Speed Bumps: A Student Friendly Guide to Qualitative Research

A crucial tool for anyone engaged in the process of learning about qualitative research, this collection of essays presents important information about developing interview questions, conducting observations, coding and analyzing data, and writing up results. More than a “how to” book, Speed Bumps also addresses the political and ethical dimensions of qualitative research while providing practical suggestions about how to actually conduct it. Noted ethnographers Lois Weis and Michelle Fine, in conversation with fifteen graduate students, offer readers varying perspectives on what lies beneath the surface of qualitative inquiry and what it means to carry out a piece of qualitative work.

Lois Weis is Professor of Sociology of Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Michelle Fine is Professor of Social Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.