Qualitative Research: Bridging the Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological

by Sharon M. Ravitch, Nicole Mittenfelner Carl

Overview

The second edition of Qualitative Research focuses on cultivating and bridging theoretical, methodological, and conceptual aspects to provide insight into their interactions in qualitative research. This comprehensive text helps students understand the central concepts, topics, and skills necessary to engage in rigorous, valid, and respectful qualitative research. Authors Sharon M. Ravitch and Nicole Mittenfelner Carl have written this text with student researchers in mind, balancing communicating the foundations and processes of qualitative research with clarity and simplicity while also capturing its complexity and layers.  Whether students are new to qualitative research or not, this book will help students develop and deepen their understanding of an approach to research that seeks, designs for, and engages criticality in research.

The new edition of this book includes a more prominently-placed and expanded discussion of research ethics as crucial to students′ inquiry, more information on reflexivity in data collection and individual methods for qualitative data collection, a more in-depth chapter on coding and other types of qualitative data analysis, and more thorough resource sections including connections to the extensive appendices so students can further their qualitative research journey. 

Included with this title:

The password-protected Instructor Resource Site (formally known as SAGE Edge) offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides. .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544333793
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	12/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	335,893
File size:	85 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sharon M. Ravitch is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She engages in numerous applied research projects in India, serving as a visiting scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai and working as a co-researcher and key resource expert in policy advocacy, professional development, and community-based participatory research related to corporate social responsibility through TISS’s corporate social responsibility hub. She is involved in the design and implementation of assessment and evaluation of statewide performance through mixed-methods research in the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s major policy initiative, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a countrywide reform initiative aimed to resurrect India’s state public university system. Ravitch is also an expert adviser at the Center for Academic Leadership and Education Management at TISS. The center provides professional development and policy advocacy support to school education leaders across India. Ravitch works in the center’s capacity-building program to collaboratively develop case studies and technology-innovation frameworks for the higher education and K–12 sectors using a participatory approach. She received the prestigious GIAN Scholar Award from the government of India for 2016–2017 and the RUSA Scholar Award for 2017–2018. Ravitch also received a Fulbright Fellowship to engage in research and applied development work in India from 2017 to 2019.

Ravitch has published five books: Applied Research for Sustainable Change: A Guide for Education Leaders (with Nicole Carl, 2019); Qualitative Research: Bridging the Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological (2nd ed., with Nicole Carl, 2020); Reason and Rigor: How Conceptual Frameworks Guide Research (2012; 2nd ed., with Matthew Riggan, 2016); School Counseling Principles: Diversity and Multiculturalism (2006); and Matters of Interpretation: Reciprocal Transformation in Therapeutic and Developmental Relationships With Youth (with Michael Nakkula, 1998).

Nicole Mittenfelner Carl is a postdoctoral fellow in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Division at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She received her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. Carl teaches courses related to qualitative research methods, practitioner research for educational leaders, and mentoring strategies for veteran teachers coaching first-year teachers.

Carl has been conducting qualitative research for more than a decade, beginning in 2005, when she was awarded a Mellon Fellowship. Since then, she has led and participated in numerous qualitative and mixed-methods research projects. She recently co-authored a text for Harvard Education Press, Applied Research for Sustainable Change: A Guide for Education Leaders, that exemplifies ways for practitioners to use local research as a driver of school change. Carl has also published several articles on students’ experiences with schooling, democratizing schooling, the impacts of educational policies on teachers and leaders, and applied research in peer-reviewed journals.

Carl has worked with school leaders, teachers, and students in various settings (public and independent) to consider ways to use research to drive school improvement. She has also led a multiyear, multisite evaluation of the impact of these projects on the schools and individuals involved. She continues to research ways that practitioners can conduct and use research in their schools, and she supports educators in the implementation of these projects.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Sharon Would Like to Thank
Nicole Would Like to Thank
About the Authors
Chapter 1: Qualitative Research: An Opening Orientation
An Overview of the Processes of Qualitative Research
Defining and Situating Qualitative Research
Key Components of Qualitative Research
Horizontal Values in Qualitative Research: Criticality, Reflexivity, Collaboration, and Rigor
Approaches to Qualitative Research: An Overview
A Note on the Possibilities of Qualitative Research
Chapter 2: Conceptual Frameworks in Research
Conceptual Frameworks in Research
Developing a Conceptual Framework
Building Your Conceptual Framework
Chapter 3: Qualitative Research Design
Research Design in Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research Design Processes
Sampling: Site and Participant Selection
Writing in Research Design
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Reflexivity in Data Collection
Defining Qualitative Research as Iterative
Reflexivity in Data Collection
Reflexivity and Researcher-Generated Data Sources
Chapter 5: Methods of Data Collection
Interviews
Observational Fieldnotes
Focus Groups
Documents and Archival Data
Open-Ended Questionnaires
Participatory Methods of Data Collection
Revisiting Research Design
Chapter 6: Validity in Qualitative Research
Overview of Validity in Qualitative Research
Assessing Validity
Strategies for Achieving Qualitative Validity
Rigor and Validity in Qualitative Research
Chapter 7: Ethics and Relational Research
Relational Ethics: Taking a Relational Approach to Research
Deepening Research Ethics: Beyond IRB and Informed Consent
Beyond Negotiating Entrée and Building Rapport
Research Boundaries
Informed Consent, with an Emphasis on Informed
Transparency in Goals, Expectations, Processes, and Roles
Confidentiality and Anonymity
The Ethical Dimensions of the Researcher as Instrument
Pushing Against the Expert–Learner Binary
Ethical Collaboration: Dialectics of Mutual Influence
Balancing Design Flexibility and Rigor: Responsive Research as an Ethical Stance
Chapter 8: An Integrative Approach to Data Analysis
Defining and Critically Approaching Qualitative Data Analysis
Analysis and Interpretation
Overview of Qualitative Data Analysis Processes
An Integrative Approach to Qualitative Data Analysis
Chapter 9: Methods and Processes of Data Analysis
Data Organization and Managements
Immersive Engagement
Writing and Representation
Chapter 10: Writing and Representing Research: The Research Report
The Craft of Writing: Outlining, Drafting, and Revising
Writing a Final Report: Building On, Deepening, and Codifying Analysis
Critical Writing Considerations
Concluding Thoughts: The Ethics of Research Writing
Chapter 11: Qualitative Research Proposals
Qualitative Research Proposals
Writing Quality Research Proposals
Adapting Research Proposals
Epilogue
Revisiting the Horizontal Values in Qualitative Research
Closing Thoughts: The Power and Potential of Qualitative Research
Glossary
Appendixes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

I believe this book would be a great resource to my doctoral students enrolled in my Introduction to Qualitative Research Design and Methodology course as well as those individuals working on their dissertation proposal development, data collection, data analysis and writing process.

Ifeoma Amah

The chapters are accessible and easy to read. They are also applicable and will better help guide students in how best to provide and support their work with theory and literature while presenting useful information on methodology and how to conduct and analyze qualitative research.

Lydia Kyei-Blankson