The New Language of Qualitative Method - Hardcover

Gubrium, Jaber F.; Holstein, James A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195099931 ISBN 13: 9780195099935

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1997

Synopsis

In recent years scholars and researchers in all disciplines have moved away from traditional quantitative methods of research to more qualitative methods which emphasize questions of meaning and interpretation. Considering research methodologies as a set of idioms, The New Language of Qualitative Method examines alternate vocabularies for conveying social reality. It offers a new theoretical view which reintegrates the traditional emphasis on the whats of social life with a contemporary understanding of the hows and whys. The text considers the basic presumptions, objectives, and research questions of four major research traditions: naturalism, ethnomethodology, emotionalism, and postmodernism. Using illustrations from classic texts, it shows how each idiom supplies a unique perspective on empirical reality. The text then examines the risks and rewards of each approach, offering a vision of a renewed language of inquiry that accommodates both traditional and contemporary concerns. Striving for balance, the authors not only contend with issues from alternate perspectives, but provide a basis for rapprochement between research traditions that have often remained isolated from each other. They also demonstrate how each approach may be used for research on family, aging, deviance and social problems, and organizations and institutions. Written in an accessible and engaging style, The New Language of Qualitative Method< can be adopted in courses across the social sciences, and may also be used by a broad spectrum of qualitative researchers.

About this title

About the Author

Jaber F. Gubrium is at University of Florida. James A. Holstein is at Marquette University.

Review

"...this book is one of the most important position statements to come out of U.S. qualitative sociology in recent years. Any graduate student doing a qualitative dissertation ought to become familiar with it as a key expression of what Mick Bloor christened "ethnomethodological
ethnography.""--Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

"A very helpful analysis and taxonomy of the field."--Howard Zehr, Eastern Mennonite University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0195099931
• ISBN 13: 9780195099935
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256