Abstract
Among manuals on how to conduct qualitative research and texts critiquing modes of representation in social science studies, Doing Qualitative Research: The Craft of Naturalistic Inquiry stands apart. The product of Joost Beuving and Geert de Vries’s experiences performing research and co-teaching methods courses in a range of disciplines, Doing Qualitative Research incorporates both practical and theoretical dimensions of social science investigation through the concept of naturalistic inquiry, or “studying people in everyday circumstances by ordinary means” (p.15). A response to the limitations of positivism, the increasing use of the Internet for data collection, the inaccessibility of fancy statistical modeling for most people, and the accessibility of journal articles for a select few, Doing Qualitative Research aims to get the researcher back into natural settings to uncover “surprising and important insights into the working of society—insights that cannot be gained from surveys or experiments” (p.16). As Beuving and de Vries write, “Naturalistic inquiry aims to bridge the gulf that has emerged between social scientists on the one hand and the rest of humanity on the other” (p.15).
The book is helpfully divided into eight chapters that follow the arc of the research process. It begins with definitions of key concepts and issues as well as explanations of the often fraught role of theory in data collection. The authors then move to the act of conducting research, including participant observation, interviewing, and, interestingly, decoding texts, images, and other material objects. The book concludes with chapters on coding, analysis, and writing.
With a wide audience and non-specialists in mind, Doing Qualitative Research is written for students in numerous disciplines and at different points in their educational trajectories. The book also spends time articulating the ways naturalistic inquiry is useful not only in academia but also beyond college campuses with smart explications of qualitative research’s uses in public policy, management consultancy, and the everyday lives of everyday people. Indeed, one of the book’s overarching goals is to help readers see the social world from a number of perspectives and vantage points, which, the authors assert, can promote a more tolerant and accepting society. As they explain, “Armed with the apparatus of naturalistic inquiry, social scientists can understand the life world of both those who are experienced as ‘different’ and those who feel threatened by them. They can offer the empirical antidote that is much needed to steer the overheated public debate around ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘the other’ into calmer waters” (p.22).
Of particular note is the fifth chapter, “Reading Society: Texts, Images, Things,” which focuses on the objects people create and the manifold meanings of material culture in ordinary life. Though the authors do not engage with the fields of literacy studies, social semiotics, or linguistic anthropology, which have long examined the centrality of textual and other object forms in daily life, it is noteworthy that cultural artifacts—from documents and books to films and from dances to buildings—are included in a qualitative research book at all and represented as deserving of social analysis. Case studies of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, a Lewis Hine photograph, and Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story show the reader precisely how to analyze cultural expressions while demonstrating the knowledge generated from their rigorous analysis. Chapter Five is an innovative and significant addition to a text on the practice of qualitative research.
Doing Qualitative Research is an important book for students at various stages and with various levels of experience conducting social science research and for instructors who want the insights not only of how-to manuals but also of critical reflections on research processes. The combination of practical strategies for data collection and theoretical elucidations on the political and ethical dimensions of representation, which are seamlessly woven together throughout, make it a unique resource. The book will be a valuable part of methods classes in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, American studies, political science, and communication. With clear writing, concise explanations, and interesting case studies, the book is an accessible read, which cannot be said of many books on methods. More importantly, the book’s goal to use social science research to promote conviviality, tolerance, and acceptance makes it a fresh, critical, and useful intervention.