Analyzing Social Settings A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis

, by Lofland, John; Snow, David A.; Anderson, Leon; Lofland, Lyn H.

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ISBN: 9780534528614 | 0534528619
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 8/18/2005

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This comprehensive guide takes a 'how-to' approach to qualitative data collection and analysis. Drawing from a wealth of illustrative research examples and applications, the authors introduce techniques of collecting, focusing, and analyzing data in a step-by-step manner. First published in 1971, this book has become the field manual for any student doing social science fieldwork.

List of Figures

xvii

Preface to the Fourth Edition

xix

Acknowledgments

xxi

Introduction: The Aims and Organization of This Guide

(6)

I. Three Tasks: Gathering, Focusing, and Analyzing Data

(1)

II. Features and Aspects of Fieldstudies

(3)

A. Gathering Data: Researcher as Witness and Instrument

(1)

B. Focusing Data: Social Science Guidance

(1)

C. Analyzing Data: Emergence

(1)

III. Audiences

(1)

IV. Yet More Labels for Fieldstudies

(2)

PART ONE GATHERING DATA

(112)

Chapter 1. Starting Where You Are

(6)

I. Personal Experience and Biography

(3)

II. Intellectual Curiosity

(1)

III. Tradition and Justification

(2)

Chapter 2. Evaluating Data Sites

(18)

I. The Overall Goal

(2)

II. Participant Observation and Intensive Interviewing

(1)

III. Detailed Assessment of Data Sites

(14)

A. Evaluating for Appropriateness

(3)

B. Evaluating for Access

(6)

1. Investigator Relationship to Setting

(1)

2. Ascriptive Categories of Researcher and Researched

(2)

3. Difficult Settings

(2)

C. Evaluating for Physical and Emotional Risks

(1)

D. Evaluating for Ethics

(2)

E. Evaluating for Personal Consequences

(2)

IV. A Concluding Word of Caution

(1)

Chapter 3. Getting In

(21)

I. Types of Settings

(1)

II. The Unknown Investigator

(5)

A. Public and Quasi-Public Settings

(1)

B. Private and Quasi-Private Settings

(3)

III. The Known Investigator

(7)

A. The "Insider" Participant Researcher Role

(1)

B. The "Outsider" Participant Researcher Role

(13)

1. Connections

(2)

2. Accounts

(1)

a. Content

(1)

b. Timing

(1)

c. Form

(1)

d. Audience/Targets

(1)

3. Knowledge

(1)

4. Courtesy

(1)

IV. Political, Legal, and Bureaucratic Barriers

(4)

V. The Question of Confidentiality

(3)

Chapter 4. Getting Along

(27)

I. Getting Along with Self: Emotional and Physical Challenges

(12)

A. Information Overload

(1)

B. Deception and the Fear of Disclosure

(1)

C. Distance and Surrender

(6)

1. Loathing

(1)

2. Marginalization

(2)

3. Sympathy

(1)

4. Identification

(1)

D. Physical Dangers

(2)

E. Dealing with the Challenges

(1)

II. Getting Along with Members: The Problems of Developing and Maintaining Field Relations

(9)

A. Strategies to Facilitate the Development and Maintenance of Field Relations

(5)

1. Presentational Strategies

(1)

a. Nonthreatening Demeanor

(1)

b. Acceptable Incompetence

(1)

c. Selective Competence

(1)

2. Exchange Strategies

(1)

B. Strategies to Control Relational Closeness

(12)

1. Preempting

(1)

2. Finessing

(1)

3. Declining and Withdrawing

(1)

III. Getting Along While Getting Out

(3)

IV. Getting Along with Claimants and Conscience: Ongoing Ethical Concerns

(1)

V. Postscript: Personal Accounts of the Field Experience

(2)

Chapter 5. Logging Data

(38)

I. Data: Fact or Fiction?

(2)

II. The Logging Task

(15)

A. Data Sources

(5)

1. Direct Experience

(1)

2. Social Action

(2)

3. Talk

(1)

4. Supplementary Data

(1)

a. Archival Records

(1)

b. Physical Traces

(1)

c. Photographic Data

(1)

B. Problems of Error and Bias

(5)

1. Types of Error and Bias

(1)

a. Reactive Effects

(1)

b. Perceptual and Interpretive Distortions

(1)

c. Sampling Errors

(1)

2. Measures to Control Error and Bias

(1)

a. Sampling Strategies

(1)

b. Team Research

(1)

c. Strategic Selection of Informants

(1)

d. Member Checking

(1)

C. The Mechanics of Logging

(3)

D. Protecting Confidentiality

(1)

III. Data Logging in Intensive Interviewing: Guides and Write-Ups

(9)

A. Preparing the Interview Guide

(5)

1. Puzzlements and Jottings

(1)

2. Global Sorting and Ordering

100

(1)

3. Section Sorting and Ordering

101

(1)

4. Probes

102

(1)

5. Facesheets and Fieldnotes

103

(1)

B. Doing the Interview

104

(3)

1. Introduction

104

(1)

2. Flexible Format

105

(1)

3. Ineffective Questions

105

(1)

4. Attending, Thinking, Taking Notes, Taping

106

(1)

5. Separate Forms

107

(1)

C. Writing Up the Interview

107

(1)

IV. Data Logging in Observation: Fieldnotes

108

(8)

A. Mental Notes

109

(1)

B. Jotted Notes

109

(1)

C. Full Fieldnotes

110

(12)

1. Mechanics

110

(2)

2. Contents

112

(1)

a. Be Concrete

112

(1)

b. Distinguish Notationally Among Member Comments

113

(1)

c. Record Recalled Information

113

(1)

d. Include Analytic Ideas and Hunches

113

(1)

e. Record Personal Impressions and Feelings

114

(1)

f. Reminders

115

(1)

3. Style

115

(1)

V Interview Write-Ups and Fieldnotes as Compulsion

116

(3)

PART TWO FOCUSING DATA

119

(74)

Chapter 6. Thinking Topics

121

(23)

I. Units and Aspects Combine into Topics

121

(1)

II. Units

122

(10)

A. Practices

123

(1)

B. Episodes

124

(1)

C. Encounters

124

(1)

D. Roles and Social Types

125

(1)

1. Roles

125

(1)

2. Social Types

126

(1)

E. Social and Personal Relationships

126

(1)

F. Groups and Cliques

127

(1)

G. Organizations

128

(1)

H. Settlements and Habitats

129

(2)

I. Subcultures and Lifestyles

131

(1)

III. Aspects and Topics

132

(9)

A. Cognitive Aspects or Meanings

132

(4)

1. Ideologies (and Kindred Concepts) as Meanings

133

(1)

2. Rules as Meanings

134

(1)

3. Self-Concepts and Identities as Meanings

135

(1)

B. Emotional Aspects or Feelings

136

(3)

1. Emotion and Practices, Episodes, and Encounters

136

(1)

2. Emotion and Roles

137

(1)

3. Emotion and Organizations

138

(1)

C. Hierarchical Aspects or Inequalities

139

(6)

1. Hierarchy in Encounters

139

(1)

2. Hierarchy in Roles and Relationships

140

(1)

3. Hierarchy in Groups

141

(1)

IV. Two or More Units or Aspects as Topics

141

(2)

V. Units, Aspects, and Topics Form a Mind-Set for Coding

143

(1)

Chapter 7. Asking Questions

144

(24)

I. What Are the Topic's Types?

145

(4)

A. Single Types

146

(1)

B. Multiple Types and Taxonomies

146

(2)

C. Typologizing

148

(1)

D. Sources and Rules of Typing and Typologizing

149

(1)

II. What Are the Topic's Frequencies?

149

(2)

III. What Are the Topic's Magnitudes?

151

(1)

IV. What Are the Topic's Structures?

151

(1)

V. What Are the Topic's Processes?

152

(4)

A. Cycles

152

(1)

B. Spirals

153

(1)

C. Sequences

154

(2)

1. Tracing Back

154

(1)

2. Tracing Forward

155

(1)

3. Turning Points

155

(1)

VI. What Are the Topic's Causes?

156

(6)

A. Requirements of Causal Explanation

157

(1)

B. Selected Models of Causal Explanation

157

(1)

1. Experimental Model

157

(1)

2. Statistical Model

158

(1)

3. Contextual Model

158

(1)

4. Case Comparative Model

158

(1)

5. Step/Process Model

158

(1)

6. Negative Case Model

158

(1)

C. Clarifying the Relationship Between Qualitative Field Research and Causal Explanation

158

(4)

VII. What Are the Topic's Consequences?

162

(3)

A. Foreground Issues in Examining Consequences

163

(1)

1. Requirements of Inferring Consequences

163

(1)

2. Consequences for Whom or for What?

163

(1)

3. Intentional and Unintentional Consequences

163

(1)

B. Examples of the Qualitative Study of Consequences

164

(1)

VIII. Where and What Is Agency?

165

(3)

A. Passivist Versus Agentic Conceptions

165

(1)

B. Agentic Questions

166

(2)

Chapter 8. Arousing Interest

168

(25)

I. Social Science Framing

169

(18)

A. Trueness

169

(2)

1. Theoretical Candor

170

(1)

2. The Ethnographer's Path

170

(1)

3. Fieldnote and Interview Transcript Evidence

170

(1)

B. Newness

171

(3)

1. Relating to Existing Work

171

(1)

2. First Report

172

(1)

3. Unusual Setting

172

(1)

4. New Analytic Focus and Perspective

173

(1)

C. Importance

174

(13)

1. Questioning Mind-Set

174

(1)

2. Propositional Framing

175

(2)

3. Generic Concepts

177

(1)

a. Using Existing Social Science Conceptions

177

(1)

b. Discerning New Forms

178

(1)

c. Using Metaphors

179

(1)

d. Using Irony

180

(1)

4. Developed Treatment

180

(1)

a. Conceptual Elaboration

181

(1)

b. Balance

183

(1)

c. Interpenetration

184

(1)

5. Resonating Content

185

(2)

II. Social Science Value Commitments

187

(2)

A. Demystification

187

(1)

B. Holistic Dispassionate Understanding

188

(1)

III. Other Framings

189

(6)

A. Technocratic/Social Engineering Frame

190

(1)

B. Liberation Frame

190

(1)

C. Muckraking Frame

191

(1)

D. Expressive Voicing

191

(2)

PART THREE ANALYZING DATA

193

(48)

Chapter 9. Developing Analysis

195

(25)

I. Strategy One: Social Science Framing

197

(1)

A. Eight Forms of Propositions

197

(1)

B. A Third Way to Contrast Propositional with Other Writing

197

(1)

C. Number of Propositions in a Single Fieldstudy

198

(1)

II. Strategy Two: Normalizing and Managing Anxiety

198

(2)

III. Strategy Three: Coding

200

(9)

A. Two Physical Methods of Coding

203

(1)

1. Filing

203

(1)

2. Computer Databasing

203

(1)

B. Types of Coding Files

204

(5)

1. Folk/Setting-Specific Files

205

(1)

2. Analytic Files

206

(2)

3. Methodological/Fieldwork Files

208

(1)

C. Maintaining a Chronological Record

209

(1)

IV. Strategy Four: Memoing

209

(3)

V. Strategy Five: Diagramming

212

(5)

A. Taxonomies

212

(2)

B. Matrices and Typologies

214

(1)

C. Concept Charts

215

(1)

D. Flow Charts

216

(1)

VI. Strategy Six: Thinking Flexibly

217

(3)

Chapter 10. Writing Analysis

220

(21)

I. Preliminary Considerations

221

(3)

A. Understanding the Social Psychological Dimensions of the Writing Process

221

(2)

B. Plan Your Writing Time and Place

223

(1)

II. Writing Practices

224

(14)

A. Start Writing

224

(1)

B. Write on Any Project Aspect, But Write

225

(1)

C. Admit Aversion and Write Regularly Anyway

226

(2)

D. Trust in Discovery and Surprise in Writing

228

(1)

E. Do Not Seek Perfection or the One Right Way

229

(1)

F. Divide and Conquer

230

(1)

G. Draw on Standard Literary Organizing Devices

231

(2)

H. Find Your Own Working Style

233

(1)

I. Reread and Revise

233

(2)

J. Seek Feedback

235

(1)

K. Constrain Your Ego and Related Attachments

236

(1)

L. Let It Go

237

(1)

III. Concluding Observations

238

(3)

A. The Fieldstudies Approach as a System of Parts

239

(1)

B. The Similarity of All Scholarship

239

(2)

References

241

(32)

Index

273

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Analyzing Social Settings A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials