Book review: Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-based perspectives (2nd edition)
| Author | M. Elizabeth Snow |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X20982087 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X20982087
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2021, Vol. 21(1) 58 –62
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1035719X20982087
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Book Review
Lynn Butler-Kisber, Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-based perspectives (2nd edition),
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2018. ISBN 978-1473966918 (paperback). 196 pp. AUD$70.80.
Reviewed by: M. Elizabeth Snow , Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences
(CHÉOS), Canada
Before I focus on the book, let me tell you a bit about myself so you can understand
my perspective. Sort of an abbreviated ‘identify memo’ (p. 29), if you will. Like many
evaluators, I fell into the profession after training as an academic researcher. My grad-
uate work was all quantitative. I have a little bit of an arts background: I did a minor
in Drama during my BSc and have served on the board of directors of my local arts
council (the relevance of which will become apparent later in this review). As a prag-
matist, my evaluation work aims to use the approaches and methods that best fit with
a given evaluation situation that in turn expanded my knowledge and skills in qualita-
tive approaches over the years. So, I came to this book as someone who started their
career as a quantitative researcher but has become an evaluator who tends to mix
quantitative and qualitative methods. I am always interested in expanding my evalua-
tion toolbox.
The author, Dr Lynn Butler-Kisber, is a professor of Education at McGill University
in Montreal, Canada. Dr Butler-Kisber uses all of the types of qualitative inquiry dis-
cussed in the book in her research and has written and presented on them extensively.
Reflecting Dr Butler-Kisber’s extensive experience teaching qualitative research and
graduate supervision, the purpose of the book is to help readers choose an inquiry
approach that matches with ‘their research questions, beliefs and assumptions, com-
municative abilities and passions [. . .], and defend the work they are doing’ (p. 2).
Through practical examples, the book demonstrates how to conduct these different
types of inquiry.
Qualitative Inquiry: Thematic, Narrative and Arts-Based Perspectives (2nd edi-
tion) consists of five parts organized around the author’s classification of qualitative
inquiry into three main perspectives. Part I provides a background on qualitative
inquiry. It covers elements I typically associate with qualitative research textbooks,
like worldviews, but also makes a case for a typology of classifying qualitative inquiry
into three main types (thematic, narrative, and arts-based). Practical issues, such as the
982087EVJ0010.1177/1035719X20982087Evaluation Journal of AustralasiaBook review
book-review2020
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