Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach

Description

This book provides researchers and students with a user-friendly, step-by-step guide to planning qualitative research. It shows how the components of design interact with each other, and provides a strategy for creating coherent and workable relationships among these design components, highlighting key design issues. Written in an informal, jargon-free style, the book incorporates examples and hands-on exercises. [Sage Publications, Inc.] Cover Page......Page 2 Title......Page 8 Copyright......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Preface......Page 13 About the Author......Page 16 Chapter 1. A Model for Qualitative Research Design......Page 17 The Organization of This Book......Page 31 The Exercises in This Book......Page 32 Notes......Page 34 Personal, Practical, and Intellectual Goals......Page 35 What Goals Can Qualitative Research Help You Achieve?......Page 40 Notes......Page 48 Chapter 3. Conceptual Framework: What Do You Think Is Going On?......Page 49 The Value (and Pitfalls) of Research Paradigms......Page 51 Experiential Knowledge......Page 54 Prior Theory and Research......Page 57 The Uses of Existing Theory......Page 58 Concept Maps......Page 62 Other Uses of Existing Research......Page 71 Pilot and Exploratory Studies......Page 72 Thought Experiments......Page 74 Notes......Page 77 Chapter 4. Research Questions: What Do You Want to Understand?......Page 78 The Functions of Research Questions......Page 79 Research Questions and Other Kinds of Questions......Page 80 Research Hypotheses in Qualitative Designs......Page 81 General Questions and Particular Questions......Page 82 Instrumentalist Questions and Realist Questions......Page 83 Variance Questions and Process Questions......Page 86 Developing Research Questions......Page 87 Chapter 5. Methods: What Will You Actually Do?......Page 91 More and Less Structured Approaches......Page 92 Negotiating Research Relationships......Page 94 Site and Participant Selection......Page 99 The Relationship Between Research Questions and Data Collections Methods......Page 102 Using Multiple Data Collection Methods......Page 104 Strategies for Qualitative Data Analysis......Page 106 Computers and Qualitative Data Analysis......Page 115 Linking Methods and Questions......Page 116 Notes......Page 119 The Concept of Validity......Page 121 Researcher Bias......Page 123 Validity Tests: A Checklist......Page 124 Generalization in Qualitative Research......Page 135 Notes......Page 136 Chapter 7. Research Proposals: Presenting and Justifying a Qualitative Study......Page 138 The Purpose of a Proposal......Page 139 The Relationship Between Your Research Design and Your Proposal Argument......Page 140 A Model for Proposal Structure......Page 141 Notes......Page 156 Appendix A: A Proposal for a Study of Medical School Teaching......Page 157 Appendix B: A Proposal for a Study of Online Learning by Teachers......Page 173 References......Page 189 Index......Page 200