A Guide to Qualitative Field Research PDF
Preview A Guide to Qualitative Field Research
SAGE Research Methods A Guide to Qualitative Field Research Author: Carol A. Bailey Pub. Date: 2023 Product: SAGE Research Methods DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781071909614 Methods: Fieldwork, Research questions, Field notes Disciplines: Sociology, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Business and Management, Communication and Media Studies, Education, Psychology, Health, Social Work, Political Science and International Relations Access Date: February 24, 2023 Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc City: Thousand Oaks Online ISBN: 9781071909614 © 2023 SAGE Publications, Inc All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents Front Matter Copyright Acknowledgements List of Tables, Figures, and Photographs List of Figures Photographs Preface Acknowledgments About the Author Chapters Chapter 1: Introduction to Qualitative Field Research Chapter 2: Ethics Chapter 3: Topic, Purpose, and Research Questions Chapter 4: Theory and Review of Literature Chapter 5: Paradigms, Research Design, and Introduction to Methodology Chapter 6: From Gaining Entrée to Exiting the Field Chapter 7: Observations Chapter 8: Interviews Chapter 9: Field Notes Chapter 10: Procedures for Increasing Validity and Trustworthiness Chapter 11: Introduction to Analysis and Coding Chapter 12: Descriptions and Typologies Chapter 13: Thematic Analysis Chapter 14: Research Stories and Critical Events and Cases Chapter 15: Writing and the Final Paper Back Matter References Glossary icon backBack to table of contents Copyright None FOR INFORMATION: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: [email protected] SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483 Copyright © 2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bailey, Carol A., author. Title: A guide to qualitative field research / Carol A. Bailey, Virginia Tech. Description: Third Edition. | Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, [2018] | Revised edition of the author’s A guide to qualitative field research, 2007. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017030295 | ISBN 9781506306995 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Social sciences—Research—Methodology. Classification: LCC H62 .B275 2018 | DDC 300.72/3—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017030295 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Acquisitions Editor: Helen Salmon Content Development Editor: Chelsea Neve Editorial Assistant: Megan O’Heffernan Production Editor: Andrew Olson Copy Editor: Diane DiMura Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Rae-Ann Goodwin Indexer: Wendy Allex Cover Designer: Anupama Krishnan Marketing Manager: Susannah Goldes Next Acknowledgements icon backBack to table of contents Preface Qualitative field research is conducted to help us understand people’s experiences in a particular setting by interacting with and observing them and participating in parts of their daily lives over a long period of time, usually months or years. My task is to guide you through the process of conducting field research—from selecting a topic to writing the final paper. My primary goal is to provide you with clear, practical, and specific instructions about how to conduct field research. For example, I include a template that can be used when writing an informed consent form, rather than simply telling you that one is required. In this edition, I give increased attention to the early and last stages of field research. Although selecting a topic, deciding upon the purpose of your research, and writing the final paper seem like they would be relatively easy, this is not always the case for the novice researcher. I discuss these steps in detail with a generous number of examples to help you generate ideas. A major theme of this book is the role of the research question. Given that the purpose of research is to answer research questions, every aspect of your research has to be connected to your questions. I consistently stress that what you observe, the questions you ask, the research literature you read, the analytical technique you employ, and what you write in your final paper all depend upon your research questions. Information about research questions and examples are woven into every chapter. I give you concrete suggestions, advice, and even dictums. At the same time, many questions you have about field research will be answered with the sentence, It depends. My instructions are frequently qualified by noting that they depend upon the purpose, research questions, audience, and so on. No one size fits all. I highlight the ambiguities related to and diverse ways of conducting field research. Rather than masking the difficulties inherent in research or concealing controversies and debates, I make you aware of the messiness within the academic garden of field research. Despite this messiness, researchers adhere to standards. It would be a grave error to leave you with the impression that “anything goes.” Because this is an introductory text, I purposely simplify complex material at times. My philosophy is that teaching field research is parallel to teaching you how to play the piano—I would have you begin with “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and not with Handel’s Fugue in A Minor. I want you to learn the basics, with us all knowing that you have to learn more before you are highly proficient. You can count on your professor to flesh out areas that space precludes me from explaining in detail here. I emphasize ethical issues in every chapter because ethical concerns are pervasive. Unethical research can cause harm to others, your institution, and yourself. Unfortunately, the ethical path is not always clear. To help you make good ethical decisions, I stress the rules you must follow. I point out potential ethical breaches and possible ways to avoid them. Within the last few decades, the concept of “field” in field research has expanded to include virtual settings. My primary focus is on face-to-face field research, but research in the digital world is discussed. The considerable overlap between face-to-face field research and virtual field research means that most of the book applies to both. Where differences occur, they are presented. The primary audience for this book is undergraduates and, to a lesser extent, graduate students unfamiliar with field research. Compared to earlier editions, I more explicitly mention graduate student researchers and use their work as examples. The references to graduate students do not mean I have made the book more difficult than it would be otherwise. The methodological procedures for the two groups of students are largely the same. Graduate student research provides good illustrations of research in practice and models to follow. Again, undergraduate students should not feel intimidated by using examples from dissertations. I carefully selected those that are easily understood. This edition has an increased number of tables, checklists, diagrams, and summary charts. Reading a summary table is not sufficient for you to thoroughly understand the content of a chapter but will help focus your reading and be useful as a review. I use the familiar “frequently asked questions” format in some cases and employ pedagogical techniques shown to increase learning. Each chapter has objectives, chapter highlights, and exercises. Because of the length of the book, I cannot provide the kind of detailed instructions that I normally give for completing assignments; your course instructors can furnish those. The glossary should be useful for a quick reference, and terms that appear in the glossary are printed in bold in the text. An online supplement is available at study.sagepub.com/bailey3e and recommended readings are included—both provide examples and more advanced discussion of topics. One of my goals is to make this book useful beyond just the context of field research. Many of us believe that higher education should help students learn skills for adjudicating differences, resolving conflict, seeing other perspectives, weighing evidence, and valuing diversity. By becoming producers and informed consumers of research, you are in a better position than you would be otherwise to evaluate the claims of politicians, advertisers, media pundits, parents, and peers. Good research skills can help all of us be skeptical about conclusions that are not scientifically supported. Finally, I hope to convey my passion for teaching and field research so that it will inspire in you a passion for learning and conducting your own research. Visit the open-access companion site at study.sagepub.com/bailey3e for key materials to support teaching and learning with this book: The Student Study Site includes the following: EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected for each chapter by the author. Additional writings provided by fellow scholars in the field, including sample field notes and an essay on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Password-protected Instructor Resources include the following: Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft PowerPoint slides offer you complete flexibility in easily creating a multimedia presentation for your course. EXCLUSIVE! Access to certain full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected for each chapter by the author. Previous Photographs Next Acknowledgments icon backBack to table of contents Acknowledgments I am thankful for having such a rich literature written by students and advanced scholars from which to draw. My apologies if in tailoring their research for my purposes, I misrepresented their work. I am in awe of the editing skills of Carolyn Kroehler, who improved the content and readability of this guide. Anthony Kwame Harrison, Jordal Christian, Donna Sedgwick, and Betty Etzler all made valuable contributions. It is my pleasure to share the photographic talents of William Snizek and the artistic ingenuity of Chad Seymour. The comments by reviewers were helpful, and the patience and guidance of Helen Salmon at SAGE made the book possible. Chelsea Neve, Diane DiMura, and Andrew Olson were invaluable during the home stretch and excel at author care. I cannot overstate my gratitude for the constant support and astute insights of Lisa Norris, Beth Mabry, and Paula M. Seniors. I am particularly appreciative of Mark Newman for his expertise and understanding. Thanks also to Carol Hansen, Sarah Leffke, Julie Sutherland, Shanna Head, Mandi Martinez, Rhiannon Watson, Karen Scruggs, Brenda Husser, Clinton Stone, J. Scott Long, Bob Davis, and Patricia Leavy. John Ryan and Jim Hawdon deserve special recognition. Nicolai Fuhrman, Sae Jung, and Nicole and Kevin McGuckin are a blessing. Life doesn’t get any better than sharing my retirement with my fantastic husband, Ellsworth “Skip” Fuhrman, who suggested a list of positive attributes to describe himself that included caring, intelligent, generous, funny, and handsome. Finally, SAGE gratefully acknowledges the following reviewers for their contributions during the development of this edition: Pamela A. Kaylor, Ohio University Lancaster David E. Hammond, Arizona State University Melanie Lorek, The Graduate Center (CUNY) Bryan Lee Miller, Georgia Southern University Jenell Navarro, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Amira Proweller, PhD, DePaul University, College of Education Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Raymond Dart, Trent University Katja M. Guenther, University of California, Riverside Michael Birzer, Wichita State University Andrew Nelson, University of North Texas Previous Preface Next About the Author icon backBack to table of contents About the Author Carol A. Bailey is an associate professor emerita of sociology at Virginia Tech. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards at the department, college, and university level, including the Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence and the Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching. Among a wide array of courses, she consistently taught undergraduate research methods and graduate-level courses on qualitative methodology and pedagogy. She served as the director of the University Writing Program and chair of the Academy of Teaching Excellence. Her research focused on evaluating programs that promote science education and those that serve children with severe mental illnesses and their families. Previous Acknowledgments SAGE SAGE Research Methods © 2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Qualitative Field Research Objectives By the end of this chapter, you will be able to • write an overview of field research, • compare face-to-face field research with virtual field research, • explain what a research design is, and • discuss the types of data used by field researchers and how they are collected. Venkatesh (2008) begins the preface to his book with these lines: I woke up at about 7:30 A.M. in a crack den, Apartment 1603 in Building Number 2301 of the Robert Taylor Homes. Apartment 1603 was called the “Roof,” since everyone knew that you could get very, very high there, even higher than if you climbed all the way to the building’s actual rooftop. (p. xiii) Although these words might suggest the book is a confessional about the struggles of a drug addict, this is not the case. The book is about the results of Venkatesh’s qualitative field research on the Black Kings, a crack-selling gang in what he considers one of the worst neighborhoods in America. My overarching purpose for this book is to introduce you to the methodology of qualitative field research. Field research is the systematic study, through long-term interactions and observations, of people’s lives in a particular setting. Given that you are reading this book, chances are at least moderate that you are going to be conducting field research or some other form of qualitative research. My task is to help you conduct high quality research and produce an excellent final paper, whether an undergraduate class project, a master’s thesis, or a dissertation. To that end, I provide step-by-step instructions on how to proceed, present options available to you, prepare you for problems you might encounter, make suggestions, ask you questions, and assure you that you are capable of conducting this type of research. A Guide to Qualitative Field Research Page 2 of 21
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