Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research - Softcover

Rossman, Gretchen B.; Rallis, Sharon F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761926518 ISBN 13: 9780761926511

Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc, 2003

Synopsis

"What sets this book apart is its skillful integration of both the scientific and artistic dimensions of qualitative research."

--From the foreword by Michael Quinn Patton, author of Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, Third Edition

The popular text that helped readers better understand and practice qualitative research has been completely updated and revised while retaining the features that made the First Edition so useful.

New to this edition:

• Chapter 3 on the ethics and politics of qualitative research
• Chapter 4 on choosing the locus of interest among the major qualitative research approaches
• Chapter 10 expanded to provide detailed instructions for organizing, coding, interpreting, and analyzing data
• Chapters 8 and 11 present examples of the three student characters' data and analysis
• Concept boxes highlight major themes and issues and summarize important principles
• End-of-chapter study questions and activities

About this title

About the Authors

Sharon F. Rallis is Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Reform at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she is also director of the Center for Education Policy. Previously, she was professor of education at the University of Connecticut; lecturer on education at Harvard; and associate professor of educational leadership at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Her doctorate is from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has co-authored ten books, including several on leadership: Principals of Dynamic Schools: Taking Charge of Change (with Ellen Goldring); Dynamic Teachers: Leaders of Change (with Gretchen Rossman); Leading Dynamic Schools: How to create and Implement Ethical Policies (with Gretchen Rossman and others); and Leading with Inquiry and Action: How Principals Improve Teaching and Learning (with Matthew Militello and Ellen Goldring). Her numerous articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and technical reports address issues of research and evaluation methodology, ethical practice in research and evaluation, education policy and leadership, and school reform.

A past-president of the American Evaluation Association (2005), Rallis has been involved with education and evaluation for over three decades. She has been a teacher, counselor, principal, researcher, program evaluator, director of a major federal school reform initiative, and an elected school board member. Currently, her teaching includes courses on inquiry, program evaluation, qualitative methodology, and organizational theory. Her research has focused on the local implementation of programs driven by federal, state, or district policies. As external evaluator or principal investigator (PI), she has studied a variety of domestic and international policy and reform efforts, such as: alternative professional development for leaders; collaborations between agencies responsible for educating incarcerated or institutionalized youth; initiatives supporting inclusive education for children and youth with disabilities; local school governance and leadership; labor-management relations in school districts. Rallis’ work with students on evaluation and qualitative methodology has taken her as far as Afghanistan and Palestine.

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Professional Interests:

Qualitative research design and methods; ethics in research practice; education reform in developing countries

From the Inside Flap

"What sets this book apart is its skillful integration of both the scientific and artistic dimensions of qualitative research."
--From the foreword by Michael Quinn Patton, author of Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, 3rd Edition

"This is one of the best books I've found for introductory or intermediate qualitative research courses. I have taught this course using this text and the students really raved about it. In particular, the way the text handles issues of data collection, the role of qualitative research, and data analysis are extremely well done. I highly recommend this text as one of the most accessible yet sophisticated books on qualitative research that I've been able to use in my courses. This is an excellent resource that all new qualitative researchers should have on their bookshelf."
--Alison A. Carr-Chellman, Instructional Systems, Penn State University

"This is a clearly written and straightforward introduction to qualitative research. The central themes of the book--that qualitative research is learning and qualitative researchers are learners--move the text beyond the 'how to do it' in ways that can be helpful for 'seasoned' qualitative researchers as well as beginners. Thinking about qualitative research as a process of learning--about social phenomena, about participants, about oneself--is a very powerful pedagogical and methodological approach."
--Elizabeth J. Whitt, College of Education, University of Iowa

Edition details

• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761926518
• ISBN 13: 9780761926511
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 392