Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Presenting and writing up the principals of middle-class schools, and all the other combinations of relations and school types created by cross-classifying relation and class ...Either way, I would report the same results (although in a different order) and arrive at essentially the same conclusions (though the terms they were put in and their emphases would differ). What I said about the implications for social science theory and social policy would differ, naturally. If I used my results to answer different questions, the answers would look different. But none of that would affect the work that lay immediately ahead of me as I began writing my thesis. Why worry about it? (Becker, 1986, p. 58). While quantitative studies lend themselves more naturally to the succinct presentation of results and discussion of relevant findings, the distinction can be less clear-cut in qualitative research, where description and interpretation are more closely interwoven. We have found it helpful to divide a report into major topic areas and to include a separate discussion section within each, after the thematic description. In this way, the author’s interpretation does not become too intermingled with the voices of the research participants, but occurs close enough to the thematic analysis to allow the reader to see how it has been interpreted. Whatever choice is made, it is important to be clear about who is talking at any point. We have been talking particularly about qualitative studies that focus closely on participants’ accounts and draw their interpretations from the data, developing theory using an inductive logic. These comments are less applicable to theory testing studies. The latter tend to be more conceptually driven than data driven and the kinds of writing-up issues we have been addressing often do not arise—the theory being tested, or the conceptual framework driving the study, also provides the structure for the report. In writing up qualitative research it is not always immediately obvious what tense should be used for the various parts of the report. This is especially so in studies which include direct quotes from participants, where the primary inclination will often be to present them in as immediate a way as possible. Wolcott provides useful advice, however, in the suggestion to write descriptive passages in the past tense right from the start, even if this seems odd or even disrespectful to participants you may still be working with or whose reported experiences are still vividly in your mind— certainly one works with their words for a long time through the analysis and writing up processes. He says: 163
Qualitative research in practice By the time your manuscript has gone through many iterations, editorial review, and publication you will discover that the past tense no longer seems so strange, and you will not have left informants forever doing and saying whatever they happened to be doing and saying during your brief tenure (Wolcott, 1990, p. 47). Is there a book in it? A question asked by many researchers, especially postgraduate students, is whether they should attempt to publish their research as a book. There are no clear-cut answers. It depends on the nature of the work and whether there is a publisher which considers there is a market for it. Some research reports (theses) form an interlinked whole and it ‘makes sense’ to keep the bits together—equally, it may not make sense to separate the bits, as the integrity of the work or its potential impact would be diminished. Publishers will primarily be concerned with whether the book will sell, so it needs to be on a topic with reasonably broad and current appeal, and with an identifiable audience. It is important to get advice. Supervisors and thesis examiners are useful people to start with—they will have read the thesis and may be able to comment on whether they can picture it making the transition from thesis to book. Thesis examiners are often asked to comment on how publishable a work is, and may include specific comments about possible forms of publication in their report. If you do decide to try to publish a book from the thesis, the first step is to find a publisher. Choosing carefully can save a lot of time. Select as prospective publishers those who are known to include works of the type you want to write in their list and then prepare a book proposal. Any proposal should include the rationale behind the book, a brief outline of each chapter, the proposed word length and the target readership. The book proposal is more than just sharing information about what you would like to do. Its aim is also to convince the publisher that this is a project worth taking on. If you are successful first time, congratulations. If not, consider trying again. There are many reasons why a publisher won’t accept a project at a particular time; some may suggest other publishers you could approach. Writing a book from a thesis is always a major task that requires hard decisions about what is left in and what goes out. That can be 164
Page 2 and 3:
Qualitative research in practice St
Page 4 and 5:
Contents The researchers vi Table o
Page 6 and 7:
Contents 8 Presenting and writing u
Page 8 and 9:
The researchers Anne Coleman began
Page 10 and 11:
The researchers into factors associ
Page 12 and 13:
Table of research studies Tim and W
Page 14 and 15:
Preface In this book we aim to brid
Page 16 and 17:
Preface known to us, either through
Page 18 and 19:
1 From practice to research In the
Page 20 and 21:
From practice to research social wo
Page 22 and 23:
From practice to research in relati
Page 24 and 25:
From practice to research consumer
Page 26 and 27:
From practice to research parent—
Page 28 and 29:
From practice to research space—t
Page 30 and 31:
From practice to research what peop
Page 32 and 33:
From practice to research developed
Page 34 and 35:
From practice to research or exit f
Page 36 and 37:
From practice to research tracked d
Page 38 and 39:
2 Ethics and organisations The best
Page 40 and 41:
Ethics and organisations relevant i
Page 42 and 43:
Ethics and organisations Informed c
Page 44 and 45:
Ethics and organisations Yet a mino
Page 46 and 47:
Ethics and organisations Observatio
Page 48 and 49:
Ethics and organisations Ethical an
Page 50 and 51:
Ethics and organisations with the s
Page 52 and 53:
Ethics and organisations Dorothy Sc
Page 54 and 55:
Ethics and organisations happened,
Page 56 and 57:
Ethics and organisations an intensi
Page 58 and 59:
Ethics and organisations to outside
Page 60 and 61:
Ethics and organisations Yvonne: To
Page 62 and 63:
Ethics and organisations Dorothy: R
Page 64 and 65:
Ethics and organisations can only e
Page 66 and 67:
In-depth interviewing them or not m
Page 68 and 69:
In-depth interviewing Stories give
Page 70 and 71:
In-depth interviewing experience of
Page 72 and 73:
In-depth interviewing There is a re
Page 74 and 75:
In-depth interviewing data sought,
Page 76 and 77:
In-depth interviewing interview. Th
Page 78 and 79:
In-depth interviewing Generally, th
Page 80 and 81:
In-depth interviewing in-depth inte
Page 82 and 83:
In-depth interviewing Yvonne: So a
Page 84 and 85:
In-depth interviewing Sampling Yvon
Page 86 and 87:
In-depth interviewing much they tal
Page 88 and 89:
In-depth interviewing encouraged mu
Page 90 and 91:
In-depth interviewing contact, the
Page 92 and 93:
Observation Choosing observation Li
Page 94 and 95:
Observation The observation process
Page 96 and 97:
Observation When to observe and for
Page 98 and 99:
Observation Anne Coleman—Five sta
Page 100 and 101:
Observation Yvonne: Anne: Yvonne: A
Page 102 and 103:
Observation Anne: Another useful th
Page 104 and 105:
Observation couldn’t understand h
Page 106 and 107:
Observation interesting because I s
Page 108 and 109:
Observation of questions separate f
Page 110 and 111:
Tailoring data collection We focus
Page 112 and 113:
Tailoring data collection The exper
Page 114 and 115:
Tailoring data collection be achiev
Page 116 and 117:
Tailoring data collection Making us
Page 118 and 119:
Tailoring data collection children
Page 120 and 121:
Tailoring data collection collectio
Page 122 and 123:
Tailoring data collection • Settl
Page 124 and 125:
Tailoring data collection Caroline
Page 126 and 127:
Tailoring data collection Dorothy:
Page 128 and 129:
Tailoring data collection Dorothy:
Page 130 and 131: Tailoring data collection Tim: real
Page 132 and 133: Tailoring data collection supermark
Page 134 and 135: Tailoring data collection Wendy: th
Page 136 and 137: 6 Mixing methods ‘Mixed methods
Page 138 and 139: Mixing methods the different compon
Page 140 and 141: Mixing methods methods which allowe
Page 142 and 143: Mixing methods obtained through one
Page 144 and 145: Mixing methods in itself. Rather, t
Page 146 and 147: Mixing methods and how they would e
Page 148 and 149: Mixing methods violence; that they
Page 150 and 151: Mixing methods incredibly arrogant
Page 152 and 153: Mixing methods about 1200 organisat
Page 154 and 155: Mixing methods Yvonne: that overarc
Page 156 and 157: Mixing methods Yvonne: Cheryl: Yvon
Page 158 and 159: Mixing methods reducing the benefit
Page 160 and 161: Analysing data possible about what
Page 162 and 163: Analysing data sometimes referred t
Page 164 and 165: Analysing data Team research makes
Page 166 and 167: Analysing data crying—and I could
Page 168 and 169: Analysing data Analysing the observ
Page 170 and 171: Analysing data I’d said that’,
Page 172 and 173: Analysing data straight to the inte
Page 174 and 175: Analysing data They also highlight
Page 176 and 177: Presenting and writing up be used.
Page 178 and 179: Presenting and writing up participa
Page 182 and 183: Presenting and writing up difficult
Page 184 and 185: Presenting and writing up adopted c
Page 186 and 187: Presenting and writing up Yvonne: L
Page 188 and 189: Presenting and writing up of the th
Page 190 and 191: Presenting and writing up Tim: stor
Page 192 and 193: Presenting and writing up Anne felt
Page 194 and 195: 9 Epilogue: From research to practi
Page 196 and 197: Epilogue are presented to the way i
Page 198 and 199: Epilogue • Diffusion (disseminati
Page 200 and 201: Epilogue practical and simple langu
Page 202 and 203: Epilogue violence, the things we em
Page 204 and 205: Epilogue [it] was dragging me along
Page 206 and 207: Epilogue through reporting the expe
Page 208 and 209: References Beresford, B. 1997 Perso
Page 210 and 211: References Darlington, Y., Osmond,
Page 212 and 213: References Johnson, K. & Scott, D.
Page 214 and 215: References ——1995 In-depth Inte
Page 216 and 217: References ——1990 Writing Strat
Page 218 and 219: References Tilse, C. 1994 ‘Long t
Page 220 and 221: Index Page numbers in italics refer
Page 222 and 223: Index ‘getting in/getting on/gett
Page 224 and 225: Index quantitative research 3; meth
show all

Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?