Full Description
Research design is fundamental to all scientific endeavors, at all levels and in all institutional settings. In many social science disciplines, however, scholars working in an interpretive-qualitative tradition get little guidance on this aspect of research from the positivist-centered training they receive. This book is an authoritative examination of the concepts and processes underlying the design of an interpretive research project. Such an approach to design starts with the recognition that researchers are inevitably embedded in the intersubjective social processes of the worlds they study.
In focusing on researchers' theoretical, ontological, epistemological, and methods choices in designing research projects, Schwartz-Shea and Yanow set the stage for other volumes in the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods. They also engage some very practical issues, such as ethics reviews and the structure of research proposals. This concise guide explores where research questions come from, criteria for evaluating research designs, how interpretive researchers engage with "world-making," context, systematicity and flexibility, reflexivity and positionality, and such contemporary issues as data archiving and the researcher's body in the field.
Contents
Introduction 1. Wherefore Research Designs? 2. Ways of Knowing: Research Questions and Logics of Inquiry 3. Starting from Meaning: Contextuality and its Implications 4. The Rythms of Interpretive Research I: Getting Going 5. The Rhythms of Interpretive Research II: Understanding and Generating Evidence 6. Designing for Trustworthiness: Knowledge Claims and Evaluations of Interpretive Research 7. Design in Context: From the Human Side of Research to Writing Proposals and Research Manuscripts 8. Speaking Across Epistemic Communities
