Chapter 1: World Views, Paradigms, and the Practice of Social Science Research
Case 1. Quantitative Research
Case 2. Qualitative Research
Thinking about the Foundations and Practice of Research
What This Book Is and Is Not About.
What Warrants Our Attention?
New Techniques or New Paradigms?
Chapter 2: History and Context of Paradigm Development
Positivism: A Response to Metaphysical and Magical Explanations
Critical Theory: A Response to Inequities in Society
Interpretivism: A Response to the Excesses of “Scientific” Social Science
The Special Cases of Postmodernism and Feminism
Chapter 3: Foundational Issues: Postpositivist and Critical Perspectives
Social Science Research: The View from the Postpositivist Paradigm
Social Science Research: The View from the Critical Theory Paradigm
Chapter 4: History and Foundations of Interpretivist Research
(3) Acceptable Methodology/Data.
(5) Relationship of Research to Practice.
The Implications of an Interpretivist Approach
What Sorts of Research are Worthwhile?
Examples of Interpretive Research
Chapter 5: Frameworks for Qualitative Research
“Moments” of Qualitative Research
Some General Frameworks for Qualitative Research
Chapter 6: General Guidelines for Qualitative Research
Guidelines for Qualitative Research
Situated or Contextual Understanding, Not Truth, is the Purpose of Research
Accept Multiple Sources of Influence
Take A Foundational Rather Than Technique Perspective
Practice Recursive (Iterative ) and Emergent Data Collection and Analysis
Use Multiple Sources of Data
Think of Research as a Reflective Process
The Researcher is the Primary Tool for Data Collection and Analysis
An Emphasis on Participatory versus Nonparticipatory Research.
Select Natural Contexts for Research
Research Should be Holistic, Not Atomistic
Research Involves More Than Induction and Deduction: Analogical Reasoning, Abduction, and Family Resemblances
Alternatives to Postpositivist Criteria for Believability: Validity and Reliability
Alternative Approaches to Validity and Reliability: Triangulation and More
Conclusions? Aren’t They Generalizations?
Chapter 7: Methods of Qualitative Research
Case 1: Action Research on a Pediatric Surgical Ward
Established Qualitative Research Methods
Case Studies: Another Form of Qualitative Observation
Historiography: The Research Methods of History Innovative Methods
Participatory Qualitative Research
Critical Emancipatory Action Research
Chapter 8: Approaches to Data Analysis and Intepretation
Hermeneutic (Verstehen) Understanding
Connoisseurship: A Global Perspective
Hermeneutics as a Data Analysis Method
A Final Topic: The Ethics of Research
Chapter 9: 21st Century Social Science: Peering into the Future
Will the Cacophony Continue?
Why Can’t Social Science Converge on The Answer?
Dialog as an Alternative to Competition
Three Approaches to Knowing in Greek Thought
Choices 20th Century Social Science Made
Two Theories That May Help Us Build 21st Century Social Science
Chaos and Complexity Theory: Another Route to a Nonlinea Social Science