Rapid Qualitative Inquiry : A Field Guide to Team-Based Assessment

An accessible field guide to Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI)—a team-based, applied research method designed to quickly develop an insider’s perspective on and preliminary understanding of complicated situations.

Practitioners in need of timely results for program and policy planning—and students looking forrealistic research projects—will find solutions in Rapid Qualitative Inquiry (RQI), a team-based,applied research method designed to quickly develop an insider’s perspective on and preliminaryunderstanding of complicated “on-the-ground” situations.In this accessible field guide to RQI, James Beebe provides an introduction to research thatsubstitutes teamwork for long-term fieldwork; uses iterative data collection, data analysis, andadditional data collection; triangulates data from multiple sources; and applies techniques andconcepts from ethnography and case study research. Extensive examples make clear that “rapid”does not mean “rushed” and that rigorous RQI depends upon flexibility rather than an arbitrarylist of techniques. Throughout, Beebe’s clear prose guides interdisciplinary readers through theprocess, promise, and potential pitfalls of RQI.