Key Themes in Qualitative Research

Paul Atkinson, Amanda Coffey, and Sara Delamont are at the Cardiff School of Social Science in Wales and are well-known writers on qualitative research methods.

This reading of the recent history of qualitative research from the leaders of the Cardiff school of ethnography provides a measured, useful analysis of a field now so vast as to be unwieldy, so conflicted (in part) as to be balkanized and so multi-faceted as to appear opaque when transparent, transparent when opaque. The authors present a balanced perspective in their book, referring to classic texts and themes in examining contemporary issues. Chapters such as 'Whose Side Are We On?' make this book a contender for required reading in a qualitative methods class where beginners too easily slip into an individualistic way of viewing respondents/participants. I enthusiastically recommend this book as an essential text to anyone wanting to better understand the field and literature of qualitative research.

• Chapter 1 Introduction2 The Old Guard and the Avant-Garde3 Strangeness and Familiarity4 From Over-Rapport to Intimacy and Autoethnography5 Whose Side are We On?6 Participation and Interviewing7 How Do You Know if Your Informant is Telling the Truth?8 From Interference to Difference9 From Styles of Reporting to Poetics and Beyond10 Conclusion: Continuities and Changes