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Robert K. Yin
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Acknowledgments
PART I. UNDERSTANDING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Chapter 1. What Is Qualitative Research—and Why Might You Consider Doing Such Research?
A. The Allure of Qualitative Research: A Topical Panorama of Studies
Vignette 1.1. A Qualitative Study of Homeless Women
B. The Distinctiveness of Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research: A Broad Area of Inquiry
Five Features of Qualitative Research
Vignette 1.2. Using Qualitative Research to Produce New Insights
Vignette 1.3. Using an Overarching Concept to Organize a Qualitative Study
Common Practices
C. The Multifaceted World of Qualitative Research
Multiple Interpretations of the Same Events?
Vignette 1.4. An Immersion Study of Physicians’ Training
The Uniqueness of Human Events?
Whether to Emulate One of Qualitative Research’s Variants Mediating Strategies
D. Building Trustworthiness and Credibility into Qualitative Research Transparency
Methodic-ness
Adherence to Evidence
Illustrative Studies Offered by the Remainder of This Book
Vignette 1.5. Qualitative Research Addressing a Major U.S. Policy Shift
Vignette 1.6. Fifteen Years of Ethnography in the Ticuanense Community
Chapter 2. Equipping Yourself to Do Qualitative Research
A. Competencies in Doing Qualitative Research
"Listening"
Asking Good Questions
Knowing about Your Topic of Study
Caring about Your Data
Doing Parallel Tasks
Persevering
B. Managing Field-Based Research
Vignette 2.1. Overcoming the Challenges of Doing Intensive, Field-Based Research
Vignette 2.2. A Qualitative Study Based Solely on Open-ended Interviews
Making Time to Think Ahead
Vignette 2.3. Desirable Teamwork for a Study Based on Open-ended Interviews
Managing as Part of a Field Team
Vignette 2.4. Doing Fieldwork with Multiple Persons Working in Multiple Settings
Vignette 2.5. Organizing a Research Team to Collect Extensive Field Data
C. Practicing
Using the Exercises in This Book to Practice
Doing a Pilot Study
Getting Motivated
D. Setting and Maintaining Ethical Standards of Conduct
An Illustrative Ethical Challenge: Fairly Examining All of Your Data
Codes of Ethics
Research Integrity
Disclosure as One Way of Demonstrating Research Integrity
Vignette 2.6. Detailing the Methodological Choices and Personal Conditions in Doing a Qualitative Study
Vignette 2.7. Doing Qualitative Research and Advocating a Sociopolitical Cause
E. Protecting Human Subjects: Obtaining Approval from an Institutional Review Board
Submitting Study Protocols for Review and Approval
Specific Considerations in Protecting Human Subjects
Preparing for IRB Review
The Informed Consent Dialogue (in the Field) as an Opportunity for Participants to Query You
Chapter 3. How to Start a Research Study
The Challenge of Starting a Qualitative Study
Originality in Doing a Qualitative Study
The Rest of This Chapter
A. Starting a Qualitative Study by Considering Three Features
Parallel Processing the Start-Up Process
Ways of Getting Started
Developing a Study Bank
Results from Creating an Illustrative "Study Bank"
Considering a Topic of Inquiry
Considering a Data Collection Method
Vignette 3.1. An Interview Study Leading to a Policy Agenda
Considering a Source of Data (e.g., Identifying a Field Setting)
Vignette 3.2. A Qualitative Study with Elementary School Children as the Main Sources of Data
Remembering Time and Resource Constraints
B. Reviewing Research Literature
Whether (or Not) to Conduct a Review
Role of Literature Review in Starting a Study
Vignette 3.3. Defining a New Study’s Contribution in Relation to Existing Literature
Brief Summary: Different Types of Literature Reviews
Taking Notes about Existing Studies
Downloading Materials from Websites
C. Detailing a New Qualitative Study
Starting a Bit of Fieldwork First
Starting with Research Questions
Examining Your Own Background Knowledge and Perceptions in Relation to a New Study
PART II. DOING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Chapter 4. Choices in Designing Qualitative Research Studies
Brief Definition of Research Designs
Design Options
Choice 1: Starting a Research Design at the Beginning of a Study (or Not)
Choice 2: Taking Steps to Strengthen the Validity of a Study (or Not)
What Validity Means When Doing Research
Vignette 4.1. Seven Strategies for Combating Threats to Validity
in Qualitative Research
Rival Explanations
Triangulation
Choice 3: Clarifying the Complexity of Data Collection
Units (or Not)
Nested Arrangements
Relationship between the Level of the Data Collection Units and the
Main Topic of a Study
Choice 4: Attending to Sampling (or Not)
Purposive and Other Kinds of Sampling
The Number of Data Collection Units to Be Included in a Study
Vignette 4.2. Studying Inequality in the Retail Marketplace
Vignette 4.3. Six Ethnographic Accounts as Part of a Single Study
Vignette 4.4. A Comparative, Four-Case Design across time, within the Same Venue
Vignette 4.5. Seeking Multiple Data Collection Units, But in a Methodic Variety of Ways
Choice 5: Incorporating Concepts and Theories into a Study (or Not)
Worlds Devoid of Concepts?
Inductive versus Deductive Approaches
Vignette 4.6. How Fieldwork Can Lead to a Useful Typology
Vignette 4.7. Studying a Preestablished Concept: Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Vignette 4.8. Studying Privatization within Former Soviet-Bloc Countries
Choice 6: Planning at an Early Stage (or Not) to Obtain Participant Feedback
Feedback Choices
Potential Influence on a Study’s Later Narrative
Choice 7: Being Concerned with Generalizing a Study’s Findings (or Not)
Need for Reaching beyond Statistical Generalizations
Making Analytic Generalizations
Vignette 4.9. Generalizing the Findings from a Single-Case Study
Vignette 4.10. An Example of Analytic Generalization from a Single Qualitative Study
Choice 8: Preparing a Research Protocol (or Not)
Protocols, Not Instruments
Protocols as Mental Frameworks
Operational Definitions
Chapter 5. Doing Fieldwork
A. Working in the Field
Variety of Field Settings
Vignette 5.1. Examples of "Everyday" Settings
Differing Rules and Expectations for Public or Private Places as Field Settings
Varying the Amount of Time in the Field
B. Gaining and Maintaining Access to the Field
Gaining Access to a Field Setting: A Process, Not an Event
How the Process Can Influence the Substance of a Study
Vignette 5.2. Access Gained and Then Restricted
Vignette 5.3. Questions of Continuation Raised in the Third Year of Fieldwork
Vignette 5.4. Working as a Store Clerk
Vignette 5.5. Residing and Working in a Transitioning Urban Neighborhood
C. Nurturing Field Relationships
Portraying Your Authentic Self
Importance of Personal Demeanor
Vignette 5.6. The Fieldworker in Action
Doing Favors for Participants: Part of the Relationship or Not?
Coping with Unexpected Events
Planning How to Exit, Not Just Enter, the Field
D. Doing Participant-Observation
The Researcher as the "Research Instrument"
Vignette 5.7. Doing Fieldwork in Two Houses of Worship
Vignette 5.8. Racial and Ethnic Congruencies
Taking an Inductive Stance Even If a Study Started with Some Propositions
E. Making Site Visits
Studying a Large Number of Field Settings
Adhering to Formal Schedules and Plans
Being "Hosted" during a Site Visit
Building Teamwork
Chapter 6. Data Collection Methods
A. What Are Data?
B. Introduction to Four Types of Data Collection Activities
C. Interviewing
Structured Interviews
Vignette 6.1. Qualitative Interviewing as a Social Relationship
Qualitative Interviews
Doing Qualitative Interviews
Vignette 6.2. Using "Grand Tour" Questions to Start Your Conversing
Vignette 6.3. Nondirectively Interviewing People
About the Key Topic of Study
"Entering" and "Exiting" Qualitative Interviews
Interviewing Groups of People
Focus Group Interviewing as a Method of Collecting Qualitative Data
Vignette 6.4. A Distinguised "Manual" for Collecting Focus Group Data
Vignette 6.5. Using Focus Groups as the Only Data from "Field"
D. Observing
Doing "Systematic Observation" as the Basis for an Entire Qualitative Study
Vignette 6.6. Syatematic Observations in School Classrooms
Vignette 6.7. "Observational Studies" Also Refer to Research Defined by Statistical Principles and Methods
Deciding When and Where to Observe
Deciding What to Observe
Vignette 6.8. "Unobtrusive Measures" as the Subject of Observations
Taking Advantage of Unobtrusive Measures
Deriving Meaning from Observations, and Triangulating
Observational Evidence with Other Sources
E. Collecting and Examining
Vignette 6.9. Intertwining Historical and Field Evidence
Collecting Objects (e.g., Documents, Artifacts, and Archival Records) in the Field:
Invaluable but Also Time- Consuming
Using Documents to Complement Field Interviews and Conversations
"Surfing" and "Googling" for Related Information
Collecting or Examining Objects as a Complementary Part of Your Data Collection
F. Feelings
"Feelings" Take Different Forms
Documenting and Recording Feelings
G. Desirable Practices Pertinent to All Modes of Data Collection
Chapter 7. Recording Data
A. What to Record
Trying to Record "Everything" versus Being Too Selective
Highlighting Actions and Capturing Words Verbatim
Vignette 7.1. Different Examples of "Vivid Images"
Remembering Your Research Questions
Taking Notes about Written Studies, Reports, and Documents
Found in the Field
Vignette 7.2. The Verbatim Principle
Duplicating Copies of Documents and Written Materials
While in the Field
B. Note-Taking Practices When Doing Fieldwork
Being Prepared
Setting Up Your Notes
Developing Your Own Transcribing Language
Creating Drawings and Sketches as Part of the Notes
C. Converting Field Notes into Fuller Notes
Converting Field Notes Quickly
Minimum Requirement for the Daily Conversion of the Original Field Notes
Four Additional Ways of Enhancing the Original Field Notes
Deepening Your Understanding of Your Fieldwork
Verifying Field Notes
Vignette 7.3. "Checking Stuff"
D. Recording Data through Modes Other Than Writing
Obtaining Permission to Record
Mastering Recording Devices before Using Them
Sharing the Recordings and Maintaining Their Security
Being Prepared to Spend Time Reviewing and Editing the Recordings
When Electronic Recordings Are the Main
Data Collection Technique
Producing Finished Products
E. Keeping a Personal Journal
Chapter 8. Analyzing Qualitative Data, I: Compiling, Disassembling, and Reassembling
A. Overview of the Analytic Phases
Introduction to a Five- Phased Cycle: (1) Compiling, (2) Disassembling, (3) Reassembling (and Arraying),
(4) Interpreting, and (5) Concluding
Using Computer Software to Assist in Analyzing
Qualitative Data
Vignette 8.1. A Helpful Guide for Using CAQDAS Software
B. Compiling an Orderly Set of Data
Parallel to Quantitative Research?
Rereading and Relistening: Getting to "Know" Your Field Notes
Putting Everything into a Consistent Form
Using Computer Software to Compile Your Records
C. Disassembling Data
Memo Writing
To Code or Not to Code
Coding Data
Vignette 8.2. Guidance for Coding Qualitative Data
Disassembling Data without Coding Them
Exhibit 8.2. Examples of Level 1 and Level 2 Coding
Using Computer Software to Assist in Disassembling Data
D. Reassembling Data
Looking for Patterns
Using Arrays to Help Reassemble Data
Creating Hierarchical Arrays
Designing Matrices as Arrays
Vignette 8.3. Creating Matrices to Reassemble Qualitative Data
Vignette 8.4. Studying Neighborhood Change
Working with Other Types of Arrays
Summarizing the Arraying Process
Important Procedures during the Reassembling Process
Using Computer Software to Assist in Reassembling Data
Final Words on Reassembling
Chapter 9. Analyzing Qualitative Data, II: Interpreting and Concluding
A. Interpreting
B. Modes of Interpreting
"Description" as a Major Type of Interpretation
Description plus a Call for Action
"Explanation" as a Type of Interpretation
Creating Insightful and Usable Interpretations
Vignette 9.1. An Interpretive Theme that Appears Throughout
A Qualitative Study
C. Concluding
Concluding by Calling for New Research
Concluding by Challenging Conventional Generalizations and Social Stereotypes
Vignette 9.2. Conclusions that Challenge Conventional Generalizations
Concluding with New Concepts, Theories, and Even "Discoveries" about Human Social Behavior
Vignette 9.3. Using Qualitative Research to Create and Test
A Theoretical Construct: "The Code of the Street"
Vignette 9.4. Studying Neighborhood Transition in Urban Mexico
Concluding by Making Substantive (not Methodological)
Propositions
Concluding by Generalizing to a Broader Set of Situations
Part III. PRESENTING THE RESULTS FROM QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Chapter 10. Displaying Qualitative Data
A. Narrative Data about the Participants in a Qualitative Study
Interspersing Quoted Passages within Selected Paragraphs
Using Lengthier Presentations, Covering Multiple Paragraphs
Vignette 10.1. Collecting In-Depth Material about a Subgroup of People in a Study
Making Chapter-Long Presentations about a Study’s Participants
Vignette 10.2. A Study Based Entirely on the Voices of the People Who Were Studied
Vignette 10.3. Citing the Experiences and Words of Different People, Without Compiling Any Single Life Story
Presenting Information about Different Participants, but Not Focusing on the Life Story of Any of Them
B. Tabular, Graphic, and Pictorial Presentations
Tables and Lists
Vignette 10.4. Using Word Tables to Summarize an Analytic Finding
Vignette 10.5. Listing Information about the People in a Study
Graphics
Photographs and Reproductions
Vignette 10.6. Making Good Use of Photographs as Part of Qualitative Studies
C. Creating Slides to Accompany Oral Presentations
Slide Artwork: Not the Same as the Artwork for Printed Exhibits
Text-Only Slides ("Word Slides")
Taking Advantage of Slides’ Free Form
Using Icons and Other Symbols
Choosing Colors and Artistic Style
Chapter 11. Composing Research, to Share It with Others
A. Composing: General Hints
Knowing the Audience for Your Qualitative Research
Vignette 11.1. Reading about Composing, in a Variety of Related Fields
Vignette 11.2. Taking Risks When Using Unconventional Presentations
Having a Way with Words
Composing "Inside Out"
Composing "Backwards"
B. Composing Qualitative Research
Covering the Five Senses
Vignette 11.3. Three Different Ways of Relating Your Fieldwork Findings
Representing Multiple Voices and Perspectives, and Also Dealing with Issues of Anonymity
Being Sensitive to the Interpretive Nature of Your Compositions
C. Presenting Your Declarative Self
Vignette 11.4. Twitches or Winks?: Interpretive Constructions of Reality
Vignette 11.5. Three Examples of Attractive Starting Points
Starting Your Composition at an Interesting Place
Differing "Shapes" of Compositions
Vignette 11.6. Using a Different Life Story in Each Chapter to Highlight Its Substantive Message
Using Plain Words and Minimizing Research Jargon
Making Headings (or the Titles of Exhibits) State a Substantive Message
D. Presenting Your Reflective Self
Making Your Research Lens as Explicit as Possible
Vignette 11.7. Using a Preface to Discuss the Fieldworker’s "Lens"
Vignette 11.8. Using a Section Titled "Self-Reflexivity" to Discuss the Fieldworker’s "Lens"
Describing Your Research Lens as an Important
Quality-Control Procedure
Keeping Your Reflective Self Under Control
Making Prefatory Remarks Insightful and Enticing
E. Reworking Your Composition
Helpfulness of Reviews in the Reworking Process
Time and Effort in Reworking
Copyediting and Proofreading—and Reviewing
Copyeditors’ Work
Part IV. TAKING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ONE STEP FURTHER
Chapter 12. Broadening the Challenge of Doing Qualitative Research
A. Qualitative Research as Part of the Broader Realm of Social Science Research
Examples of Craft Similarities
Examples of Contrasting Craft Practices
Differences in Worldviews across Social Science Research
B. An Ongoing Dialogue
The Positioning of Research
Qualitative versus Quantitative Methods
A Gold Standard?
C. The Promise and Challenge of Mixed Methods Research
The Roots of Mixed Methods Research
A Mixed Methods Study as a Single Study
Vignette 12.1. Ethnographic Research as a Long-Standing Part of The U.S. Census
Expertise Needed for Doing a Mixed Methods Study
Vignette 12.2. Examples of Pitfalls to be Overcome in Qualitative Research
D. Moving Onward
Different Motives for Moving Onward
Putting Principles, Not Just Procedures, into Practice
Making Your Own Contribution to the Craft of Doing Qualitative Research
*Appendix. A Semester- or Year-Long Project
*A Glossary of Special Terms Used in Qualitative Research
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Author
