In recent years scholars and researchers in all disciplines have moved away from traditional quantitative methods of research to more qualitative methods which emphasize questions of meaning and interpretation. Considering research methodologies as a set of idioms, The New Language of Qualitative Method examines alternate vocabularies for conveying social reality. It offers a new theoretical view which reintegrates the traditional emphasis on the whats of social life with a contemporary understanding of the hows and whys. The text considers the basic presumptions, objectives, and research questions of four major research traditions: naturalism, ethnomethodology, emotionalism, and postmodernism. Using illustrations from classic texts, it shows how each idiom supplies a unique perspective on empirical reality. The text then examines the risks and rewards of each approach, offering a vision of a renewed language of inquiry that accommodates both traditional and contemporary concerns. Striving for balance, the authors not only contend with issues from alternate perspectives, but provide a basis for rapprochement between research traditions that have often remained isolated from each other. They also demonstrate how each approach may be used for research on family, aging, deviance and social problems, and organizations and institutions. Written in an accessible and engaging style, The New Language of Qualitative Method< can be adopted in courses across the social sciences, and may also be used by a broad spectrum of qualitative researchers.

The New Language of Qualitative Method

Politics & Social Sciences

Holstein, James A.

Gubrium, Jaber F.

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

In recent years scholars and researchers in all disciplines have moved away from traditional quantitative methods of research to more qualitative methods which emphasize questions of meaning and interpretation. Considering research methodologies as a set of idioms, The New Language of Qualitative Method examines alternate vocabularies for conveying social reality. It offers a new theoretical view which reintegrates the traditional emphasis on the whats of social life with a contemporary understanding of the hows and whys. The text considers the basic presumptions, objectives, and research questions of four major research traditions: naturalism, ethnomethodology, emotionalism, and postmodernism. Using illustrations from classic texts, it shows how each idiom supplies a unique perspective on empirical reality. The text then examines the risks and rewards of each approach, offering a vision of a renewed language of inquiry that accommodates both traditional and contemporary concerns. Striving for balance, the authors not only contend with issues from alternate perspectives, but provide a basis for rapprochement between research traditions that have often remained isolated from each other. They also demonstrate how each approach may be used for research on family, aging, deviance and social problems, and organizations and institutions. Written in an accessible and engaging style, The New Language of Qualitative Method can be adopted in courses across the social sciences, and may also be used by a broad spectrum of qualitative researchers.

The Self We Live By: Narrative Identity in a Postmodern World

The self is a big story. In the early part of the century, pragmatists like William James, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead turned away from the transcendental self of philosophical reflection to formulate the new concept of an empirical selfthe notion that who and what we are is established in everyday interaction. The self was now a social structure, as Mead put it, even if it was located within the individual. The story has changed dramatically since then. Today, according to some postmodern critics, the self has been cast adrift on a sea of disparate images. Its just one swirling presentation among others, bandied about the frenzy of a media-driven society. At the turn of the 21st century, the self has lost its traditional groundings and fizzled empirically. The self's very existence is seriously being questioned. The Self We Live By resurrects the big story by taking issue with this account. Holstein and Gubrium have crafted a comprehensive discussion that traces a different course of development, from the early pragmatists to contemporary constructionist considerations, rescuing the self from the scrap-heap of postmodern imagery. Glimpses of renewal are located in a new kind of ending, centered in an institutional landscape of diverse narratives, articulated in relation to an expanding horizon of identities. Not only is there a new story of the self, but were told that the self, itself, is narratively constructed. Yet as varied and plentiful as narrative identity has become, its disciplined by its social practices, which the authors discuss and illustrate in terms of the everyday technology of self construction. The empirical self, it turns out, has become more complex and varied than its formulators could have imagined.

Philosophy

The self is a big story. In the early part of the century, pragmatists like William James, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead turned away from the transcendental self of philosophical reflection to formulate the new concept of an empirical selfthe notion that who and what we are is established in everyday interaction. The self was now a social structure, as Mead put it, even if it was located within the individual. The story has changed dramatically since then. Today, according to some postmodern critics, the self has been cast adrift on a sea of disparate images. Its just one swirling representation among others, bandied about the frenzy of a media-driven society. At the turn of the 21st century, the self has lost its traditional groundings and fizzled empirically. The self's very existence is seriously being questioned. The Self We Live By resurrects the big story by taking issue with this account. Holstein and Gubrium have crafted a comprehensive discussion that traces a different course of development, from the early pragmatists to contemporary constructionist considerations, rescuing the self from the scrap-heap of postmodern imagery. Glimpses of renewal are located in a new kind of ending, centered in an institutional landscape of diverse narratives, articulated in relation to an expanding horizon of identities. Not only is there a new story of the self, but were told that the self, itself, is narratively constructed. Yet as varied and plentiful as narrative identity has become, its disciplined by its social practices, which the authors discuss and illustrate in terms of the everyday technology of self construction. The empirical self, it turns out, has become more complex and varied than its formulators could have imagined.

Speaking of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents (Communication and Social Order)

In one of his earlier books, Living and Dying at Murray Manor, the author availed himself of ethnographic techniques to explore the experience of life in a nursing home. This volume extends that exploration to an assessment of the quality of long-term care provided to residents of nursing homes, and of the resulting quality of lives.  Taking a bottom-up rather than a top-down view, Gubrium presents these qualities in the voices of "the residents themselves, in collaboration with the interviewer. Because many residents have been "long stayers" in nursing facilities, they are confronted with matters of home, family, life history, dependence, isolation, self-worth, even destiny in ways that would be irrelevant in shorter hospital stays. Such matters present significant narrative contexts for conveying the subjective meaning of the quality assurance that has become a leading goal of health care delivery.  Two key concepts are employed to organize and interpret the narratives: narrative linkages and horizons of meaning. Narrative linkages refer to the experiences, inside or outside the nursing home, that are drawn upon to communicate subjective meaning. A horizon is the pattern of narrative linkages a resident conveys in speaking of life. The approach and narrative material provide conceptual, methodological, and personal lessons. The issues raised by Gubrium's book are informed by a view of residents as biographically active and by the expectation of narrative diversity. He relates thereby a personal encounter with storytellers who offer the listener the broad range of orientations and special circumstances that continue to make meaning even at the very end of life.

Sociology

de Gruyter

In one of his earlier books, Living and Dying at Murray Manor, the author availed himself of ethnographic techniques to explore the experience of life in a nursing home. This volume extends that exploration to an assessment of the quality of long-term care provided to residents of nursing homes, and of the resulting quality of lives. Taking a bottom-up rather than a top-down view, Gubrium presents these qualities in the voices of "the residents themselves, in collaboration with the interviewer. Because many residents have been "long stayers" in nursing facilities, they are confronted with matters of home, family, life history, dependence, isolation, self-worth, even destiny in ways that would be irrelevant in shorter hospital stays. Such matters present significant narrative contexts for conveying the subjective meaning of the quality assurance that has become a leading goal of health care delivery. Two key concepts are employed to organize and interpret the narratives: narrative linkages and horizons of meaning. Narrative linkages refer to the experiences, inside or outside the nursing home, that are drawn upon to communicate subjective meaning. A horizon is the pattern of narrative linkages a resident conveys in speaking of life. The approach and narrative material provide conceptual, methodological, and personal lessons. The issues raised by Gubrium's book are informed by a view of residents as biographically active and by the expectation of narrative diversity. He relates thereby a personal encounter with storytellers who offer the listener the broad range of orientations and special circumstances that continue to make meaning even at the very end of life.

The myth of the golden years;: A socio-environmental theory of aging,

Thomas

Late life; communities and environmental policy,

Politics & Government

Interviewing has become the window on the world of experience for both researchers and professionals. But as familiar as interviewing is now, its seemingly straightforward methodology raises more questions than ever. What is the interviewer′s image of those who are being interviewed? Who is the interviewer in the eyes of the respondent? From where do interviewers obtain questions and respondents get the answers that they communicate in interviews? How do the institutional auspices of interviewing shape interview data? Drawing upon leading experts from a wide range of disciplines to address these and related questions, The Handbook of Interviewing offers a comprehensive examination of the interview at the cutting edge of information technology in the context of a challenging postmodern environment. Encyclopedic in its breadth, the Handbook provides extensive discussions of the conceptual and methodological issues surrounding interview practice in relation to forms of interviewing, new technology, diverse data gathering and analytic strategies, and the various ways interviewing relates to distinctive respondents. The Handbook is also a story that spins a particular tale that moves from the commonly recognized individual interview as an instrument for gathering data to reflections on the interview as an integral part of the information we gather about individuals and society.

Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method

Sage Publications, Inc.

Analyzing Field Reality (Qualitative Research Methods)

Analyzing Field Reality provides a new way of thinking about the analysis of fieldwork that will aid researchers in many disciplines. It provides the researcher with a methodology for understanding meaning in the field. The author presents a typology of realities -- articulated and structural -- which shape not only the `folk′ understanding of interaction in a given setting but that of the ethnographer as well. Gubrium discusses structural, organisationally-embedded factors which shape social forms such as the family, role or personality. Examples from a variety of settings, including nursing homes, hospitals, support groups and residential treatment centres make this method of analysis applicable to qualitative researchers in applie

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gubrium, Jaber F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gubrium, Jaber F.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gubrium, Jaber F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The New Language of Qualitative Method

The New Language of Qualitative Method

The Self We Live By: Narrative Identity in a Postmodern World

The Self We Live By: Narrative Identity in a Postmodern World

Speaking of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents (Communication and Social Order)

Speaking of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents (Communication and Social Order)

The myth of the golden years;: A socio-environmental theory of aging,

Late life; communities and environmental policy,

Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method

Analyzing Field Reality (Qualitative Research Methods)