Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research - Softcover

Rossman, Gretchen B.; Rallis, Sharon F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761926518 ISBN 13: 9780761926511

Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc, 2003

Synopsis

The popular text that helped readers better understand and practice qualitative research has been completely updated and revised while retaining the features that made the first edition so useful.

New to this edition:

- Chapter 3 on the ethics and politics of qualitative research

- Chapter 4 on choosing the locus of interest among the major qualitative research approaches

- Chapter 10 expanded to provide detailed instructions for organizing, coding, interpreting, and analyzing data

- Concept boxes highlight major themes and issues and summarize important principles

- End-of-chapter study questions and activities

To help readers better visualize and grasp the concepts, issues and complexities of qualitative inquiry, the authors introduce each chapter with discussions among three `characters' - students whose research projects demonstrate the challenges and excitement of qualitative research. Woven into the chapters and the characters' stories are three themes that make up the tapestry of qualitative research: First, research is a learning process. Second, research can and should be useful. Finally, a researcher needs to have a clear vision of the audience and purpose of a study.

About this title

About the Authors

Sharon F. Rallis is Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Reform at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she is also director of the Center for Education Policy. Previously, she was professor of education at the University of Connecticut; lecturer on education at Harvard; and associate professor of educational leadership at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Her doctorate is from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has co-authored ten books, including several on leadership: Principals of Dynamic Schools: Taking Charge of Change (with Ellen Goldring); Dynamic Teachers: Leaders of Change (with Gretchen Rossman); Leading Dynamic Schools: How to create and Implement Ethical Policies (with Gretchen Rossman and others); and Leading with Inquiry and Action: How Principals Improve Teaching and Learning (with Matthew Militello and Ellen Goldring). Her numerous articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and technical reports address issues of research and evaluation methodology, ethical practice in research and evaluation, education policy and leadership, and school reform.

A past-president of the American Evaluation Association (2005), Rallis has been involved with education and evaluation for over three decades. She has been a teacher, counselor, principal, researcher, program evaluator, director of a major federal school reform initiative, and an elected school board member. Currently, her teaching includes courses on inquiry, program evaluation, qualitative methodology, and organizational theory. Her research has focused on the local implementation of programs driven by federal, state, or district policies. As external evaluator or principal investigator (PI), she has studied a variety of domestic and international policy and reform efforts, such as: alternative professional development for leaders; collaborations between agencies responsible for educating incarcerated or institutionalized youth; initiatives supporting inclusive education for children and youth with disabilities; local school governance and leadership; labor-management relations in school districts. Rallis’ work with students on evaluation and qualitative methodology has taken her as far as Afghanistan and Palestine.

undefinedundefinedundefined

Professional Interests:

Qualitative research design and methods; ethics in research practice; education reform in developing countries

Edition details

• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761926518
• ISBN 13: 9780761926511
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 392