Handbook of Qualitative Research

Rating:
Summary: Research Reviews Research Handbook
Review: These knowledgeable and experienced authors have assembled cutting eduge chapters on the new dimensions researchers have available for doing quantitative research. Of special interest to this reader is the chapter on feminist research. A thorough and scholarly look at objective research in the area of gender issues. This should be of especial help to men who are trying to do a good job in writing and researching while examining their own possible biases. This is a "must have" reference!

Rating:
Summary: It never leaves my desk
Review: While it seems like a large chunk of change, this book is worth every penny. Ever since I've purchased it, many of my colleagues (I'm a social scientist at KU) ask to borrow it, but I never let it go. Just about any question I have about qualitative research can be answered, to some degree, with this book. What's more, even in some of the more controversial areas of qualitative research the book points to other readings that may shed light on alternate perspectives.

Just buy the book. I did, and I don't regret it for a moment. It's also nice in that it covers a wide variety of disciplines and contexts -- journalists, sociologists, communicologits, psychologists, and political scientists can all use the book with equal ease. One area, though, that I've heard the book is not as strong toward is anthropology. If you're an anthropologist, you may want to check out Holstein's interviewing methods book.