Handbook of Qualitative Research: Edited by Norman K. Dezin and Yvonna S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1994. 643 pp. £60 hardback. ISBN 0 8039 4679 1.

Abstract

Denzin, Norman K & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (Eds.) (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, ISBN 0-8039-4679-1. Hard cover, $95.00, 643 pp. Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln, in the Handbook of Qualitative Research, state that the last two decades have borne witness to a quiet methodological revolution. This revolution has occurred despite the pervasiveness of positivism as many investigators have searched for new ways of knowing to expose additional meanings within the social world. Searching beyond numbers has resulted in this tome where the contributors have offered the epistemological, ontological, and methodological thought that underpins the existence of qualitative research. In contrast, previous qualitative texts have focused on methods rather than a more encompassing methodological review. The Handbook of Qualitative Research is a 643 page encyclopedia that should become a standard bookshelf item regardless of academicians' investigative persuasions. Beyond its broad academic appeal, the should take practicing qualitative methodologists into new areas of thought and praxis. The text extends beyond classic participant observations and ethnographies to describe postmodern and post structural thought. A key feature is the recurrent theme of the researcher as bricoleur. This type of researcher requires a variety of practices (bricolage), molded into a tight method from which the findings can emerge. Bricoleurs are not dominated by methodolatry, but shape their inquiry around the questions asked and the contexts within which various phenomena exist. The handbook is divided into six parts and the 36 chapters are written by notable academicians with sociologists and educators dominating. Prior to part one, the editors provide a background for qualitative research by defining it, comparing it to quantitative research, and then positioning the evolution of qualitative inquiry into five Although the cutting edge of qualitative research is still exploring the bounds of the fifth moment, most leisure researchers seem to find comfort when operating within the first and second of these moments. Part one, Locating the Field, explores qualitative research from a historical perspective by describing the influences that have shaped its development. Key sections are the criticisms leveled against qualitative research, the various ethical stances taken by the contributors, and the discussion of research from an advocacy perspective. The second part of the handbook, Major Paradigms and Perspectives, is used to explore the paradigmatic and perspectival variations within qualitative empiricism. By using positivist and post-positivist paradigms as a base from which qualitative inquiry has advanced, the editors explain the epistemological, ontological, and methodological understandings of constructivism and critical theory. Succeeding chapters address the perspectives of feminism as well as ethnic and cultural studies. Within each perspective, the different trajectories of epistemology, ontology, and research goodness are examined. The chapters often expound views that conflict, but all contribute to the breadth of qualitative inquiry. Part three, Strategies of Inquiry, addresses the variety of questions confronted by a bricoleur when formulating research designs and strategies of inquiry. As opposed to a method-dominated research design, qualitative researchers should be involved in a path of discovery through finding a means by which data may be revealed within the contexts of the phenomena. The latter chapters of Part Three turn to many strategies of inquiry. Ethnography, participant observation, phenomenology, ethnomethodology and interpretive practices, grounded theory, biographies, historical, clinical research, and action research comprise the discussion. Each chapter argues the value and positioning of strategies within a paradigmatic and perspectival framework. …