Argues that valid evaluation of reference services should involve triangulation, that is, the systematic use of a variety of carefully chosen research methods. The use of triangulation in conjunction with several qualitative research methods is described and guidelines to the implementation of a qualitative research project are provided. (27…

Demonstrates how nonacademic interviewing talents can inform how qualitative researchers perform and produce interviews, outlining key concepts and practices for better qualitative interviewing from journalists and other researchers and examining four elements of interview practice (background information, interview analysis, protocol creation and…

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, the fourth in the kit, explains the basic assumptions underlying qualitative procedures, suggests evaluation situations where qualitative designs are useful, and provides guidelines for designing qualitative…

This guide provides an introduction to the use of microcomputers with qualitative data. It is deliberately non-specific and rudimentary in order to be of maximum benefit to the widest possible audience of beginning microcomputer users who wish to analyze their data using software that is not specifically designed for qualitative data analysis. The…

The article identifies two data collection procedures (participant observation and interviewing) employed in qualitative research and discusses how these procedures can be used to investigate emerging issues in supported education for students with severe disabilities. (DB)

Ethnographic interviews offer the academic decision maker an alternative lens with which to gather information, develop hypotheses, and implement plans. Specific procedures must be followed to use the technique properly, and other research methods should accompany the ethnographic interview for increased validity. (MSE)

This book is intended to explain principles of qualitative research to potential researchers and to provide them with a set of tools, and guidelines for critical thinking as they carry out such research. The chapters are organized around the elements of the research process which require decisions. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2…

Intended for students and for researchers who conduct interviews as part of case studies or as ethnography, this book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the theory and practice of qualitative interviewing. It shows researchers how to design research based on interview data; to stimulate conversation; to absorb what is being said;…

Suggests a method for translating graduate education in qualitative methods into undergraduate teaching. Focuses on intensive interviewing and its benefits for both graduate students and for undergraduate teaching as a means of bringing the subject into the real world. Discusses planning the interview assignment, developing interview questions,…

This article is designed to make qualitative research more understandable by providing details about the procedures that were used in one project to develop grounded theory. Interviews with 16 gifted students (grades 1-8) participating in pull-out programs found they were dissatisfied with the pace of their regular classroom. (Contains…

This study demonstrated the use of self-recorded audiotape to collect data on students' perceptions, attitudes, and use of learning activities in written teaching texts. The process of asking students to respond to questions within the teaching text was straightforward and presented few problems in subsequent analysis. On several indicators…

Ethnographic research methodology is reviewed as an emerging methodology in special education, with application made particularly to understanding regular classrooms into which students with learning handicaps may be integrated. Suggested descriptive questions for an ethnographic interview are given, for use in research investigations and in…

This study demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data: content, cultural models, and narrative analyses. Interview data from 250 Latino parents of young children with mental retardation illustrates these types of analyses. Suggestions for ways in which early intervention studies could be extended by considering different…

A discussion of in-depth interviewing as a method for research on language teaching and learning situates the technique within the continuum of research methodology and differentiates it from quantitative research methods. The strengths and weaknesses of in-depth interviewing are examined, methods of sampling are discussed, and advice on the…