presented, thus giving a sense of the ongoing controversy these opinions engender. Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods is important reading for advanced students and researchers in all disciplines, especially nursing and allied health.

"Are you looking for ideas and techniques that will enhance the integrity, excellence, and spirit of your qualitative research? If so, this is the book for you. [Here], writers clarify not only theoretical, epistemological, and methodological issues but tackle the sensitivity area of issues of the spirit in qualitative research. Discussions are generally written in a crisp, clear, sometimes serious/sometimes whimsical way. Altogether, this makes for a delightful, rich, readable scholarly work. There were few, if any, chapters that did not provide mw with a fresh way of looking at something or a possible answer to a question that I had been harboring. The whimsical nature of some of the chapters was most refreshing. This is an important book for moving the profession along in its capability for conducting qualitative research."

--Lynne Maxwell, Nursing Research Quarterly

"The direct approach taken by the authors in exploring the soundness of qualitative research makes the book valuable for researchers of any inquiry paradigm. . . . The contribution of this book--and where it succeeds brilliantly--is in raising as many questions as it answers. The authors are not afraid to give voice to what qualitative researchers know but often are reluctant to discuss: That exemplary qualitative research is not merely one set of steps that can be learned from a book and applied by all researchers."

--Theory and Methods

"I believe the book is interesting, varied in content, and of high quality. . . . It is simply a fact that many more nurses are undertaking qualitative research, and while the number and quality of qualitative research publications are increasing, there is still a dearth of high-level discussion in the literature about issues in the process and outcome of the research."

--Kit Chesla, R.N., D.N.Sc., University of California, San Francisco