Qualitative Inquiry in Clinical and Educational Settings - Hardcover

Hays, Danica G.; Singh, Anneliese A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1609184858 ISBN 13: 9781609184858

Publisher: The Guilford Press, 2011

Synopsis

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process—and helps readers conceptualize their own studies—by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so readers can develop their own proposals or reports as they work through the book. Provided are strategies for selecting a research topic, entering and exiting sites, and navigating the complexities of ethical issues and the researcher's role. Readers learn how to use a range of data collection methods—including observational strategies, interviewing, focus groups, e-mail and chat rooms, and arts-based media—and to manage, analyze, and report the resulting data. Useful pedagogical features include:*In-class and field activities to apply qualitative concepts.*Discussion questions, proposal development exercises, and reflexive journal activities.*Exemplary qualitative studies and two sample proposals.*Cautionary notes, or "Wild Cards," about possible research pitfalls.*Tables that summarize concepts and present helpful tips.

 

About this title

About the Author:

Danica G. Hays, PhD, LPC, NCC, is Associate Professor of Counseling and Chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University. Her research interests include qualitative methodology, assessment and diagnosis, trauma and gender issues, and multicultural and social justice concerns in counselor preparation and community mental health. She has published numerous articles and book chapters and has coauthored or coedited three previous books. Dr. Hays is the Founding Editor of the journal Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Research Award, Outstanding Counselor Educator Advocacy Award, and Glen E. Hubele National Graduate Student Award from the American Counseling Association, as well as the Patricia B. Elmore Excellence in Measurement and Evaluation Award and President’s Special Merit Award from the Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education.
 

Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, LPC, is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Education and Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development Services at the University of Georgia. Her clinical, research, and advocacy interests include LGBT youth, Asian American/Pacific Islander counseling and psychology, multicultural counseling and social justice training, qualitative methodology with historically marginalized groups (e.g., people of color, LGBT individuals, immigrants), and feminist empowerment interventions with survivors of trauma. Dr. Singh is passionate about helping students and early-career professionals to develop their academic writing skills and their writing voices. She has conducted numerous seminars and workshops on academic writing at the graduate level, in addition to teaching writing courses at the doctoral level. The recipient of numerous awards for her scholarship, Dr. Singh is a prolific writer, with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other professional publications. Her books include Qualitative Inquiry in Clinical and Educational Settings (coauthored with Danica G. Hays) and Successful Academic Writing: A Complete Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists (coauthored with Lauren Lukkarila).

Review:

"This book is a tremendous resource--well written, comprehensive, accurate, insightful, and accessible. I find especially refreshing the way the authors 'cluster' the research traditions, which provides a sound, logical, and fluid way of understanding and applying them. The chapters offer reader-friendly, practical tips in a largely jargon-free writing style that helps to guide the reader through the decisions and dilemmas inherent in a qualitative approach."--Thomas Schram, PhD, Department of Education, University of New Hampshire

"This text offers a solid overview of qualitative methods and recognizes the work of major authors in this area. The attention to diverse research traditions will be very helpful to novice researchers, as will the emphasis on helping students develop their own projects, which fits how the research courses in our program are taught. The perspectives, activities, and Wild Cards throughout the chapters reinforce this purpose. Chapters on data collection, analysis, and writing present an array of techniques, strategies, and firsthand accounts to help students work through this process and think critically about their own work. I would use this text and will recommend it to others."--Cray Mulder, PhD, LMSW, School of Social Work, Grand Valley State University, Michigan

"Written in an accessible and manageable style for graduate students, advanced undergraduates, or professionals, this book makes excellent use of examples throughout. Readers will be especially interested in the examples the authors bring from their personal research agendas. I really like the discussion of the different purposes of research (basic, applied, action, evaluation), since qualitative research methods texts often neglect to discuss the usefulness of qualitative methods to basic research. The book does a good job of educating readers about why qualitative research is just as rigorous and as valuable as quantitative research. Although primarily targeted toward clinical and educational researchers, this book will be useful for any social scientist who wants to acquire a rich understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research."--Lisa Harrison, PhD, Department of Psychology, California State University, Sacramento

"This book provides the groundwork for understanding the paradigms and tensions of qualitative inquiry and for building skills in research design, methods, and analysis. Integrated throughout are real-world examples and activities that clearly inform and demystify the process of qualitative research. The graphs, concept maps, quotes from qualitative researchers, and examples are very congruent to what one would find in a qualitative research study. I especially liked the examples of coding, developing themes, and handling data; the authors have done an amazing job."--Kathleen Burns-Jager, PhD, LMFT, former director, Michigan State University Family and Child Clinic

"This book is interesting, informative, and worthy of class adoption. The chapters are user friendly and easy to read, including clear definitions and explanations. The hands-on activities and exercises, case examples, and helpful hints will be helpful to students' comprehension."--Ruth Chao, PhD, Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver

"This is one of the more readable qualitative texts I've seen. I very much like the multi-method approach to definitions and explanations--the tables, charts, and models allow for thorough yet clear definitions of terms, enabling researchers to situate their studies within accepted designs and terminology."--Wendy Troxel, EdD, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations, Illinois State University

"I will definitely recommend this text to colleagues and will consider using it in my own teaching. The chapters are well presented, with plenty of examples and activities for in-class use, group discussions, and reflexive journaling. The use of the scientist-practitioner model is a particularly good way of framing the research endeavor for clinicians."--Rajeswari Natrajan-Tyagi, PhD, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University

"Two innovative writers concentrate here on many aspects of qualitative research which are of primary importance, yet which seldom seem to feature in other texts or part-texts on this topic. For that reason, I envisage that supervisors who discover this text will wish to encourage their research students to immerse themselves in their own personal copies. The writers are researchers who have been closely associated since their doctoral studies, and wish to take their readers on a rewarding journey into what they have learnt about qualitative analysis on the way. They are engaged in, and seek to advise those engaged in, qualitative studies of human conditions and behaviour, within clinical and educational settings....Perhaps because of their wider scope, the shared personal experience, advice and thinking offered to readers forms an especially deep and insightful source for all qualitative researchers....I treasure a few books on my shelves for the wisdom which their writers have made available to me. This text will join that small collection. It is unique, however, in that the wisdom these writers have accrued on the journey they invite us to retrace with them hasastonishinglybeen accrued in a relatively short professional career." (British Journal of Educational Technology 2011-07-23)

About this edition

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1609184858
• ISBN 13: 9781609184858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 504