Handbook of Emergent Methods

Biography

A 'must read' for anyone interested in remaining current with developing research techniques. The book provides a wealth of information regarding innovative approaches that will permit the investigation of novel research questions.--Larry Christensen, Chair, Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama

In the rapidly changing domain of qualitative methods, this comprehensive handbook places qualitative inquiry in context and provides a much-needed, in-depth view of the latest developments. The book describes the 'roots' of the major qualitative methods and how they are developing, outlines innovations in research design and analysis, and explores the impact that these developments are having on methods per se. Hesse-Biber and Leavy are to be congratulated for bringing together leaders in the field to create this seminal work, which will have a profound impact on qualitative methods.--Janice M. Morse, Professor and Barnes Presidential Endowed Chair, College of Nursing, University of Utah

Methods determine not only how we see, but also what we can see. This comprehensive handbook details creative new approaches to asking and exploring questions within the social sciences. These approaches offer liberation from the narrowing straits of logical positivistic measurement and quantification, and chart the paths to addressing more socially meaningful questions. They provide means for examining social reality with fresh tools. The range of chapters on different emergent methods will be enlightening to both new and experienced researchers.--Ruthellen Josselson, School of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University

With contributions from both emerging and established methodological scholars, this innovative, engaging work articulates a view of research less as a linear series of stages than as an unfolding and evolving process. This orientation is in tune with changes in theoretical underpinnings of research that underline many contemporary methodological approaches, including participatory, feminist, and other inclusive approaches. Readers are offered fodder for beginning to think outside of the traditional methodological box and for revitalizing such methods as focus group interviewing and oral history. This book will be of value to both novice and more well-established investigators who wish to pursue their research endeavors more flexibly, reflectively, and inclusively.--Bruce L. Berg, Department of Criminal Justice, California State University, Long Beach

Hesse-Biber and Leavy's timely and constructive response to the collapse of disciplinary authority and the postmodern challenge in the social sciences does not take an 'anything goes' position. The editors and their collaborators argue for a principled and rational approach to orchestrating research that welcomes and evaluates a bewildering array of emergent methods in the social sciences. This handbook both provides invaluable, specific guidance to researchers and frames the notion of methodological emergence as a theoretical challenge in its own right.--Davydd J. Greenwood, Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University

This is a powerful and valuable work for anyone involved in social science research. Hesse-Biber and Leavy have called together many experienced writers in qualitative methods to explore the emergent methods so critical to the current time. Whether deconstructing document research, arts-based approaches, or historical methods, or extending our understanding of interviewing, performance ethnography, and participatory approaches, all of the chapters provide greater clarity about how we do what we do in the qualitative research community. If their goals were to illuminate, transform, and inspire, these editors and contributors have certainly hit their mark. This book is a gift to both students and teachers of emergent methods.--Valerie J. Janesick, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of South Florida

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