Workshop on Scientific Foundations of Qualitative Research

By Ragin, Charles C.

Excerpt
Excerpt: On July 11-12, 2003, a workshop on the Scientific Foundations of Qualitative Research was held at NSF in Arlington, Virginia. The workshop was funded by an NSF grant from the Sociology Program and the Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program to Dr. Charles Ragin, University of Arizona. The purpose of the workshop was twofold. Workshop participants were asked to: 1) provide guidance both to reviewers and investigators about the characteristics of strong qualitative research proposals and the criteria for evaluating projects in NSF’s merit review process, and 2) provide recommendations to address the broader issue of how to strengthen qualitative methods in sociology and the social sciences in general. The workshop was intended to contribute to advancing the quality of qualitative research, and thus to advancing research capacity, tools, and infrastructure in the social sciences.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................3 Background ................................................................................................................................................7 General Guidance for Developing Qualitative Research Projects ......................................................................9 What is “Qualitative Research?” ......................................................................................................................9 What is the Role of Theory in Qualitative Research? ............................................................................................. 10 How Does One Design Qualitative Research? ..................................................................................................... 12 What Techniques Are Appropriate for Analyzing Qualitative Data? ........................................................................... 13 What Are the Most Productive, Feasible, and Innovative Ways of Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods? ................. 14 What Standards Should Be Used to Evaluate the Results of Qualitative Research? .......................................................... 16 Recommendations for Designing, Evaluating, and Strengthening Qualitative Research in the Social Sciences ......17 Recommendations for Designing and Evaluating Qualitative Research ........................................................................ 17 Recommendations for Supporting and Strengthening Qualitative Research ................................................................... 18 Appendices Appendix 1: List of Workshop Participants ....................................................................................................... 21 Appendix 2: Workshop Agenda .................................................................................................................... 23 Appendix 3: Papers Presented by Workshop Participants ....................................................................................... 27 Julia Adams, Yale University - Qualitative Research...What’s in a Name? ...............................................................29 Elijah Anderson, University of Pennsylvania - Urban Ethnography ...................................................................... 33 Vilna Bashi, Rutgers University - Improving Qualitative Research Proposal Evaluation .............................................. 39 Howard Becker - The Problems of Analysis .................................................................................................. 45 Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University - Testing Theories and Explaining Cases ................................................... 49 Joel Best, University of Delaware - Defi ning Qualitative Research ...................................................................... 53 Kathleen Blee, University of Pittsburgh - Evaluating Qualitative Research ............................................................. 55 Linda Burton, Pennsylvania State University - Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study ................................ 59 David Collier, University of California, Berkeley - Qualitative Versus Quantitative: What Might This Distinction Mean? ...... 71 Mitchell Duneier, Princeton University/CUNY Graduate School - Suggestions for NSF .............................................. 77 Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University - The When of Theory ......................................................................... 81 Jack Katz, University of California, Los Angeles - Commonsense Criter