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Foundations for Research

Methods of Inquiry in Education and the Social Sciences

• Edited by Kathleen B. deMarrais, Stephen D. Lapan

• Price: $54.95
• Binding: Paperback
• Pages: 448
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 1st September 2003
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-3650-9

About the Book

Designed for introductory research courses in the professional fields and social sciences, this text acquaints students and beginning researchers with a broad view of research methodologies and an understanding of the assumptions that inform each of these approaches. More experienced researchers will also find the book useful in acquainting them with methodologies and theoretical frameworks that are new to them.

The text is distinguished by its avoidance of using the discreet categories of qualitative and quantitative methods to organize the chapters. While some chapter authors rely more on one or the other, many employ multiple methodologies to investigate particular problems and questions. Further, the book is not organized into single, contradictory positivist-interpretivist categories of research; chapter authors often situate methodologies within a variety of, and sometimes multiple, theoretical positions, particularly as these approaches are shaped by the historical context of social science research.

Focus points in Foundations for Research: Methods of Inquiry in Education and the Social Sciences:
*research ethics.
*intertwined relationship of theory and research design.
*systematic examination of ways to design and implement high-quality, trustworthy research across varying research designs.
*specific methods for implementing research within various frameworks.
*pedagogical strategies.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. K. deMarrais, S.D. Lapan, Introduction. K. Tisdale, Being Vulnerable and Being Ethical With/in Research. K. Rousmaniere, Historical Research. K. deMarrais, Qualitative Interview Studies: Learning Through Experience. D.L. Kain, Owning Significance: The Critical Incident Technique in Research. P.B. Kleiber, Focus Groups: More Than a Method of Qualitative Inquiry. M.K. Kramp, Exploring Life and Experience Through Narrative Inquiry. J. Johnson-Bailey, Enjoining Positionality and Power in Narrative Work: Balancing Contentious and Modulating Forces. K.J. Roulston, Ethnomethodological and Conversation Analytic Studies. J. Preissle, L. Grant, Fieldwork Traditions: Ethnography and Participant Observation. G.W. Noblit, Reinscribing Critique in Educational Ethnography: Critical and Postcritical Ethnography. P. Lather, Critical Inquiry in Qualitative Research: Feminist and Poststructural Perspectives: Science "After Truth." P.A. Hays, Case Study Research. S.D. Lapan, Evaluation Studies. G. Garaway, Participatory Evaluation. P.A. Schutz, C.B. Chambless, J.T. DeCuir, Multimethods Research. S.R. Hutchinson, Survey Research. K.A. Sealander, Single-Subject Experimental Research: An Overview for Practitioners. L.H. Cross, G.M. Belli, Experimental Research to Inform Educational Policy. E.R. House, Using Multiple Methodologies: The Case of Retention in Chicago.