Book Review: Teaching Qualitative Research: Cases and Issues
| Author | Norman Denzin,Darrell Caulley |
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X0900900108 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
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BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews
I have been teaching qualitative
research methods for more
than four decades. I offered my
first course to undergraduate
sociology majors at the University
of Illinois in the fall of 1966.
The next year I began teaching
a course called ‘Field Methods’
to graduate students. I have
taught an evolving version of this
course, now called ‘Advanced
Interpretive Methods’, every year
since (except for sabbaticals). In
1966 there were no qualitative
research methodology textbooks.
There was a large body of
work connected to the Chicago
School on case study, life
history, participant observation,
interviewing, analytic induction,
naturalistic observation, ethics,
and an emerging discourse on
triangulation and the use of
multiple methods. Grounded
theory was on the horizon. My
lectures from these two courses
became The Research Act
(Denzin 1970).
Students did field projects,
interviewing, taking notes, and
observing behavior in public
places—drug stores, taverns,
fraternities, sororities, athletic
events, buses, classrooms. They
turned in their research reports
and I graded them in terms of
completeness, and attention to
detail. They took three essay
exams over the logic of different
methods of inquiry. I saw myself
training a new generation of
Chicago school sociologists,
and used the works of Blumer,
Hughes, Strauss and Becker as my
models. I had no teaching model
to draw upon, other than books
and articles on specific methods.
I did not understand that I was
teaching students methods for
representing social action and
making the world visible.
Fast forward to the present.
Rosalind Hurworth’s opens her
wonderful new book with these
lines:
I was asked to teach Qualitative
Research (QR) as a component
of a Post-Graduate Diploma in
Evaluation … I decided to find
out what … course elements
would have to be considered;
how to devise an appropriate
curriculum; what issues might
be faced; and what kinds
of reactions students were
likely to display … However,
to my dismay, there was no
such assistance available for,
while there were increasing
numbers of books dealing with
qualitative data management,
there was virtually nothing
written … about teaching QR.
(p. 1)
Déjà vu all over again. This
is virtually the same situation
I confronted in 1966. Now
there are textbooks on different
methodologies, but nothing yet
on how to teach them.
Hurworth’s masterful book
addresses this lacuna. She carried
out intensive multi-site case
studies, observing seven courses
at five Australian institutions, and
two courses in the UK. A range of
disciplines, from anthropology, to
education, evaluation, sociology,
psychology, criminology,
communications and nursing was
represented. She interviewed,
observed and participated in
these courses. Twelve chapters
report the results of her research.
Chapter 2 offers an invaluable
history of the field, from the early
Chicago school to the present,
including the use of computer-
assisted software for data analysis
(CAQDAS). Chapters 3 and
4 report from the field sites,
including the teaching practices
of 11 teachers. Several issues
affecting the teaching project
emerged from the case studies,
including constraints arising from
time, class size, length of course,
level of knowledge, and discipline
and prior experience of instructors
and students.
Other problems were
associated with establishing a
relationship between practice and
theory, planning course content,
managing class discussions,
using literature reviews, devising
methods of assessment, managing
student projects, and managing
ideological conflicts (p. 97).
The next six chapters, 5 to 10,
concentrate on teaching issues
identified in the case studies,
both within and across courses,
Title: Teaching Qualitative Research: Cases and Issues
Author: Rosalind E Hurworth
Publisher/year: Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2008
Extent/type: 283 pages, paperback
Price: US$49.00, Sense Publishers, website <https://www.sensepublishers.com>, key the author’s name into the
‘Quick Find’ box to locate title for purchase
ISBN: 978-90-8790-203-2
edited by Darrell Caulley
EJA_9_1.indb 55 18/10/09 10:34:24 PM
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