Table Of Content

U R TH E D I T I ON RESEARCH FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ..,. i i i i i i , • .: ;; L. BERG FOUR1H EDITION _._ ___ 1111..J_M\ItItJMBri~j.imnlBlItdlliiL,I"""""""""",,,,,,; I I I I I QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES BRUCE L. BERG California Stole University, Long Beach S1111-c23 ALLYN AND BACON B oston • London • Toronto • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore Series Editor: Sarah L. Kelbaugh Editor in Chief, SJCwl &Iences: Karen Hanson Editorial Assistant: Lori Flickinger Editorial-ProductIOn AdminIstrator: Annette Joseph Editorial-Production Coordinator: Susan Freese Editorial-Production Szrvice and Electronic Composition: Karen Mason Composition Buyer: Linda Cox Manufacturing Buyer: Julie McNeill Cover AdminIstrator: Jenny Hart Cover Dzsigner: Suzanne Harbison Copyright © 2001,1998,1995,1989 by Allyn & Bacon A Pearson Education Company 160 Gould Street Needham Heights, MA 02494 Internet: www.abacon.com AH rights reserved. No p art of the m ateri al protected by thi s copyright noti ce 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 the written permission ofthe copyright owner. Between the time website information is gathered and then published, it is not unusual for some sites to have closed. Also, the transcription of URLs can result in unintended typographical errors. The publisher woul d appreciate being notified of any problems with URLs so that they may be corrected in subsequent editions. Thank you. libr~ of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berg, Bruce Lawrence Qualitative research methods for the social sciences / Bruce L. Berg. --4 th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-205-31847-9 1. Social sciences-Research-Methodology. I. TItle H61 .B47152000 300'.7'2-dc21 00-023770 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 05 04 03 02 CONTENTS( • • • • • Preface XliI CHAPTER 1 Introduction QUANITfATIVE VERSUS QUALITATIVE SCHOOLS OF lHOUGHT 2 USE OF TRlANGULA TION RESEARCH MElHODOLOGY 4 QUALITATIVE STRAlEGIES: DEFINING AN ORIENTATION 6 FROM A SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONS PERSPECTIVE 8 WHY USE QUALITATIVE MElHODS? 10 A PLAN OF PRESENTATION 11 REFERENCES 12 CHAPTER 2 Designing Qualitative Research 15 THEORY AND CONCEPTS 15 IDEAS AND TIIEORY 16 LITERATURE REVIEW 19 The Two-Card Method 21 FRAMING RESEARCH PROBLEMS 24 OPERATIONALIZATION AND CONCEPTUALIZATION 25 DESIGNING PROJECTS 28 Setting and Population Appropriateness 29 Sampling Strategies 30 DATA COLLECTION AND ORGANIZATION 33 Data Storage, Retrieval, and Analysis 35 DISSEMINA TION 36 CONTENTS IV 1RYING IT OUT 37 REFERENCES 37 CHAP1ER3 Ethical Issues 39 RESEARCH E1HICS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 40 FROM GUIDELINES TO LAW: REGULATIONS ON 1HE RESEARCH PROCESS 44 INS1TIUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS (IRBs) 45 IRBs and Their Duties 46 Oarifying the Role ofIRBs 48 Active versus Passive Consent 50 Membership Criteria for IRBs 51 ElHICAL CODES 52 SOME COMMON ElHICAL CONCERNS IN BERAV IORAL RESEARCH 53 PHYSICAL AND ElHICAL DANGERS IN COVERT RESEARCH 54 INFORMED CONSENT AND IMPLIED CONSENT 56 CONFIDENTIALITY AND ANONYMITY 57 Keeping Identifying Records 58 Strategies for Safeguarding Confi den ti ali ty 58 SECURING1HE DATA 59 OBJECIIVITY AND CAREF1JL RESEARCH DESIGN 60 1RYINGITOUT 62 REFERENCES 63 CHAPTER 4 A Dramaturgical L oak at Interviewing 66 DRAMAlURGY AND INTERVIEWING 67 TYPES OF lNfERVIEWS 68 The standardized Intenriew 69 The Unstandardized Interview 69 CONTENTS The Semistandardized Interview 70 TIlE INTERVIEVV SCHEDUlE 72 SCHEDUlE DEVELOPrvIENT 74 Question Order, Content, and Style 74 COMMUNICATING:EFFECTIVELY 77 A FEVV COM1\10N PROBLEMS IN QUESTION FORMULATION 78 Affectively Worded Questions 78 The Double-Barreled Question 79 Complex Questions 79 Question Sequencing 79 PREfffiTING 1HE SCHEDUlE 80 LONG VERSUS SHORT INTERVIEWS 80 lELEPHONE INTERVIEWS 82 CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEVIl: A NAlURAL OR AN UNNAlURAL mJ.\.1l\.1UNICATION? 84 1HE DRAMATIJRGlCAL INIERVIEVIl 85 Interviewer Roles and Rapport 86 The Interviewer as a Self-Conscious Perfonner 89 Social Interpretations and the Interviewer 90 1HE INTER.VIEWER'S REPERTOIRE 93 Interviewers' Attitudes and Persuading a Subject 95 Developing an Interviewer Repertoire 96 Techniques to Get New Researchers Started 97 Taking the Show on the Road 98 The Ten Commandments of Interviewing 99 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE 100 Curtain Calls 101 ANALY llNG DATA OBTAlNED FROM 1HE DRAMATIJRGICAL INTERVIEVIl 102 Beginning an Analysis 103 Systematic Filing Systems 103 Short-Answer Sheets 105 Analysis Procedures: A Concluding Remark 105 TRYING IT OUT 105 NOTES 107 REFERENCES 107 VI CONTENTS CHAP1ER 5 Focus Group Interviewing 111 WHAT ARE FDaJS GROUP INTERVIEWS? III lHE EVOLUTION OF FOCUS GROUP lNfERVIEWS 112 ADVA NTAGffi AND DISADVA NTAGffi OF FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWING 114 Focus Group Intenriewing and Face-to-Face Interviewing 115 Focus Group Intenriewing and Participant Obsenration 117 Focus Group Intenriewing and Unobtrusive Measures 118 FACILITATING FOCUS GROUPS DYNAMICS: HOW FOCUS GROUPS WORK 120 lHEMODERATOR'S GUIDE 121 Introduction and Introductory Activities 121 Statement of the Basic Rules or Guidelines for the Intenriew 122 Short Question-and-Answer Discussions 122 Special Activities er Exercises 122 Guidance fer Dealing with Sensitive Issues 123 BASIC INGREDIENTS IN FOCUS GROUPS 123 CONFIDENTIAlITY AND FOaJS GROUP INTERVIEWS 127 RECENT TRENDS IN FOaJS GROUPS 129 mNCLUSION 130 our lRYING IT 130 NOTffi 130 REfERENCffi 131 CHAPTER 6 Etlmographic Field Strategies 133 ACCffiSING A FIELD SETTING: GETTING IN 136 REFLECI1VlTY AND EIHNOGRAPHY 139 The Attitude of the Ethnographer 139 The Researcher's Voice 140 Gaining Entry 144 vii CONTENTS BECOMING INVISIBlE 147 Dangers ofInvisibility 148 A New Problem in Data Protection: The Case of Mario Brnjuha 150 OlHERDANGERS DURING ElliNOGRAPHIC RESFARCH 151 WATCHING, LISTENING, AND LFARNING 153 How to Learn: What to Watch and Listen For 155 Field Notes 158 Analyzing Ethnographic Data 164 OTHER ANALYSIS S1RAlEGIffi: TYPOLOGIES, SOClOGRAMS, AND lVIEfAPHORS 165 Typologies 166 Sociograms 167 Metaphors 171 our DISENGAGING: GEITING 171 our lRYING IT 173 NOTE 173 REFERENCES 173 CHAPTER 7 Action Research 178 TIIEBASICS OF ACTIONRESFARCH 180 IDENTIFYING TIlE RESFARCH QUESTION(S) 181 GATIlliRING TIlE INFORMATION TO ANSWER TIlE QUESTION(S) 182 ANALl 'ZING AND INTERPRETING TIlE INFORMATION 182 Procedures for Using Interview and Ethnographic Data 183 Guiding Questions of Analysis: Why, What, How, Who, Where, When? 183 Descriptive Accounts and Reports 184 SHARING TIlE RESULTS WIlli TIlE PARTIClPANfS 184 TIlE ACTION RESFARCHER'S ROlE 185 TYPES OF ACTIONRESFARCH 185 Technical/S cientific/Collaborative Mode 186 A PracticallMutual CollaborativelDeliberate Mode 186 viii CONTENTS EmancipatinglEnhancing/Critical Science Mode 187 IRYING IT OUT 187 REFERENCES 188 CHAPTER 8 Unobtrusive Measures in Research 189 ARCHIVAL STRA1EGIES 190 Public Archives 191 Private Archives: Solicited and Unsolicited Documents 200 A Last Remark about Archival Records 203 PHYSICAL EROSION AND ACCRETION: HUMAN TRACES AS DATA SOURCES 203 Erosion Measures 203 Accretion Measures 204 Some Final Remarks about Physical Traces 205 1RYING IT OUT 206 REFERENCES 207 CHAPTER 9 Historiography and Oral Traditions 210 WHAT IS mSTORICAL RESEARCH? 210 LIFE mSTORIES AND mSTORIOGRAPHY 213 WHAT ARE 1HE SOURCES OF DATA OF mSTORICAL RESEARCHERS? 214 DOING lUSTORIOGRAPHY: lRAClNG WRITIEN lUSTORY AS DATA 214 External Criticism 216 Internal Criticism 218 \\HAT ARE ORAL mSTORIES? 219 TRYING IT OUT 222 REFERENCES 222 CONTENTS D:: CHAPTER 10 Case Studies 225 THE NATURE OF CASE STIJDIES 225 THE INDIVIDUAL CASE STIJDY 226 The Use of Interview Data 226 The Use of Personal Docrnnents 227 INIRINSIC, INSTRUMENTAL, AND COllECTIVE CASE STIJDIES 229 CASE STIJDY DESIGN TYPES 229 Exploratory Case Studies 230 Explanatory Case Studies 230 Descriptive Case Studies 230 THE SCIENTIF1C BENEFIT OF CASE STIJDIES 231 Objectivity and the Case Method 231 Generalizability 232 CASE STIJDIES OF ORGANIZA TIONS 233 CASE STUDIES OF COMMUNITIES 233 Data Collection for Community Case Studies 234 Community Groups and Interests 235 TRYING IT OUT 236 REFERENCES 236 CHAPlER 11 An Introduction to Content Analysis 238 ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA 238 Interpretative Approaches 239 Social Anthropological Approaches 239 Collaborative Social Research Approaches 240 CONTENT ANALYSIS AS A TECHNIQUE 240 CONTENT ANALYSIS: QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE? 241 Manifest versus Latent Content Analysis 242 Blending Manifest and Latent Content Analysis Strategies 243