Discovering Qualitative Methods

Book excerpt: This is a book for the qualitative methods course taught out of sociology. It is aimed at students who are new to the field, and is suitable for both undergraduates and graduates. The authors first provide a brief history of the origins, theoretical underpinnings, and importance of qualitativeresearch methods; next, they address the specifics of field research and interviews. This book can serve as a main text in a qualitative methods course, as a supplementary text for a general methods course, or as a guide for senior seminar and thesis students working on qualitative research.