Product Description

"Creswell does an excellent job categorizing the various qualitative methods into five approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study...The author has expanded on and updated the information he presented in the first edition of the book (Creswell, 1998), including discussion of the various schools of thought that have developed among qualitative researchers since the mid 1990's...Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among five approaches is a highly informative book; researchers will likely return again and against to the book as they expand their comfort zone within qualitative research." 

                                                                    -Peggy M. Delmas, University of Alabama

“Creswell has produced an even more outstanding and valuable text for qualitative research than the First Edition.” 
                                                                    -Edith King, University of Denver

Like the bestselling First Edition, this new version explores the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Using an accessible and engaging writing style, author John W. Creswell compares theoretical frameworks, ways to employ standards of quality, and strategies for writing introductions to studies, collecting data, analyzing data, writing a narrative, and verifying results.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10897 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
"This introductory research text [...] covers five approaches to qualitative research and compares them side-by-side. [This book] covers the basics in qualitative research; content which can easily be adapted to suit the needs of budding applied linguistics researchers [as well]." (Gary Barkhuizen New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics )

"Creswell does an excellent job categorizing the various qualitative methods into five approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study...The author has expanded on and updated the information he presented in the first edition of the book (Creswell, 1998), including discussion of the various schools of thought that have developed among qualitative researchers since the mid 1990's...Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among five approaches is a highly informative book; researchers will likely return again and against to the book as they expand their comfort zone within qualitative research." 

                                                                                -Peggy M. Delmas, University of Alabama (Peggy M. Delmas National ACademic ADvising Association )

About the Author
John W. Creswell is a Professor of Educational Psychology at Teachers College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  He is affiliated with a graduate program in educational psychology that specializes in quantitative and qualitative methods in education.  In this program, he specializes in qualitative and quantitative research designs and methods, multimethod research, and faculty and academic leadership issues in colleges and universities.

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Customer Reviews

This book delivers!
Creswell manages to clearly explain differences and similarities of the five methods. Vocabulary, glossaries, examples and illustrations make each of the methodologies come alive to the reader. It is excellent as a review for someone who is writing their thesis, or for a new graduate student to grasp an understanding of qualitative methods. Creswell includes complete articles that illustrate the principles behind each of the methods. This is a "how to" and "what" book. It does not go into the philosophy behind each of the methods or the history of their development. For that perspective, try Denzin and Lincoln's Handbook of Qualitative Research. But when you are clearly defining a research project, it isn't philosophy that helps you! This book is a definite must for anyone interested in understanding or critiquing qualitative methods, or writing a qualitative proposal. Highly recommended!!!

A helpful tour guide for your journey
This book really helped me write my master's thesis. For anyone who may be doing graduate study in the social sciences and is interested in qualitative research, this is a GREAT place to start.

My friend suggested this book to me when my thesis adviser told me to get a book on qualitative research as I was trying to design my study of a newspaper and its relationships with strategic publics. In this book Creswell clearly and logically lays out five different qualitative research traditions (1. a biographical life history; 2. a phenomenology; 3. a grounded theory study; 4, an ethnography; and 5. a case study). Creswell guides researchers on the rationale for each method, the design, and corresponding data collection, analysis and narrative report, while giving ample references for further reading in one's chosen tradition. Particularly helpful are the appendices that include example studies of each methodology.

I needed other sources to supplement what I learned here, but this book really gave me an excellent foundation with which to proceed. I recommend it to anyone who is trying to design a qualitative study and isn't sure where to start.

A must have for your qualitative research
This is one of John Creswell's best books by far. I purchased it in paperback and actually had it spiral bound by a local print shop because I used it so much. I can't go on enough of how helpful this book was with one of my doctoral courses. I am glad our professor choose this text because when we went through various pieces of the five qualitative designs it gave great examples, detailed lists for guidance, and a great glossary. The studies in the text were very helpful as well. I recommend every masters and doctoral student to add it to their bookshelf, I guarantee you will use it a lot. It is invaluable!!!