Emergent Methods In Social Research

This book is ideal for graduate-level Intermediate and Advanced Research Methods and qualitative Methods courses across the social sciences, particularly sociology, Political Science, Urban Studies, Anthropology, Communication, Social Work, and relevant Evaluation programs. Researchers and professionals interested in having a comprehensive view of the latest in research methods will also value this text.

Emergent Methods in Social Research introduces state-of-the-art social research methods that address the growing methods-theory gap within and across the disciplines. In this text, editors Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy combine original, in-depth introductions, previously published articles, and original works to provide readers with a comprehensive view of new and cutting-edge research methods and methodologies.

Key Features:

• Combines theoretical and empirical pieces: Both theoretical and methodological issues at the cutting edge of research are explored. The linking of theoretical and empirical pieces, in addition to the focus on emergent methods, makes this book highly unique to the field.
• Focuses on two sub-topics: Emerging research techniques across disciplines and emerging methods within disciplines are examined. The scope of the work offers a very broad perspective of the possible uses and issues surrounding these techniques and methods. New methods include Listening, the Body, Auto-Ethnography, Biographical-Narrative Approach, Methodology of the Oppressed, Postcolonialism, Poststructuralism, Ethnodrama, and much more.
• Challenges traditional ethnography: Social researchers are encouraged to question traditional forms of knowledge construction within ethnography. Theoretical insights challenge ethnographic researchers to build bridges that link new research questions with innovative ethnographic methods that can address issues of power, authority, and representation in the research process.

Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She is founder and director of The National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education. She is coeditor of several books, including Feminist Perspectives on Social Research (Oxford University Press, 2004); Approaches to Qualitative Research (Oxford University Press, 2004); Women in Catholic Higher Education: Border Work,  Living Experiences and Social Justice ( Lexington, 2003); and Feminist Approaches to Theory and Methodology (Oxford University Press, 1999).  She is coauthor of The Practice of Qualitative Research ( Sage Publication, 2006); Emergent Methods in Social Research (Sage Publications , 2006); Working Women in America:Split Dreams ( Oxford University Press, 2005) . She is the author of  Am I Thin Enough Yet?  ( Oxford University Press, 1996) Her book, The Cult of Thinness, is forthcoming with the Oxford University Press.  She has written numerous articles in the fields of body image, qualitative methods, and computer approaches to qualitative data analysis. She is co-developer of  HyperRESEARCH,  (www.researchware.com)  a computer software program for qualitative data analysis.