Qualitative Research Methods: Social Epistemology and Practical Inquiry

This book is an innovative attempt to examine and restructure the field of qualitative research methods. It develops a series of rules which not only give qualitative inquiry a firmer methodological grounding but also serve as specific guidelines for the practicing researcher. Additionally, the book situates the conduct of qualitative inquiry the broader framework of epistemological concerns drawn from contemporary debates in the philosophy of science and social science. The book can be used, then, as an in-depth introduction to qualitative research methods as well as a social epistemological foundation for the justification of these methods.