Description
Book SynopsisIn Pulling Back the Curtain on Qualitative Research, the authors maintain that for sociologists the entire world is a laboratory. Seldom do they attend social gatherings without observing people and their interaction in a systematic and intellectually curious way. Regular trips to the grocery store, church services, and engagement with social media all open the door to sociological questioning and encourage forms of empirical observation and data collection.
Here, in this practical and in-depth guide to conducting qualitative sociological field research, the authors offer step-by-step guidance to the processes of choosing a research question and forming research objectives; gaining entry to research settings; and reporting and analyzing findings. Each chapter features a past research assignment, wherein the authors draw attention to important ethical considerations and extract the many lessons, quirks, and unanticipated findings they experienced along the way that r
Table of Contents
Preface Acknowledgements 1. Designing and Conducting Qualitative Research 2. Striving for Objective and Unbiased Qualitative Research 3. Visiting the Old Order Amish in Oklahoma and Kansas: Case Studies 4. Working on a Beef Slaughter Assembly Line 5. Portraying the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus at a Shopping Mall 6. Studying Morticians and Funeral Directors 7. Interviewing Topless Dancers 8. Riding With Modern American Motorcyclists 9. Performing a Content Analysis of Motorcyclists and the Media 10. Studying Kindergarten 11. Pumping Iron in the 1980s and Working Out in the Twenty-First Century 12. Conducting Qualitative Research in the Age of Disenlightenment
Glossary Bibliography Index