Qualitative Research Methods

Sarah J. Tracy is Associate Professor of Human Communication at Arizona State University-Tempe. She has contributed more than 50 essays to such publications as Qualitative Inquiry, Communication Monographs, Management Communication Quarterly, and others. Dr. Tracy’s research has garnered international acclaim and she regularly serves as qualitative methodology expert for granted research.

“This book provides a detailed step-by-step explanation of qualitative data gathering, analysis, and writing, and provides the approach to evaluating qualitative quality. It is designed to provide enough methodological details to be helpful to graduate students and advanced scholars, and is a comprehensive resource for the theoretical undergrounds and practical conduct of methodology.”  (NeoPopRealism Journal, 1 August 2013)

• Detailed contents viii Preface: is this book for me? xiv1 Developing contextual research that matters 12 Entering the conversation of qualitative research 203 Paradigmatic reflections and theoretical foundations 374 Fieldwork and fieldplay: Negotiating access and exploring the scene 645 Proposal writing: Explaining your research to institutional review boards, instructors, supervisory committees, and funding agencies 876 Field roles, fieldnotes, and field focus 1057 Interview planning and design: Sampling, recruiting, and questioning 1308 Interview practice: Embodied, mediated, and focus-group approaches 1579 Data analysis basics: A pragmatic iterative approach 18310 Advanced data analysis: The art and magic of interpretation 20311 Qualitative quality: Creating a credible, ethical, significant study 22712 Writing Part 1: The nuts and bolts of qualitative tales 25113 Writing Part 2: Drafting, polishing, and publishing 27314 Qualitative methodology matters: Exiting and communicating impact 296Appendix A Fieldnote 315Appendix B Focus group guide 317Appendix C Interview transcription excerpts 321References 325Index 341