Questioning Qualitative Inquiry
Critical Essays
- Martyn Hammersley - The Open University, UK
In Questioning Qualitative Inquiry Martin Hammersley argues that the move away from natural science as a model for social inquiry involves a rejection of key principles that are essential for any commitment to research.
Discussing fifty years of change in qualitative social research, Martyn Hammersley's argument is pursued in concrete terms through discussion of specific issues, such as:
- how to learn from the history of qualitative inquiry
- can qualitative methodology be taught
- the significance of researchers' commitment to tolerance
- the role of rhetoric in research reports
- the attitudes of qualitative researchers towards theory, evidence and validity.
A key theme is the current emphasis on discursive rather than social action as the focus of study, and the implications of this not just for the process of analysis but also for the use of various kinds of data.
At a time when qualitative inquiry is coming under challenge, as a result of pressure to serve evidence-based policymaking and practice, these issues are becoming increasingly pressing. These often provocative essays on current developments and debates are essential reading for anyone interested in the future of qualitative research.
'Written in Hammersley's usual considered style and is pitched perfectly for post-graduate students, and teachers of advanced methods courses but alos for early career researchers still unclear of which direction they face within the contemporary landscape and proliferarting 'schools' of qualitative research' -
Rob Smith,
Cardiff University, for Qualitative Research
'Questioning Qualitative Inquiry is essential reading for both post-graduate student confronted by overwhelming methodological pluralism and the established scholar sitting comfortably in their ontological comfort-zone'
L. da Costa & Sam Hillyard, ,
Durham University, for Qualitative Research
'The critiques in Hammersley’s collection of essays have an even-handed rigour. Analyses of different approaches to developing knowledge about the social move between the nitty-gritty of method and exegetical discussion of philosophies behind different approaches'
Anita Naoko Pilgrim
University of Glamorgan for Qualitative Research
